Reel Review: Booger (2023)

“Booger” perfectly balances the comically revolting body horror with the bittersweet portrayal of having and losing a kindred spirit.

Grief and its unusual permutations provide the emotional tension in many horror movies. However, writer and director Mary Dauterman‘s debut feature Booger is likely the first film to use a young woman’s transformation into a scrappy black cat as a representation of grief.

Booger, which had its U.S. premiere at the 2023 Brooklyn Film Festival, is the perfect meld of quirky body horror and dark comedy.

Award-winning actress Grace Glowicki stars as Anna, who is dealing with the sudden death of her beloved best friend and roommate Izzy (portrayed by a glowing Sofia Dobrushin, who appears in the film through Anna’s memories and video recordings).

Booger shows how social media and new technology have changed mourning. As Anna scrolls through people’s “RIP Izzy” posts on Instagram or replays videos of the two friends together goofing off, her sorrow becomes almost tangible. Izzy is so vibrant in Anna’s videos that the audience understands why her absence has created such a huge hole in Anna’s heart.

The film also deftly examines the idea of performative grief.

Are the people posting on social media about Izzy’s death her real friends? Or do they just want clicks? Is Anna’s overzealous boyfriend (portrayed by a delightfully earnest Garrick Bernard), who details his feelings about Izzy in his journal, really mourning her? Or is he, as Anna claims, appropriating the grief she herself is unable to express?

The use of videos provides flashbacks to who Anna was before Izzy’s death as well. There’s no trace of the most boisterous or fun parts of Anna’s personality in the present, as the audience meets her at a terribly painful moment in her life. Using old videos allows the audience to feel like they not only know Izzy but also get a glimpse of who Anna used to be during happier times.

After Izzy’s death, Anna isolates herself as much as possible. The one individual she wants to spend time with is the titular Booger, an independent black cat who wanders onto Anna and Izzy’s fire escape. When Booger bites Anna and runs off at the start of the film, Anna begins a quest to find her lost pet.

(In one of Booger’s funniest moments, a pet store clerk, played by Heather Matarazzo, offers Anna very intense feedback on her subpar “missing cat” flyer.)

As Anna struggles to cope with the loss of both her human friend and her feline companion, she begins to exhibit more and more cat-like behaviors herself.

She licks her own hair obsessively, she wakes up sprawled in weird positions in random spots around her apartment, and her gag-inducing hacking of potential hairballs provides a darkly hilarious soundtrack to her most grotesque moments.

The body horror gets grosser as Anna’s descent into a hyperactive feline continues.

There’s a disgusting thrill in tracking the bandage covering Booger’s bitemark on Anna’s hand. Every time it’s shown, it’s more and more… medically concerning.

Unfortunately, Anna is unable to deal with it; she ignores the bandage, no matter how much hair (fur?) begins poking out from underneath. After another hack attack at Izzy’s memorial service, Izzy’s mom (played by a warm and grounded Marcia DeBonis) gently advises Anna to acknowledge her grief, telling her, “You can’t keep it all inside – you’ll just rot.”

Sadly, Anna’s Booger-esque behavior is the only way she can find to express her grief about losing Izzy.

With a fantastic lead performance by Glowicki and the film’s spot-on portrayal of being young and living in Brooklyn, Booger is a fresh take on body horror – and the rare horror movie that will make you nauseous but also make you shed a tear.