Onde Está Megan?

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.

I remember that, a while back, the government of my country (The Netherlands) was trying to put together an educational program to teach teenagers about the dangers of the Internet and how sexual predators are active on it (don't meet up with someone alone, and all that). This film's only purpose seems to be made for just that, it's an educational video. In the USA you have those ads "Meth, not even once"? This has the same message written all over it. No harm done, but don't call it a movie...

Some of the reviewers on this site and several others have said that the message is the most important thing about this flick, but I'll let you in on a secret: it's not. The acting was horribly unconvincing, the characters where flat, shallow stereotypes, and as far as the rape scene: go watch "Irreversible" and then come back and tell me that was the worst, stomach hurting, godaweful scene you ever saw in a movie. Plus, that movie *will* enrich your life, whereas this one really doesn't.

In short, if you haven't seen it: don't watch it.

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.

Where on EARTH do you start.

First, I'm not an apologist for abuse - I'm a therapist who works, every day, with abuse and trauma. So I really GET an attempt to explore this issue - and warn - from the victim's point of view.

And, to be fair, filming this in 8 days? Remarkable.

But...

I'm left with all kinds of icky feelings. True, Megan is pretty unbearable. She's become a bit slutty, offering what she CAN offer to boys because she can - because it doesn't matter that much (enough) to her, and that first harrowing trivial hour makes it clear what made her life, her body, less important to her than it should have been.

And Amy? Well, she's annoying, and a bit too squeaky clean, but this is annoyingly tangled up with her own self image, when in fact it's Megan's self image that is really more impaired.

The artifice of the whole film being webcam, 'phone and video is clever. Clever as in cheap, and amateurish, which works.

But that last 22 minutes. Well. Sadly, it's better shot than the previous hour, it's boring in places, (digging is NOT good cinema), and, all in all, it left me, (leaves me), feeling hollow, and empty.

There is a claim, at the start of the film, that this is based on a true story, but I've looked, hard, and can't find any proof.

There's a terribly upsetting "Every day 2000 parents say..." about abduction. Gleaned from the Klass site. But on the very next line on the Klass site, this number is diminished, and also made less clear (ie. NOT juvenile).

I don't know. I don't want to damn this film, and I don't want to pretend abuse isn't a terrible thing. It's just that my sense is, somewhere, the director got lost, and the producers didn't say so.

I admire that this is being done - ie an attempt to raise the issue. AND that the film was clearly made on a shoestring, in 8 days. But 22 year old actresses just don't (can't) look 13, and simply because abused girls don't LOOK like they have any depth doesn't mean they don't HAVE any depth.

This isn't a complete damning of this film. 'Enjoy' would be wrong, but I watched it, at least. It's just - I don't know... It could have been so much better, and it could STILL have been filmed in 8 days.

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.