September 14, 2018
Written by: Matt Leslie, Stephen J. Smith
Starring: Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery
Quote: "15. 15 is the perfect age. I wish I could freeze it for you."
Trivia: In Mackey's secret lockup is a Volkswagen Beetle. The same make of car owned by serial killer Ted Bundy.
Twenty years from now when people look at the mid-to-late 2010s, what they will notice is our heavy nostalgia for 1980s culture. The huge successes of Stranger Things and IT and the more cult successes of Future Man and Turbo Kid are testament to our love of all things 80s. Created by the same people who did Turbo Kid, Summer of 84 fits nicely in this mashup of nostalgia. While the 1980s culture is laid on pretty thick, it does both help to keep the film entertaining and more importantly helps build towards themes in the film.
The film at its heart is an attack on 1980s nostalgia. Nostalgia, at its heart, is a whitewashing of our collective memory. We choose to remember Pacman, ET, "Where's the Beef?", and Dexy's Midnight Runners. And therefore we choose to ignore the other stuff... the latchkey kids, rampant divorce, drug/alcohol/sexual excess, Reaganomics, the Cold War, the Savings and Loan Crisis, the Satanic Panic, a drastic increase in the prison population, etc. The 1980s were both a period of the perfect suburban home and the darkness that happens behind closed curtains. I think (and I could be wrong) that a character even mentions hiding secrets is why curtains were invented. Not everything is what it seems and not everything is how we choose to remember it.
Summer of 84 is a horror/mystery and follows a group of four near-teenagers as they try to find a serial killer who has been killing children their age in their community. In a plot resembling Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window or event better, The 'Burbs, one of the children is convinced that his next door neighbor, the hero cop Officer Mackey is the killer. Has he just let his imagination run wild or could Mackey really be the killer?
It takes over an hour to answer the above question and I think this is what frustrated some horror fans. However, this time is no wasted but instead it is building the characters and helping to emphasize the theme that things are not always what the seen and highlight the darkness of the 1980s. In the group, there is Davey, a frequent conspiracist whose views on Mackey are ignored by every, including his friends. Next is his loyal friend Woody. Through the film we discover that Woody is raised by a single mother (an increasingly common theme of the 1980s) who is working sixty hours a week to avoid foreclosure and has taken to drinking heavily at night and near-catatonic depression. Next is Faraday the nerdish friend. Finally, there's Eats. During one poignant scene "Eats" leaves his house visibly upset listening to punk rock as we can hear his parents yell and throw things at each other in the house behind. The domestic violence and lack of avenues for the children's frustration are hidden behind the pastel colors of suburbia.
SPOILERS: Do Not Read If You Don't Want The End Spoiled
By the end of the movie, the entire facade is torn away. Davey and Woody discover Mackey's hidden room where he has a bathtub full of the remains of one boy and another living boy tied up. Although the boy's life is saved and Davey and Woody are now local heros, Mackey kidnaps them that night and forces them to run through the forest as he hunts them. They eventually stumble upon the site where Mackey abandon's the bodies. Mackey overpowers Woody and slits his throat and tells Davey that instead of killing him, he is going to let him wait in fear until he eventually comes back one day to murder him.The final scene is heart breaking. The group of friends has been destroyed. Davey rides his bicycle alone past Faraday and Eats who can hardly look at him, having abandoned him in his time of need and not knowing how to relate to what Davey has experienced. At this moment Faraday and Eats are also tearing apart the tree fort that Eat's father insisted they destroy. This scene can also be seen a symbol of the destruction of their innocence. Davey also rides by Woody's house which now has a foreclosure sign on the lawn. As Davey gets home he has no other choice than to sit alone, hug himself, and cry. He was forced to see firsthand what the manicured lawns and cookie cutter houses were supposed to hide. The 1980s and suburbia are not what we remembered them to be. Earlier in the film Mackey asked Davey his age to which he replied 15 and Mackey responded, "That's the perfect age. I wish I could freeze it for you." Talk to a fifteen year old. Despite our fond memories, none would wish to stay that age.
I loved the film! I ate up the 1980s nostalgia (despite the movie's theme)!
...what's your thoughts?
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