Squirmy, funny body horror Booger turns a cat lady into a cat-lady

Horror’s externalizing metaphors for interior turmoil can easily either be oversimplified to the point that they’re blunt instruments, or muddied until they really could be a metaphor for anything. It takes precision, and a certain amount of courage, to make a horror film steeped in metaphor that’s just messy enough, clear in its purpose but also willing to leave certain conclusions to its audience. Booger, the feature debut from writer/director Mary Dauterman, is that kind of film, a horror story steeped in the awkward realities of human emotion that’s also direct in its portrayal of body horror as a metaphor for the stages of grief. Intimate, inventive, and full of squirm-in-your-seat moments, it’s a strong first feature despite some stumbles.

Anna (Grace Glowicki) is having a hard time. Her roommate and best friend Izzy (Sofia Dobrushin) just died in an accident, leaving behind a half-empty apartment and her combative cat Booger. Lonely and reeling, Anna spends most of her time ducking work and aimlessly drifting through the home, her only company the cat and the memories she’s able to dredge up in the form of videos on Izzy’s phone.

Things get worse when Booger stages an open rebellion, biting Anna’s hand and bolting down the fire escape. Faced with an onslaught of work calls, visits from Izzy’s grieving mother (Marcia DeBonis), and the guilt of losing her best friend’s pet, Anna spirals—and starts to realize that Booger might have left her with more than just puncture wounds.

Yes, Booger is about a woman who gets bitten by a cat and starts turning into one. As her life gets out of control, personally and professionally, Anna gets distracted by bits of trash rolling in the wind, scratches herself against tree bark, swats at insects, and does pretty much everything else you’d expect from a budding cat personality. It’s a clear body horror premise, and Dauterman lives up to those expectations through expressionistic flourishes and impressive, low-budget flashes of visceral intensity. 

Anna believes she’s finding long black hairs in the bite mark Booger left, but she also swirls through nightmares where that same black hair covers every surface. She follows sunbeams across the apartment, but she also sees the world in dreamy blurs of memory, fantasy, and harsh reality. Through itchy close-ups and remarkable dream sequence work, Dauterman crafts a tone that’s constantly unsettling, leaving us forever uncertain of what Anna will do next, how far she’ll go, and how her behavior will impact those around her. 

Glowicki, in a fearless performance that takes her to some dark and even hilarious places, amps up Dauterman’s concepts with pure, expressive fury. She spends much of the film in silence, reacting rather than acting, communicating her transformation through exhausted, grief-stricken eyes and a jaw that seems to constantly twitch between human and feline. Horror acting is often derided for being all about the big emotions, but performances like Glowicki’s remind us that the genre is also often a showcase for the little things, the spurts of disgust, resentment, and pure confusion that ground scary stories in our own understanding of the world. 

For much of its lean 78-minute runtime, Booger is a pulsating, uncomfortable ride through Anna’s emotional and physical transformation, a clear metaphor for the grounded emotions of grief, survivor’s guilt, and anger she feels over losing Izzy. The imagery and the clarity of vision are impressive, as is the level of tension Dauterman is able to maintain, but it only takes the film so far. Evocative and unsettling though it is, Booger’s third act collapses in on itself, folding under the weight of its many dangling threads of meaning. The messiness of Anna’s experience is winning, as is the way Dauterman’s script is able to weave together so many emotional truths both big and small together in the journey of one character, but by the end, Booger drops down into pure expressionism, surfacing only when it needs a supporting cast member to flat-out explain something to Anna in an effort to reach a resolution. It’s not an outright failure, but it is the only time the film really struggles, especially noticeable because of how tight and tonally clear the first hour feels.

But even if it doesn’t stick the landing, Booger retains its discomfiting, twisted energy throughout, delivering a promising debut from Dauterman, a great performance by Glowicki, and a few gut-wrenching images that will make the cats around you look a little different for a few days after. It’s a darkly funny, deranged little movie, and at its best it hits you right in the heart.

Director: Mary Dauterman
Writer: Mary Dauterman
Starring: Grace Glowicki, Garrick Bernard, Heather Matarazzo, Marcia DeBonis
Release Date: September 13, 2024