Remember the days when kids looked at girly mags, swore a lot, and went on neighborhood adventures that got them BD in danger with the quickness? I sure as fuck do, and so does RKSS (the directorial team that brought us post-apocalyptic ’80’s homage Turbo Kid), and boy are horror hounds all the better for it!
Summer of ’84 begins with four neighborhood chums (all archetypes; the fat kid, the nerd, the average Joe, and the leather-clad bad boy) playing a modified hide and seek game…a childish diversion in an environment that has the dark cloud of a rash of missing children hanging over it like a pitch black cloud. The “average Joe” of the group, Davey Armstrong (Graham Verchere), begins to suspect that something is amiss with his police officer neighbor Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer)…an outwardly friendly sort that just so happens to have a padlocked room in his basement. Now it’s up to our heroes to put the clues they discover together in order to prove that their suspect is guilty as the number of missing kids continues to grow…but all may not be so clear cut…
I’m not going to ass around here fiends; Summer of ’84 is freakin’ grade-A, rad as all fuck out awesome…I absolutely eagerly picked up what this flick was throwing down! Comprised of a fantastic cast of actors (the aforementioned Verchere, along with Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, and Cory Gruter-Andrew…not to mention seasoned vet Sommer), that provide characters that are absolutely fascinating to watch and become invested in, as well as a tense, suspenseful story that keeps us guessing as our youthful heroes attempt to regain control of a situation that could make them all potential victims, ol’ ’84 becomes essential viewing, especially if you dig on Stranger Things or the film’s that inspired it like the Goonies, The Monster Squad et. al. Add to that the pitch perfect nostalgic nods (including fucking Polybius) and you have a fright flick that strikes the nostalgia set straight in the nards (trust me, I was roughly the age of these cats in ’84, and this is period accurate to the max…at least as my memory serves me)!
As for negatives…I don’t know; there were a few cheap jump scares (which for the record I never mind…it’s pure haunted attraction window dressing and has it’s place in our beloved horror biz)…so, yeah…
Bottom line, get your eerie eyeballs on Summer of ’84 post-mother fuckin’-haste; it’s an ’80’s lover’s wet dream, and is packed with the junior sleuthing we all held so dear in those halcyon days when the biggest concerns were when we would see our next pair o’ jugs and if we would get murdered on our walk home from our friend’s house in the dark…good times…
For more on Summer of ’84 from Horror Fuel head here!
