It Came From The Cineplex: Summer Of 84

Summer of 84 was written by Stephen J. Smith and Matt Leslie. It was directed by Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Kark Whissell. Try typing those names three times fast!

Smith previously wrote The Harrowing, whatever that is. Leslie previously wrote... well, nothing. Summer Of 84 appears to be his first theatrical work.

Simard and the Whissells (they're brother & sister) are a trio of Canadian directors, who go by the collective name of "RKSS." Hey, everyone knows the more directors, the better, right? All the best movies have more than one. RKSS previously directed Turbo Kid, which had a similar 1980s aesthetic.

When I first saw the trailer I thought, "Wow, a Stranger Things ripoff! That didn't take long!" It's a fair comparison, since both properties take place in the mid 1980s, and feature a quartet of teenaged boys riding around on bikes as they investigate mysterious happenings in the suburbs.

But that's where the similarities end though. In reality, Summer Of 84 is pretty much a remake of Disturbia, which itself was a retelling of the Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window. It's a remake of a remake that looks like a ripoff.

Honestly I'm not sure why the film was set in the 80s, as there are few if any references to the decade, and the setting has absolutely no relevance to the plot. There's no reason it couldn't have been set in the present day.

There've been a lot of recent TV series and films that worship at the altar of the 1980s, including Stranger Things, IT and Ready Player One. I'm assuming the filmmakers were just riding that wave of nostalgia here.

Despite its less than original storyline, Summer Of 84 manages to be a decent little thriller. It's definitely a slow burn film, which may turn off some viewers. Things finally pick up some in the third act, as the tension and suspense ramps up, but by then it may be too late.

I was expecting some king of plot twist toward the end, but sadly it never came. The storyline is pretty simple, and makes a unwavering beeline from setup to resolution, with no sidesteps or surprises along the way. 

Ordinarily I don't have a problem with stripped-down plotting, but in this case it made the killer's ultimate reveal predictable and underwhelming. 

Summer Of 84 had a VERY limited theatrical release, so much so that I can't find any info on its box office gross or even its budget. I can't imagine either one was very high. Why the hell would anyone spend all that time and money making a film and then not show it?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
In the summer of 1984 (natch!), the sleepy town of Cape May, Oregon is rocked by the disappearance of yet another teen boy. The townspeople suspect it's the work of the Cape May Slayer, a serial killer who's abducted thirteen boys in the past decade.

We then meet our characters, as they chill in their tree house hideout discussing the Slayer. There's Davey Armstrong, the town's resident conspiracy theorist and our main character, Woody Woodworth, the "fat one," Curtis Farraday, the "brainy one," and Eats Eaton, the delinquent. 

For some reason, Davey suspects his neighbor Wayne Mackey (played by Rich Sommer— the only cast member you're likely to recognize) is secretly the Slayer. The others think he's nuts, as Mackey is a popular and respected police officer.

Desperate for proof, Davey sits in his room and trains his binoculars at Mackey's house, which is just across the street. He sees Mackey inside, talking with a teen boy he's never seen before. Feeling this is suspicious, he makes a note of it.

Davey then uses  the binoculars to peer at the home of Nikki Kaszuba, his secret crush and next door neighbor. He watches her as she changes clothes in her bedroom, but she unexpectedly turns around and catches him spying on her. 

Nikki comes over to Davey's house, lets herself in and goes up to his room. She's more bemused than angry that he's been watching her. Her mood changes as she tells him her parents are getting divorced, and she'll be moving away soon. She thanks him for listening, gives him a kiss and climbs out the window.

A few days later, the boy Davey saw in Mackey's house appears in a "missing child" ad on the back of a milk carton. This convinces Davey's friends that he may be onto something.

The four teens begin spying on Mackey, keeping a detailed account of his daily activities. They notice he buys an inordinate amount of gardening tools and lots of bags of soil. He also brings a mysterious duffel bag to work every day, and goes jogging late at night. 

Unfortunately none of this provides them with any evidence, so they decide to hide a walkie-talkie outside Mackey's bedroom window. Davey watches Mackey's house, and sees him standing in his bedroom window, holding the walkie. Davey worries that Mackey's onto them.

Meanwhile, a black-haired teen boy is walking home through Davey's neighborhood at night. He hears something behind him and when he turns, he's knocked out and abducted by the Cape May Slayer.

The next day Davey comes up with a more daring plan. He waits till Mackey leaves his house and sends Woody and Farraday to follow him. Davey and Eats then investigate Mackey's garden shed.

Woody and Farraday tail Mackey to a self storage center, where he keeps a second car and large canisters of sodium hydroxide. Farraday gulps and says sodium hydroxide can be used to dissolve organic tissue. Meanwhile, Davey and Eats break into the shed and find a bloodstained shirt. Davey recognizes it as the one the Milk Carton Boy was wearing.

Davey and the others then present their evidence to his parents. Mr. Armstrong, who's a local TV reporter, is shocked and appalled that they've been following and harassing an innocent man. He marches the boys over to Mackey's house and forces them to apologize. 

Mackey's amused by the boys' antics, and says there're no hard feelings. Mackey says the chemicals are for his garden, and the bloody shirt belonged to his nephew, who cut himself while helping him move a table. Mr. Armstrong tells Davey he's grounded for the rest of the summer.

