Summer of '84

 I really do get that there are plenty of folks out there who are just done with anything 80s. They are tired of retro geezers like me waxing rhapsodic about that fucking decade and just wished that any creative juices flowed towards anything other than the decade of "The Goonies", "Monster Squad", "The Lost Boys", or "Fright Night". The last two generations seem ready for horror content that steers away from the likes of "It" and "Stranger Things". They just want attention paid towards anywhere else. The trio of directors for the 2018 teen suburb serial killer adventure, "Summer of 84" (2018) --François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell -- really reveal this labor of love as clearly a special letter to the period of 1984, including a really catchy Synth soundtrack following in the footsteps of other homages to the 80s. Rich Sommer couldn't look less threatening which makes his casting quite effective...he looks boring, with a pudgy belly, non-threatening presence, giving off this middle-aged divorcee vibe, portraying Wayne Mackey, a cop working for the Ipswich Police Force in Oregon. He's single, with a pad-locked door in his basement, not to mention, a redroom for his photography hobby. The film's main hero is a conspiracy buff fifteen-year-old named Davey (Graham Verchere), who has the neighborhood paper route, a little bag around his shoulder, merrily biking the seemingly safe and ideal streets of his home. His next-door neighbor is a super cool blonde former-babysitter named Nikki (Tiera Skovbye; I want to see more of this young actress in the future) he has a crush on, soon to be leaving town after her parents divorce. Nikki is the girl you daydream about kissing and making out with as a teenager hitting puberty and sexual awakening, imaging her as the girl around your arm...she has a knockout smile and winning personality. And Nikki can dress in pants with suspenders and make it work while most others cannot...she is the kind of beauty who doesn't even have to try, one of those with effortless cool. There is a cute scene in the film where Nikki has taken off her bra and turns to notice that Davey is looking right at her...he was behind his friends who dropped below the window when they noticed she was about to catch them, leaving a stunned Davey embarrassed and flummoxed.

Davey's friends are Woody (Caleb Emery, that kind of big boy who looks much older than he is due to his height and girth), whose mom is overworked and a single mom trying to keep her shit together, Curtis (Cory Gruter-Andrew), the stereotypical library frequenting nerd with glasses, and Tommy 'Eats' (Judah Lewis), the Ramones-loving, black-jacket punk rocker with the nude magazines, always talking about the babes. The four of them hang out at a treehouse with nude model posters, passing around confiscated booze (there is a scene right out of "That 70s Show" where the camera goes from one kid to the next as they take a swig), talking about girls, and discussing the case of a serial killer named the Cape May Slayer.

Davey is excited at the prospects of the serial killer being possibly his nearby neighbor, coordinating a covert spying operation with his buddies in the hopes of catching Sommer's Mackey in the act. Going through his mail and garbage, taking notes of his movements and daily routine, following him around town, and investigating any curious or suspicious behavior; the four perhaps might get a bit too close for comfort. Mackey's flower garden, purchase of tools and dirt, identifiable characteristics similar to the profile of the serial killer, and a missing boy Davey noticed in his home while playing "manhunt" with his boys; these details keep Davey on the prowl. Even Nikki is drawn into the situation. I noticed "Disturbia" -- a teenage "Rear Window" homage -- is even brought up when describing "Summer of 84". As Shia Labouf's Kale and Sara Roemer's Ashley are similarly drawn into eventually spying on David Morse's Turner in the neighborhood.

So I have read plenty of negative reviews accosting this film for its similarities to a lot of different content already listed above, and I get that. "Derivative" and "ripoff" are thrown around by plenty of Letterboxd community's disgruntled reviewers who take this film to task for following the trends they are just plain tired of. There are a lot of people just over it. They just want the retro era of horror to end. Enough already is how they feel. But I can tell you that I have Facebook friends who love them some Stranger Things, though. They love their 80s nostalgia porn. I'm one of them, to tell you the truth. I don't tire of the likes of "Summer of 84" and its ilk. All the same, if you are among those in the Letterboxd community, though, that just wants these trips down memory lane to fucking stop for a while (or maybe forever), I am of that feeling you may be in for further frustration. Until those of us like me quit watching them, or enough outcry compounds against such 80s fan service the horror creators collectively decide to quite making them, I don't see a foreseeable future without films like "Summer of 84". But like all trends, at some point the well will be dry and fatigue will set in. Granted, I surf through Tubi and YouTube all the time looking for 80s horror/slashers I might have missed because I was too young to rent them from video stores in the late 80s and early 90s until I was of age. With Shudder and plenty of other competing streamers looking for content, horror of different types can find a home. But nostalgia seems to remain fertile and popular as evidenced by the recent Fear Street series of films that caught on for a few weeks. And it does seem like money is afforded to productions that set stories in the past...maybe it is because the present and future are so bleak and so any trips down memory lane that offer something fun and exciting beats the alternative. 3.5/5

***If it feels like this was cut-off, that is because I plan to revisit this in the upcoming afternoon. The ending really knocks you back, I think, because prior to the last 20 minutes, the previous 80 felt like a PG-13 teenage-friendly adventure where the kids catch the killer, get evidence to the police, convince their parents of Mackey's guilt, and celebrate his capture by collectively taking another swig in the treehouse, except this time Nikki is joining them. However, "Summer of 84" doesn't allow us (or, especially Davey) to feel so at ease.***