X
- 2018
- Not Rated
- Gunpowder & Sky
- 1 h 45 m
- 2018
- Not Rated
- Gunpowder & Sky
- 1 h 45 m
Summary Summer, 1984: The perfect time to be 15 years old and care free. But when neighborhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbor might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous.
Directed By: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Written By: Matt Leslie, Stephen J. Smith
- 2018
- Not Rated
- Gunpowder & Sky
- 1 h 45 m
- 2018
- Not Rated
- Gunpowder & Sky
- 1 h 45 m
Summer of 84
57
6.5
Where to Watch
Summary Summer, 1984: The perfect time to be 15 years old and care free. But when neighborhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbor might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous.
Directed By: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Written By: Matt Leslie, Stephen J. Smith
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
57
56% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
57
56% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Summer ’84 requires patience. If you find yourself feeling like you’re bored by familiarity, just wait. You won’t be disappointed.
If you’re patient, though, and not put off by the familiarity of this material, Summer of ’84 gains in interest and urgency as it goes.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 83 User Ratings
6.5
55% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
33% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
12% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 83 User Ratings
6.5
55% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
33% Mixed
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
12% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
SUMMER OF 84 is a delightfully nostalgic, incredibly tense, and in the end, honestly brutal horror film. The story brings to mind Rear Window and Fright Night, but this old fashioned spook-fest no doubt stands on it's own. Just think Stranger Things but replace supernatural with brutal true-crime and you get one of the best films of 2018.
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Not too much to say. The poster more or less says it all. It's a 80s as hell thriller, essentially it's Disturbia meets Goonies. It's popcorn friendly fun with some scares. Everything is as cliched as possible and yet, done right and with respect, making it enjoyable.
Overall: This movie feels like it was made in the 80s and has all the charm 80s thrills and flare. Cheese, but good cheese.
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There’s an earnestness amid the well-executed jump scares and gruesome pay-off, an honesty that can sometimes be in short supply in teen-centric horror.
At its height, Summer of ’84 sings like a sandy page-turner you end up finishing in the fall, with the wind swirling and mischief night just around the corner.
The film’s dialogue and characterization are similarly undercooked: The script strains painfully hard for off-the-cuff vulgarity, but never quite achieves it, and while the pop culture references—always a punching bag for critics when dealing with nostalgia-themed entertainments—are applied sparingly, the tin-earned dialogue gives them an awkward, shoehorned-in quality.
Summer of ’84 is only cute and competent enough to be diverting; it’s neither funny nor scary enough to leave a lasting impression.
Mystery-wise, the film teases viewers pretty effectively, with plenty of jolts that suggest the boys are on the right track balanced by other signs they're making something out of nothing.... But with a couple of small exceptions, attempts to flesh out the teen characters don't work very well.
This movie doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Does it have problems? Of course it does, I can only name one that may be a detriment to the average veiwer. But even then it leads into the best finale I've seen in a horror movie. Incredibly underrated, excellent soundtrack, great protagonists, and worth at least one or two watches.
8/10
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Never finds a real reason to exist, and tonally it's a bit of a mess (is it comedy or horror, loving tribute or satire?) but it has charm, and the ending is audacious.
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I loved Turbo kId so was exciting for this Director's next film but it was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, there are some positives, the main one being the incredible synthwave soundtrack, others being the funny dialogue (although a little generic) and the realistic 80's feel. But the film is just too 'safe.' It's completely predictable, the plot is very unoriginal and there are no real climactic scenes. Even the ending feels rushed and lack-lustre. I was reading that there would be some kind of blood bath and was thinking of the gore in Turbo kid, but this just doesn't happen. But everyone's a critic eh? I couldn't direct a film this good. Worth a watch but quite forgettable
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Summer of 84 suffers from a boring script and some of the worst dialogue i've heard in a film this year. It goes for that teenage boy sex talk but none of it lands, nor is it funny. I know these actors are kids, but the performance feel as if they're reading directly off the page of a book in English class. There's no chemistry with this children. "IT" had child actors that knocked it out of the park. These kids, not so much. Nothing about this film was inherently interesting until the last 30 minutes. What I had expected to turn out, turned out. The film introduces you to a mystery theory but lacks the skill of suspense to make it interesting, and it turns out like you think it would. Nothing in the story is introduced to throw you off or think differently, it offers zero mystery when it's supposed to be a mysterious film. Overall a terrible watch that mildly entertains in the last act.
20/100
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Production Company
Brightlight Pictures
Release Date Aug 10, 2018
Duration 1 h 45 m
Rating Not Rated
Awards
Molins Film Festival
• 3 Nominations
Cinepocalypse
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
