Film

Film review: Megan Is Missing

A boring New Year’s Day saw me spend the day tucked up in bed, watching horror movies. Granted, a weird way to spend the first day of the year, but hey ho!

After reading through suggestions online, my movie marathon ended up with me watching one of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen before, and you probably haven’t even heard of it.

“Megan Is Missing” is a 2011 drama thriller directed and written by Michael Goi, whereby the tag line is “Megan and Amy are best friends. They share secrets. They chat with guys online. And in a few days, they will never be seen again” never saw a cinema release but has garnered a somewhat sizeable cult following online, especially in the horror movie circle and blogosphere.

The cast is comprised of unknowns, with the protagonists Megan (Rachel Quinn) and Amy (Amber Perkins) embarking on a cyber journey with “Josh” a typical skateboarding Californian boy who goes to a high school nearby.

Megan strikes up an online relationship with him, and although he claims his webcam is broken, still manages to coerce Megan to meet up with him, having never seen his face.

A full scale search goes underway to help try and find missing Megan, however a few days later, Amy is kidnapped.

The film is in the style of “found footage”, sans the shaky camera recordings like the more successful predecessors of the genre such as the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Pieced together by video webcam chats, FaceTime style phone calls, news bulletins and even video diaries from Amy, you can’t help but feel like you’re a part of their lives. You feel like Megan and Amy are real and you feel a connection to them. Your friends, or if you’re a parent, your daughters.

The film ends with what are the most disturbing scenes witnessed (and I like to think of myself of a hardened, hardcore horror movie buff), often referred to as the infamous last “22 minutes” sees what can happened when an internet predator ensnares it’s prey.

This film is one to be watched, but with viewer discretion advised. It was made to shock, and provoke. A cautionary tale to the cyber-savvy generation. The moral of the twisted story is that you need to be wary of who you’re talking to, and not everyone online is who they say they are.

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