Too much filler, not enough nutrition. I wonder if the boogens thought that about the human beings (and occasional pet) they eat. Fred McCarren and Jeff Harlan are silver miners assigned to aid in the reopening of long closed minds in Silver City where something is very much alive inside the mines that can get into people's houses and eat em' up. Harlan's girlfriend Anne Marie Martin (the only actor I recognized in the film, from "Days of Our Lives") shows up with her friend Rebecca Balding only to find that the proprietor of the guest house they are staying at is missing. They have a miniature poodle who keeps getting into trouble and at one point you believe has been attacked by whatever is hiding in the basement of the house. Harlan goes missing which creates some concern as he was supposed to pick someone up, and there's a spooky old man seen lingering about that seems rather a suspicious presence.

What could have been an adequate time filler with uninteresting monster becomes far too slow moving, outside of the pretty snowy scenery and an extreme amount of sex talk that after a while is just irritating. Long stretches of shots of the scenery without dialogue also slows this down, and it easily could have been an hour "Tales of the Crypt" segment on TV or one of the stories in the "Creepshow" movies. By the time the actual monster a showing, you may have not it off or in some cases, shut it off.

The "Boogens" are scaly monsters that look somewhat like giant turtles with lots of sharp, nasty teeth. They are released from an abandoned, boarded-up silver mine in Colorado and proceed to do away with character after character.

Is this a slasher? A creature feature? Both? It is a fun piece of early 1980s horror cinema, that is what it is. And although these are actors you will probably never see anywhere else, that is part of what makes them perfect for this low-key, somewhat obscure movie.

The creatures themselves are well-made. Apparently only one was made and was just reused throughout the film. Which makes sense, since there is never a huge swarm.

Back in the early 80's horror films largely consisted of generic slice'n'dice body count pics which became exceedingly tiresome and hackneyed as the decade wore on. This nifty little creature feature, a nicely done fright flick which satisfyingly blends a 50's-like monster movie plot with 80's style gore, nudity and profanity, stands out as a refreshing break from the by-the-numbers knifekill norm which was fashionable at the time. A nasty bunch of toothy, tentacled, people-noshing subterranean beasties are unleashed after an old abandoned Colorado mine gets reopened, brutally slaying anyone unfortunate enough to cross their deadly path. Okay, so the story ain't much and the pacing tends to be a bit sluggish, but James L. Conway's capable direction, the tight script, spooky cinematography, several good jump-out-at-you startling jolts, a rousing conclusion, and the especially gnarly-looking squish-bodied, frog-faced, sharp-fanged titular ugly buggers make this a solid scarefest all the same. Moreover, the underground scenes have a truly creepy, clammy, and claustrophobic feel to them, grizzled character thesps John Crawford and Med Flory portray a couple of seasoned old pro mining hands with pleasingly crusty aplomb, and craggy-faced fuddy dud Jon Lormer has a colorful secondary role as a nutty old coot whose grave warnings about the mines are naturally ignored. Better still, the younger characters are surprisingly well-developed and genuinely likable. The winsomely perky'n'pretty Rebecca Balding, who also starred in the superior slasher item "Silent Scream" and was briefly touted as an apparent heir to the crown of then reigning scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, in particular is most appealing as the spunky heroine (and she takes her clothes off as well, which is an additional plus). Given all these strengths, it's no wonder that this funky favorite has acquired a small, yet loyal cult following.