Megan Is Missing

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.

This movie is so pathetic that it actually encouraged me to write my first review on IMDb. Why? Because i think it would be a crime and an irresponsibility not to warn the world from the insulting garbage i just watched. The problem with this movie is everything! I can't imagine hoe they could ever think this was good. the acting is abysmal, the writing is lazy and even funny (in a bad way) and the directing is worst than terrible. The overall idea of the movie is just wrong, the way the characters behave is not even close to how real people would act. The whole point of the movie is antagonizing the internet when the director and the creators of the movie don't even understand the concept of online browsing. THE DIRECTOR... Oh my god this guy made some mistakes not even i would have made in a high school movie project! The quality of the shots doesn't match the devices this movie is supposed to be shot with (like cellphones, "computer files", and web-cam footage) WHO the HELL says COMPUTER FILES! There is even a scene where you can actually hear the guy yelling "ACTION!" and he didn't edit that out. How careless is that? Have you no shame? I was so impressed by this that I googled the guy, and he is the... wait i have to take a moment to say this... he is the PRESIDENT of the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) That's it people. I'm out... I've got nothing. Do yourself a favor, and don't watch this movie. It's dumb, it's childish, it's terribly written, terribly acted, horribly edited and insultingly bad directed. It deserves less than a 0 in rating. From now on I will only write positive reviews for good movies because I don't want this to be my last one... It sure was my first one though.

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.

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.

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.