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Megan Is Missing (Michael Goi, 2011)
During the film’s first half we get to know these girls.
Fourteen year old Megan is outgoing but somewhat out of control. Her promiscuous
nature seems to be rooted in clear abandonment issues, but her protective
treatment of Amy, her best friend, becomes endearing. Amy, for her part, is
extremely insecure, which helps to explain why she acts somewhat illogically in
the film’s second part, which occurs, as the title implies, after Megan goes
missing. While the acting of the two young actresses who play Megan and Amy is
less than wholly convincing, they come across as convincingly realized
characters. The use of the handheld camera and actual locations helps things
immensely, making one attribute clumsiness that would otherwise be considered
filmmaking flaws to the messiness of real life. Goi’s best moment here is
without a doubt a sustained sequence at a house party that features enough
sordid sex, underage indulgence and peer pressure to put Larry Clark to shame.
This part of the movie crackles with energy and suggests a more refined version
of Megan Is Missing that would be
utterly devastating. Still, what Goi has delivered, while somewhat compromised by
technical issues and the reek of exploitation for exploitation’s sake, is pretty
potent. Once Megan goes missing, the level of tension ratchets up considerably.
Amy, who has been a meek presence throughout the film, suddenly is forced to
carry it. Thanks to Goi’s insertion of a disturbing, graphic image, genuine
concern for the girls becomes inevitable by the film’s midpoint. The grisly last
act here confronts us with a nightmare made real.
Megan Is Missing is entirely
convinced of the terrors that lurk online and by the time it comes to its
chilling conclusion most of its viewers will be as well. 61 Jeremy Heilman 06.29.11
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A
timely new cinematic boogeyman arrives with Michael Goi’s exploitative yet
riveting new film Megan Is Missing.
This twisted little movie could best be described as reality horror, as it is
purportedly based on actual events and has been cobbled together from footage
that claims to have been taken from video diaries, news reports and security
cameras. The plot here, which takes on the random quality of real life at times,
follows the tragic downward slide of two girls who interact with a mysterious
online predator. This is grisly material, and it is to Goi’s credit that he does
not downplay it, fully engaging with both the potential threat of the creep who
stalks the girls and the shocking behavior of the girls themselves.