If you’re reading this, you’re most likely familiar with TikTok. Since articles have been made about it before, and it’s also free to download on the App Store, I won’t get too much into what it is. However, one thing that I wildly enjoy about TikTok is the trends.
TikTok trends are not new, but this is about one in particular. Depending on what “side” of TikTok you’re on, you may have seen people talking about 2011 horror movie Megan is Missing. The movie was directed by Michael Goi, who has also done work on American Horror Story. As a massive horror fan, I decided that I needed to take a look at this movie.
The film is one of those “found footage” movies, made popular by The Blair Witch Project (1999), which I think is the best horror movie ever made. It is very well done, and I expected this movie to be similar. I was incorrect.
The story follows Megan, a 14 year old girl living in Los Angeles in 2007. There is video footage from her friend, Amy, who recently got a video camera for her 14th birthday. There is also footage from Skype and video calls between Megan, Amy, and a few more of their friends.
After about 20 minutes of Megan’s normal life, she meets Josh, a character whose face is only seen in one photo. He meets Megan online, and tells her that his camera broke, and that’s why she couldn’t see him. Eventually, the two make plans to meet up behind a diner at a skatepark. The last footage of Megan before she went missing was surveillance footage of a man approaching her and pulling her away.
I won’t get into the rest of the movie, because I don’t want to spoil it. I should preface the rest of my review with a massive trigger warning, this movie has unsettling elements that can easily affect viewers. With this in mind, let’s continue.
This movie was not scary to me. Sure, there are parts that are absolutely horrifying and disturbing, but the buildup was not there. In movies like The Blair Witch Project, the scare factor comes from the buildup. There are one or two jumpscares in this movie, but it was not as scary as I was expecting. Again, I love horror movies and don’t scare easily, so this is probably just personal preference.
The acting was appalling. I’m not sure what exactly Goi thinks teenagers act like, but it’s not this. There is such little emotion from all of the actors, possibly with the exception of Amy. I won’t get into which scene I’m talking about, but if you’ve seen it, you know which one it is. Again, massive trigger warning here. It was hard to even care about the characters because of how poorly they were acting, which might also be why it wasn’t as effective as I was expecting.
With all that being said, there’s no wonder Megan is Missing was trending on TikTok after almost 10 years of its initial release. It was interesting, to say the least. It definitely does not make my list of movies I like or will be watching twice, so let’s just leave it at interesting. I’d only recommend this movie if you want to know what all the hype was about, but even then it’s not totally worth it. This movie is definitely not a lighthearted family film, viewer discretion is advised on this one.