Davey doesn't believe Mackey, and tries to get the other boys to continue the investigation. They're satisfied with his explanations though, and tell Davey to drop it already. Later that day, Mackey shows up at Davey's house while his parents are out. He offers to call his nephew to prove to Davey that he was telling the truth. Davey says OK, but becomes nervous when Mackey enters the foyer. He tells him to stay put and brings the phone to him. Mackey calls his nephew, but there's no answer. Davey says not to worry about it, and hurriedly rushes Mackey out of the house,locking the door behind him.

Davey then calls the operator, and discovers Mackey called his own number instead of his alleged nephew's. This reaffirms his suspicions that Mackey's a serial killer.

The next day, the town's abuzz with the news that the Cape May Slayer's been caught— by none other than Officer Mackey! Davey doesn't believe it of course, and somehow talks his friends into reopening their investigation. He gets Farraday and Eats to attend the Annual Cape May Festival and keep their eyes on Mackey, who's the guest of honor. During the Festival, Farraday finds out that Mackey bought the bags of soil for a park beautification project. He and Eats then abandon their posts and go home.

While his parents are out, Davey, Woody and Nikki sneak into Mackey's house. Woody films the whole thing with Mr. Armstrong's new video camera. They go down to the basement, where they find a bizarre and creepy recreation of Mackey's childhood bedroom. They then find a locked door and nervously force it open. Inside they discover the remains of the Milk Carton Boy being dissolved in a tub of sodium hydroxide. As they back out of the room in horror, they stumble over the black-haired boy, who's still alive.

Cut to Davey and the others in the police department, as they play the tape for the Chief. He watches in shock and disgust, and issues an APB on Officer Mackey. Mr. Armstrong apologizes profusely to Davey for not believing him.

Woody then spends the night at Davey's house for reasons. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong very awkwardly assure the two boys they're safe now, and tell them goodnight. Right on cue, Mackey creeps down out of the attic and knocks out the two boys. He takes them to a remote tidal island and turns them loose, announcing he's going to play a game of "Manhunt" with them.

The boys take off into the woods, but tumble down a hill and land in a bog where Mackey's been dumping his bodies. Davey sees Mackey's police cruiser parked a few hundred feet away. He tells Woody to make a run for the car, and runs off in the opposite direction, yelling Mackey's name.

Woody makes it to the cruiser, but Mackey comes up behind him and slits his throat (!). Davey finds Woody's body and cradles it in his arms. Mackey then captures Davey, curses him for ruining his life, but decides not to kill him. Instead he tells him he's free to go, but warns he'll return for him some day. He'll never know exactly when though, and he'll have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.

Cut to Davey on his paper route, as he passes the homes of his neighbors: Eats' house (his parents fighting in the front yard), Milk Carton Boy and Mackey's now-abandoned home. He stops and opens one of his newspapers, whose headline reads, "Cape May Killer Still At Large."

Thoughts:
• Not a lot to say about the movie, so this'll be brief.

• Kudos to the four main actors, who all did a great job in the film. They seemed like actual kids, rather than the typical "movie teens."

One could argue that their characters are all stereotypical teen archetypes— you know, the brain, the punk, etc. Eh... I wasn't bothered by that, as I thought it helped differentiate them from one another.

That said, how the hell did this group of friends ever form in the first place? Davey, Woody and Farraday are all fairly nerdy, so I get why they're pals. But Eats is definitely the odd man out in the group. He's a heavy metal delinquent who's even had run-ins with the local police. 

He seems like the type who'd rather beat up Davey and the others than hang out with them. Especially in a freakin' backyard treehouse.

The only thing I can figure is that Eats was once a nerd like the others, but his horrible home life caused him to go through a "phase."

• Rich Sommer also does an amazing job as Officer Mackey. Somehow he manages to make him likable and endearing, but with an undercurrent of danger and malice. You're never quite sure whether he's going to hug someone or snap their neck, which really ratchets up the tension.

You may recognize Sommer from Madmen, as well as a few guest appearances in The Office. 

• When Nikki sneaks into Davey's room, she reminisces about how she used to babysit him. Wha...? How the hell did that work? They look like they're the same age!

The more I thought about it though, I realized that even if they're both in high school, they could still be four years apart. That means when Nikki was 14, Davey would have been just 9, and he'd have likely needed a sitter. So her statement checks out.

• The scene in which Davey's home alone and Mackey tries to "innocently" but firmly invite himself in was incredibly tense, and very well done. It's been a long time since a scene in the movie made me sit on the edge of my seat, so kudos to the directors!

• Unfortunately the film breaks down at the start of the first act, when Mackey's secret is revealed. The movie does its level best to pretend it's over and the threat's been eliminated, but it fails miserably as there's still another half hour to go!

I freely admit I can't think of a good way to fix this "fake ending" problem. It's common to many slasher/horror movies.

The worst part of the false denouement was the scene in which Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong assure Davey and Woody that they're safe. Their dialogue is extremely contrived, as they literally say, "You boys can sleep easy tonight, as that sicko Mackey will never get in here!" They then awkwardly leave them alone so Mackey can sneak in and attack them!

• In the final minutes, Mackey decides not to kill Davey, as he's come up with a better punishment. He vows to kill him someday, but he'll never know when. That way Davey'll have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.

Yeah, yeah, I get that this was supposed to be unsettling. But it felt like the movie just sputtered and coasted to a weak stop. It definitely needed a punchier ending.

Summer Of 84 is stripped-down, slow burn little thriller that's elevated by its top notch performances. Unfortunately it's also highly derivative, meaning there're absolutely no surprises. It falls apart a bit in the third act, but it's still worth a look. I give it a B-.