Summer Of 84 (2018) Movie Review

As summer 2018 comes to a close, what better way to recapture those good summertime vibes than to reminisce with a youthful summertime adventure movie. But more than an adventure movie, Summer of 84 is also horror, thriller, mystery, and suspense.

Released this past August, this fantastic conspiracy caper centers on Davey Armstrong (Graham Verchere), a teenager whose local area becomes the target of a serial killer. Davey has a curious and an inquisitive mind, so as he starts putting puzzle pieces together, he comes to form a theory that his neighbor, Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer), is the killer. There’s only one problem, Wayne is also the local sheriff, so building a case against him and convincing others to believe it too is going to be an uphill battle.

But Davey does manage to enlist his friends to help him keep surveillance on Sheriff Mackey, and even manages to earn some recognition from his crush, who happens to be his former babysitter.

It would be easy to say that Summer of 84 is trying to ride the retro coattails that Stranger Things has laid down for many others. However, this would be a misguided assumption since the RKSS filmmakers (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell) were already on this path with Turbo Kid before the Netflix hit saw the light of day.

Written by Matt Leslie & Stephen J. Smith, Summer of 84 stars Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Cory Gruter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, and Rich Sommer — and they all do a spectacular job in their respective roles.

The Verdict:

There is practically nothing wrong with this movie. The only potential problem is a runtime that seems to drag at one point, which means that the film could have been tightened and trimmed a little. Other than that, there should be nothing holding you back if you like films like Stand By Me mixed with some serial killer fun in an ‘80s setting.

Rock Hard \m/