Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Evil Next Door, now in theaters and VOD.

Directed by Oskar Mellander and Tord Danielsson, The Evil Next Door is a Swedish horror film that puts another spin on the Bogeyman. After his first wife's death, Fredrik is ready to settle down again with his new partner Shirin. Upon purchasing a duplex, Shirin is ready to take on the role of stepmother to Fredrick's young son Lucas. However, not long after they settle in, Shirin and Lucas begin to experience strange occurrences while Fredrik is away for work. It seems there is something sinister living in the adjacent house, and it wants Lucas all to itself. The revelation prompts Shirin to face off against this demon, a creature with an origin story that's a little vague.

The Evil Next Door opens with the duplex's former occupants. From what's shown, it seems the opposite side has been unoccupied for a long time, although no reason is ever given as to why. The first sequence features the mother frantically chasing after her child, Kim, who is being dragged by an unseen force to the opposite side of the duplex. Despite the mother's best efforts, the child disappears, which Shirin learns later from a neighbor.

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The Evil Next Door - Lucas attic

When Shirin and the family move in, this evil makes itself known quickly. First, it appears to Lucas as a little boy who just wants to play. Not long after, Shirin experiences the boy's presence after accidentally confusing him for Lucas and hearing knocking coming from the attached house. Upon investigating, Shirin glimpses the shadowy figure of a little boy and is convinced something strange is going on next door. After learning about the former occupants' missing child, Shirin suspects the boy is Kim's ghost.

As the haunting escalates and Fredrik doesn't believe her, Shirin seeks out the previous owners. While the husband remains adamant that his wife is "crazy," the wife tells Shirin that an evil entity took her child and calls it the Eater of Children. It seems the Eater of Children -- or the Bogeyman as Lucas calls it -- specializes in targeting mothers and children. When the male figure is around, the demon lies dormant. After he leaves, the Eater of Children seizes the opportunity to seemingly make the women look crazy and create a rift in the family dynamic.

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The Evil Next Door - demon

To win the trust of the children and others, The Evil Next Door's demon shape-shifts into an unassuming child. After Shirin learns that the former owner's child, Kim, is a little girl, she realizes it's not the ghost she thought it was. In a close encounter, Shirin discovers the "little boy" is actually a copy of Lucas, marking the first clear incident of shape-shifting. Later, in the climactic stand-off between Shirin and the Bogeyman, it cycles through various forms to insight fear, much like Pennywise from Stephen King's It. Along with its shape-shifting ability, the demon doesn't appear to have any other distinct powers outside the typical supernatural fanfare. It's also defeated quite easily. Shirin refuses to back off and screams her love for her stepson, seemingly diminishing this Bogeyman of its powers.

Overall, The Evil Next Door creates more questions than answers regarding its Eater of Children creature. How it came to live in the house next door is never revealed. Whoever owns that half of the property seems to be fine with it falling into disarray and remaining unoccupied for an unknown number of years. Not to mention there is a huge hole in the floor that leads to the Bogeyman's lair in the crawl space. While The Evil Next Door's Bogeyman lacks a proper origin story, its supernatural abilities and desire to consume children remain pretty standard horror genre fare.

Directed by Oskar Mellander and Tord Danielsson, The Evil Next Door stars Dilan Gwyn, Linus Wahlgren and Eddie Eriksson Dominguez. The film is in select theaters and available on VOD now.

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