Today I'm reviewing a 2018 mystery film, Summer Of 84, starring Judah Lewis, who you might remember from the 2017 Netflix slasher film, The Babysitter. After a small Oregon town learns that they've got a serial killer on the loose, Dave Armstrong and his friends begin to suspect that the killer is a neighboring police officer and decide to launch their own investigation. I've been really looking forward to this film ever since I saw the trailers. Unfortunately, we've seen a new trend where films like this go under the radar and get released on Netflix, Hulu, or other sites; which is a shame because sometimes they don't get enough viewing as they should be getting. This film was pretty damn good. Starting with my pros, I absolutely love the 80s vibe this film distributes. It's almost like a cross between 2017's IT and Stranger Things, but without monsters. I love that we're getting a lot of these 80s-style films. I personally think the 80s were the best decade for films, music, and life in general. This film does really good with the 80s atmosphere and everything was spot on with the decade. I also absolutely loved the score in this film. The cast did very well for it being most of their first ever role. I believe only three people in this film had any kind of notoriety experience. The friends all had great chemistry together that brings realism to the story. I enjoyed the plot as well. These kids already know who the killer is, but they've got to prove it and it wasn't easy for them and that plot point actually works. It brings the tension in scenes that had me pulling at my sheets. This film hardly has any bloody violence until the last 15 minutes which got gruesome! Plus that final climax brought vulnerability to the characters that had me shocked. I'm guessing the director wanted us to focus more on the mystery aspect, which I thought worked. I do have some cons. There's a certain death later in the film that I felt was forgotten so quickly. I also wish they would've added a little bit more to the story. They focus so much on building up the characters friendship that I felt like it took away a bit more than what they could've done with the serial killer. The ending, while shocking, could've went on a bit longer. Other than that, it was a solid movie. If you're into 80s horror / mystery movies , you're really going to enjoy it.
Final Grade:
What were your thoughts on this film? Leave me a comment below and I'll see you on the next review.