WOW...brutal...fucking brutal!

I'm not going to say this is a great movie, and I'm definitely not going to say it's for everyone.

By most accounts it's far from a great movie and probably will only appeal to a small group of people who can stomach the content and sit through 85 minutes of found footage, webcam chats, video diary entries, and newscasts.

I've seen some posts on this but couldn't find them, so decided to give this movie its own thread, cause I for one feel it's well deserved.

If you're not familiar with this, it's a low budget drama with strong horror and exploitation elements that "is based on actual events" and filmed so that it appears we're actually watching real footage...mostly unedited.

To say this left a strong, lasting impression on me is the understatement of the new year.  Damn, this hits hard and doesn't let up.  Absolutely no punches are held here, and nothing is sacred or off limits.  The subject matter is handled as darkly and realistically as I think I've ever seen.  The last 22 minutes are seriously tough to sit through (and some may say that's due to that fact that almost nothing happens, or based on the repetition involved).  Either way, it's unlike anything I've ever seen, and I've seen a fucking lot!

IMO, the acting is phenomenal, and you'll rarely hear me say that.  I'm going to send a shout out to the 2 female leads, as it's well deserved.  Rachel Quinn plays the 14 year old title character and does a tremendous job, handling very difficult subject matter in a shockingly convincing way that I bought, hook, line, and sinker.  Amber Perkins plays her 14 year old best friend and also brings it bigtime, but not quite as convincingly as Quinn.  Based on the low budget nature here, I'm actually very impressed with pretty much all the performances on display, as well as the script it's derived from, so why not also give a shout out to the writer/director Michael Goi?  OK, shout outs to all 3!!!

My 1 big gripe, as is usually the case with a movie involving youngsters, is that none of the actors playing 13, 14, and various other teen ages, are remotely close to these ages in real life.  The 2 leads don't look all that much older, but some of the other teens in the party scene look like they're in their mid twenties (and to be truthful, both leads actually are in their early twenties, but could pass for mid/late teens, I guess).

But I understand why, in this case.  The subject matter is as hard R rated as it comes, IMO.  The depiction of these teen girl's lives is downright shocking to me.  I hope life hasn't deteriorated to this level for today's youth, but then again, in some areas, for some groups, I'm sure it is a reality.

Megan does everything in the book, from alcohol, drugs, sex, to talking like a sailor.  And it's the level of each that comes off so shocking.  The normality of this life in her eyes is downright scary.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, so I'm not going to go into any detail, but I will outline the plot quickly and leave with a few thoughts.

We're talking about internet predators here as well as early teen lives that are out of control - and the dangers today's youth faces with such a naive, blind eye.

Megan is just about as "bad" a character as you can get away with.  You could say she's downright despicable, yet, for a number of reasons, I not only liked her, but thought she was pretty cool, although mixed up and fucked up.  In 1 gut wrenching scene, she calmly tells of the first time she gave head at 10 years old, to a 17 year old guy, who basically forced it.  Then, she continues and tells how her step father repeatedly raped her at 9 years old - and her mother didn't believe her and holds her responsible for putting him in prison.  To pull that kind of all dialogue scene off is almost impossible, yet Rachel Quinn nails it, and her eyes tell the real pain she hides inside, but doesn't show outwardly.

I don't have any children, but watching this film made me fear for all of America's youth (OK, all the world's youth).  We hear of this kind of thing again and again in the news and know that it really does happen.  Are the predator's the ones to blame 100%?  Well, sure, they're sick, twisted fucks who don't deserve to be alive, but we know they're out there...we know they're a real threat.  Do we blame the naive children, looking for a good time, who think "this could never happen to me"?  It's only human nature to seek out excesses and a little excitement, isn't it?  Do we blame the parents who either don't know or don't care enough to do whatever it takes to keep their children safe from such horrors?  Or, do we simply blame society for what's transpired to the morals of our youth?

You can blame whoever or whatever you want, but if you have children in or near this age group, you need to be aware of what's out there and what it's capable of.  In a strange way, I can actually see this being used in school as an education piece, but I can also see how that would be downright crazy and completely inappropriate, and parents would be outraged.

This film did what few others have for me - it scared me and made me feel sick to my stomach.  It made me feel dirty all over.  It made me angry and it made me sad.  As the credits rolled and a "happier times" Flashback played, it made me cry.

Powerful, gut wrenching shit here.

I had mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, I agree that technically speaking, the film is extremely well done. I've heard a lot of people say the film has bad acting. It seems these people have no idea how teenagers talk and behave. They're basically kids that think they're adults and try to present themselves as such to adults and other teenagers alike. I thought both leads were pretty authentic. I have a sixteen year old sister as reference.

I also thought the subject matter was really spot on. A lot of the people I went to junior high and high school with were actually worse than the ones portrayed in this film. I think it's hard for adults to really imagine what teenagers are into, as teenagers do their best to stay clandestine, but rest assured, they're not all angels.

