Reviewing early films from young filmmakers can sometimes be a daunting task. On the one hand, I want to cut these directors slack to still find their way and not discourage them from making more movies. On the other hand, I have to be honest about my reactions to the work and try to address the movie as the movie. While I’m always quick to acknowledge the context of a film and can be impressed by the backstory, my job is to respond to what’s on screen, not how it got there.

Boogeyman Pop, the sort-of first feature from writer/director/editor Brad Elmore (according to IMDb, he made an hour-long feature in 2011 called The Wolfman’s Hammer), is a perfect example of this disconnect. Shot for under $100,000 over the course of three years, Boogeyman Pop is clearly a labor of love for everyone involved. I admire the passion and effort that went into making the film, and I admire what Elmore is able to get to the screen given the limitations of his budget and schedule. There is a distinct cinematic voice and vision on display in Boogeyman Pop, and that’s something that really can’t be faked. Right out of the gate, I have an idea of what a “Brett Elmore” film looks and feels like.

At the same time, Boogeyman Pop is disjointed and confused, never quite knowing what narrative threads to follow or settling on a tone. That’s built into the movie’s structure somewhat, as it’s basically an anthology about a group of young people, connected together by the appearance of a masked killer with a baseball bat. The first “part” (the movie is divided into three sections, each with its own title) follows Tony (James Paxton), a teenager with a rough home life who dreams of getting out of town and escapes into drugs. His best friend Forrest (Dillon Lane, the movie’s standout performance) gives him a new pill of something called Wendigo, and the rest of the night becomes a blur. The second story, taking place concurrently, follows Danielle (Dominique Booth), a girl who likes Tony and spends her night trying to take care of her drugged-out friends at a punk club. An encounter with town dealer Matt (Greg Hill) gets her mixed up in black magic and soul stealing. Finally, there are the middle school kids who live near Danielle and have a run-in with the murderer known as Slugger (Kyle Cameron). The stories cross paths, overlap, and converge to create a tapestry of sex, drugs, and violence.

Though ambitious for sure, Boogeyman Pop’s tapestry is also shallow and nonsensical, and not always deliberately so. Characters feel like placeholders and no arcs, whether character or plot, are completed. The anthology format makes it easy to drop in and out of their lives at random, while the sloppiness of the narrative hides behind the surrealism of a drug trip — it doesn’t make sense because, like, it’s not supposed to. There are no clear rules to the world the film establishes: sometimes, weird things happen because we’re experiencing the subjective POV of a character on a crazy new drug. Sometimes weird things happen because Boogeyman Pop will introduce supernatural elements at random, then revert back to a reality that’s meant to resemble our own. It can’t ever pick a lane.

I like a movie that isn’t afraid to take some chances, but I also want a movie to make choices. Boogeyman Pop doesn’t make clear choices, instead opting to sample a little bit from wherever and whatever it wants. The narratives it introduces aren’t especially compelling, either. The first story presents the setup for a story without really telling one; the second, which comes closest to having its own narrative, gets unnecessarily ugly and rapey; the third and most overtly comedic finally has something happen because the movie needs to wrap up, but there’s no real connective tissue between that segment and what is paid off. There’s no consistency in the tone and no real connection between these characters or their storylines. Anthologies can be tricky in this way, and Boogeyman Pop never finds a way to crack the problem. It mixes up all the pieces on the chess board but never actually learns to play.

Boogeyman Pop has Rogue One screenwriter Chris Weitz attached as a producer and has already been picked up for distribution by Blumhouse, so the movie is doing just fine. It didn’t work for me, but there are clearly a lot of people who see something special in it. This is a case where I’m able to admire the accomplishment, but unable to enjoy the actual finished product. It’s a movie with a voice. The voice just doesn’t have much to say.