Thirty-One Days O’Horror: Don’t Look Under The Bed (1999)

“Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you have to get old.”

In 1999 the Disney Channel and director Kenneth Johnson stuck their necks out to produce the channel’s first true horror film: Don’t Look Under The Bed. The movie succeeded in scaring youngsters….and their parents. Parents demanded that the film be removed from the Disney Channel lineup and the movie was placed in the Disney Vault until the Disney+ streaming service dusted it off and made it available to viewers once again.

It’s a real shame that this film was shelved for being too scary, because it’s probably one of the best Disney Channel films ever made. Featuring very real dangers such as leukemia and a child’s fear of growing old, the movie deals with subjects not often found on the Disney Channel. Combine those topics with evil imaginary friends and a literal Boogeyman living under the bed, and this film is nightmare fuel for the younger crowd. It’s perfect.

In the film, Frances Bacon McCausland (Erin Chambers) has to get to the bottom of a number of strange pranks happening in her sleepy average town, Middleberg. Each event that occurs points to her as the culprit and she quickly finds herself battling the town and an apparent Boogeyman with a vendetta against her. To help her fight the Boogeyman, an imaginary friend named Larry Houdini (Ty Hodges) appears. While attempting to capture the Boogeyman, Frances’ little brother, Darwin (Jake Sakson), is captured and taken to Boogeyworld, a literal bizarro version of the space under a child’s bed. Filled with giant toys, old gym socks, and other things one might find in a child’s room, Frances and Larry have to team up in order to defeat the wicked Boogeyman. Do they prevail? You’ll have to watch the film in order to find out!

The film features some genuinely scary moments. The creature effects are amazing, especially when one character begins to slowly transform into a Boogeyman. I can definitely see where younger children would have been scared by this film in 1999. The special effects are somewhat dated, but for a 1999 made-for-tv movie, they are pretty good.

The cast is brilliant. Erin Chambers carries the film as its heart and soul. She battles with the realization that she is getting older and is responsible for her brother losing his imaginary friend. She struggles with the fact that she didn’t want to donate bone marrow to help her little brother during his battle with leukemia even though he nearly lost his life. Ty Hodges provides most of the film’s funnier moments, especially the silly ones geared towards the younger members of the audience. He also provides a few of the film’s scarier moments as well. Steve Valentine is wickedly wonderful as the Boogeyman. Speaking in rhyme and able to grow his nails out to sword-like lengths, he’s a creepy monster sure to make any youngster hide behind the couch. The rest of the cast do superb jobs as well. The always reliable Stephen Tobolowsky and Robin Riker portray Frances’ parents and the school counselor is played by Mary Parker Williams. Williams provides some excellent adult humor during one moment in the McCausland home. You’ll have to be quick to catch it.

With credits that include V, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, and the television series Alien Nation, it’s no wonder that Kenneth Johnson was the perfect choice to direct this film. Johnson guided this film along the fine line of being “scary but not too scary,” a direct request from the Disney Channel. Unfortunately he did his job too well, and as a result the film was denied to thousands of viewers for years after its initial release. The film wasn’t even released on home media of any form officially, but a few bootleg copies are floating around for purchase on the web. I recommend watching it on Disney+, as that’s the best version available.

Thanks for reading today’s post. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever seen this film or any of Kenneth Johnson’s other work. I was a massive fan of most the television shows that he worked on while I was growing up, so it’s no surprise to me that I love Don’t Look Under The Bed. See you tomorrow!