As a found footage film, I thought this was pretty well paced and constructed and indeed, I'm amongst the crowd that thought the ending was extremely disturbing. I think the slow burn and the fact that it involves a very sweet character who doesn't deserve any of what transpires exasperates the impact. It's also 22 minutes of straight misery and not some throwaway twist that is over with in 7. It gets the time to sink in.

However...

The ending is kinda what spoiled the film for me, honestly, and not for the reasons the director would want, I wouldn't expect. First off, the film is fervently dedicated to realism, right up to the end, and yet, any documentary filmmaker with respect for his subjects would not have featured the last 22 minutes. Seems more in line of something like How To Catch A Predator. So once you hit that mark, Michael Goi inadvertently drops the veil and you realize you're watching a film. Any attempts to simulate a documentary pretty much fail in the end.

Of course, Megan is Missing is a film and is entitled to some creative license. But if you're that dedicated to coming off as real, it's going to take some considerations, especially considering the subject matter. If you want to come off with some integrity, anyway. Otherwise, it's just... icky.

And indeed, the film leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, not just in regards to what the film's about but in regards to the people who made the film. I highly doubt they intended to come off as exploitative but at least their morals seem misplaced. I suspect the rationale for the ending is to push the message, which is a pretty serious one. Unfortunately, it's pretty shallow as well. Of course there's Internet predators out there. Of course teenagers are out having sex and doing drugs. Of course parents need to be aware of what's going on. Duh...

That said, the overly satirical news reenactment of Megan's kidnapping makes the director come off as kinda douchy, considering how misguided the film seems in the end. Pot calling the kettle black IMO.

Still, MIM is one of the better found footage films I've seen and its lack of technical flaws is admirable. The subject matter and, more importantly, the treatment of it is going to be subjective no matter what. Plot holes are plot holes. Bad acting is bad acting.

At the very least, a decent effort.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows about this movie. I'll have to say that this movie was awful when I first watched it. The acting was downright terrible, and Amy (Megan's friend) seemed to have no sympathy for Megan's disappearance, nor did Amy's parents when their daughter went missing too.

However, the last 22 minutes saved the movie, and after watching the movie, the more I thought about it, the more I really started to like the movie. Yeah, it's terrible when it comes to believability for the first hour, but after that, what happens to Amy is when it gets real intense and sickening. The movie did scare me at the end because everything got way too real. Even The Poughkeepsie Tapes didn't disturb me as much as this did. The rape scene gave me chills and to think that this was happening to a 13-year-old just made me feel so extremely sick in my stomach that I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened to Amy if she did get away—psychologically that is. To see her emotions change from one direction to another during that scene just made me pretty freaked out as to how realistic it was.

Though, there was one part that scared the shit out of me. I won't spoil it, but all I want to say is that I never want to open a barrel ever again. That scene was the peak of the film for me, and if I were Amy, I would have dropped dead right there if I saw what was inside. Afterward, when "Josh" was digging the hole and Amy was talking to him, and how she was saying that she loved him and that she just wanted him to open the barrel just once so she could get some air, and even saying that she has her whole life ahead of her, that was just heart-breaking. I can't imagine anyone dying that way. Not only is it an awful way to go physically, but for that to be your final moments is psychologically heart-breaking, even for someone who is now dead. That's a lot of bad mojo that will be hanging around that area.

As for the rest of the movie, it was hard to sit through, but it was something to take into consideration. Megan's story of her first sexual encounter was pretty raunchy and messed up, and for her relationship with her mother and stepfather to be that way was pretty screwy as well. The party scene was crazy as well and it's sad to know that kids that young really do do stuff like that. It's awful to think about.

All in all, this movie may be bad in acting (until the last 22 minutes with Amy—at least that's when I felt the acting amped up to a good performance), and slow in some parts, but it's something that everyone should take into consideration. The fact that meeting people online has now become so extremely prominent that stuff like this is most likely going to happen more and more. It's scary because it's so real, but people just really need to know the procedures when it comes to meeting people online, and they also need to know that people fake lives in order to take advantage of others. I haven't seen it, but I hear that the movie "Catfish" does the same thing (I want to see that movie as well).

I recommend it, but for those who do have children, mainly daughters, may want to stray away from this movie. Though, if you do decide to watch it, just be aware that this movie definitely crosses the line, but you need to keep in mind that stuff like this happens, and that's what makes this movie so scary.

Sean

Hey Sean, good review and I agree with most of your comments, but I don't understand how you, or anyone else, could say the acting was bad up until the ending.

IMO, the actress who played Megan did an amazing job working with very difficult to pull off material.  She seemed so real to me in all her conversations with various other characters.  This kind of "realism" is hard to capture on film and for me, it totally worked and made like, feel sorry for, and root for her completely.

There were some plot and logic holes dealing with Amy's parents, the other friends, and the cops, but no on here is a real Pro, from what I can tell and the budget is minuscule.

Also want you to know I agree with you 100% about that 1 flash scene inside the barrel.  Truly haunting and horrific, and still fresh in my mind's eye.