Megan Is Missing

I just watched Megan is Missing finally and I do not understand the level of hate this movie gets. Going to talk about it. Short answer: It's not for everyone but no horror is. But it does have a very underappreciated place in horror.

Exploitation films are films designed to make you feel bad and somewhat mock the genre they exist within. Even movies that are incredibly bleak (like this) tend to tell their story in an entertaining way. They still have a perspective and a purpose.

This movie doesn't.

It's fascinating in how that is portrayed. Found footage films, despite their nature, still always feel like a director's hand is involved. They're still guiding you through the story they want to tell in a specific way. Megan is Missing doesn't do that. A lot like the August Underground series, which is also grossly underappreciated, or the Slaughtered Vomit Dolls series..it's not trying to tell you a story necessarily. It's presenting a story to you in a very dry, perspectiveless, factual way. If this were real and you were someone forced to comb through actual footage, it would be like this. Not neatly spliced together like a traditional film but instead just be a series of plain events that on their own are honestly boring. But together it paints a much grimmer, bleaker, realistic picture for you because it doesn't tell you to feel any one way. A horror movie that doesn't force your hand to root for the villain or the victim. It just exists. This movie gets shot down a lot by people saying it's hollow and it's disturbing for the sake of being disturbing. You are 100% correct. It is. It's designed to be. This is a subgenre horror and the exploitation subgenre of horror particularly that is told in this way. It's also a time capsule of this era of history. I know people joke "internet bad" when talking about this movie but think about the nature of the internet in the mid 2000s to 2010. This movie takes place in 2007 and as someone who was on the internet in 2007..yea..this really mirrors what high schoolers can be exposed to online in that era of the internet. You have to understand this story in the context of that time which just adds to a sense of realism.

Now, would I recommend this movie? No. Unless you're like me and you happen to enjoy this kind of film making for the sake of it, then sure. But I won't call a genius film. You can have a disturbing and bleak slice-of-life kind of story and still have a traditionally entertaining story (A Serbian Film, Unfriended, Raise the Red Lantern, and Eden lake are all wonderful examples of this). But if you happen to enjoy August Underground or Slaughtered Vomit Dolls in terms of that story telling style, this is may be worth it for you. It's not gorey like those two it's more "baby's first introduction to this kind of film making" but it's a valid entry on that list. It could have been more impactful in a short story format but..only in the long format can you have 10 minutes of a guy digging a hole uninterrupted. That is part of the impact of the film. It's dry and mundane. Real life is far more horrific than story based horror. Megan is Missing is a prime example of that.

I wasted $3.99 renting this movie because of the reactions of Gen Z on tiktok. This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen.

I had no clue what this movie was about when I started watching it. Based on the name and considering I read absolutely nothing about it I assumed it must be some sort of teeny bop slasher. To be honest I almost turned this off within the first 20min. I kept looking at my Fiancée unimpressed and asking him if this is what the whole movie was about.

For the most part this movie follows two 14 year old girls and their complicated lives of living as young teens. It shows the silly things teens care about, the stupid things they do and their obnoxious behaviour. As I said, I almost turned this off thinking it would turn into some sort of Jersey Shore episode.

After a while the storyline changed into a beautiful story about two little girls and their intense bond to each other. This is where I began to fall in love with the two main characters. Megan, has some serious problems in her life and you begin to understand why she does what she does. She's outgoing, pretty, has a great sense of humour and loves to party hardcore. Amy, shy, sweet and insecure idolizes Megan and has an intense bond with her. Both of these characters begin to have so much depth you begin to feel bonded with them.

The movie goes on and focuses on how teens nowadays use cameras to chat with boys. They meet random boys online to chat with and this is where their problems begin. Megan, who seems to be looking for a boy who wont treat her like a piece of meat meets a boy online (who says his camera broke so she cant see him) named "Josh". Josh is so sweet, says all the right things and sends her photos of a cute boy saying it's him. Megan is hooked.

I won't go on to tell the whole story but I do want to add that this movie disturbed me greatly. There are only two other movies I can think of that disturbed me like this and those are Baby Blues and The Girl Next Door. Maybe those two had more violence but this movie almost made me sick just like those two did.

This is an important subject, with teens and their insecurity problems and naivety it's too easy to lure them on the internet. Yes this movie packs a punch and is shocking and sick but if that's what people have to do to let parents know what's happening in the world today then more power to the director of this film.

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At first, I was upset. I mean, this movie was NOT what I expected. I thought I was watching a drama feature, something about the consequences of a situation in which a child gets involved with a stranger online… the consequences on the family, the friends… but no. Instead, I get a movie that shows me the direct consequences of such events on the children themselves. And the images I saw were gruesome and scary and so upsetting that I had to stop the movie 10 minutes before the end. And then I couldn't sleep. And I was angry! Because I felt cheated by the filmmaker for putting his movie under "drama" and I kept thinking that If I had known the extent of the horrors he was about to show me, I would have NEVER watched his movie. Never.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it. And so I did a little research and ended on the filmmaker's website in which he explains what he meant to say. And I read that letter written to him by the father of a child that was murdered by a sexual predator… and somehow it all started to make sense. Then throughout the day I told my dad and two of my friends about the movie. Telling them what I saw and how it made me feel, but also telling them about the filmmaker's statement and from this ensued three long conversations about the dangers of the numerous information and communication technologies that we use and take for granted and how they changed the way children (and people) relate to one another. We spoke about how scary it was to realize that your child isn't safe even if he's in the comfort of his own home. And it made me realize the importance of having only one computer (as the filmmaker suggests) in the common room of the house as opposed to having one in each bedroom.

My mom has been thinking of getting my 14 years old stepsister her own computer and I think I'm going to tell her about the movie. About what it made me think about. And why I would advise her against it.

It's funny because it makes me think of one of my favourite movies, Shion Sono's "Suicide Club" that sort of exposes the dangers and effects of information and communication technologies but in a much more "metaphorical" way. "Megan Is Missing" is not like "Suicide Club". It's brutal and painful and crude and completely uncensored. But maybe it is EXACTLY what we needed in order to wake up and do something before it becomes too late.

And for this, I truly thank the filmmaker.

Obviously DesertTrash (previous reviewer) is an idiot by all definitions. This isn't a "snuff" film nor is it meant to be. The creators of this movie, which were based on actual events by the way, were trying to educate viewers of todays predators and the ease of doing so using modern technology that many of the younger generation consider to be tame and innocuous. I agree that this is a tough film to watch especially if you have children that at teenagers or younger but it is also a call to arms for parents and responsible caring adults to take notice of their children's activities and know who their friends are and above all, to be involved in their children's lives. I wouldn't classify this movie as entertainment by any means nor did I find it enjoyable or a "feel good movie" to cuddle up with a loved one on a Saturday night but I would highly recommend it to any parent today. It's one of the scariest films I've seen in a long long time.