Megan Is Missing
Warning! Mature Content!
This following work contains material and themes that may include coarse language (albeit censored due to New Qualitipedia rules), sexual references, and/or graphic violent images that may be disturbing to some viewers. |
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 Watch this film if you're okay with nightmares.
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Megan is Missing is a 2011 American drama horror movie written and directed by Michael Goi. The movie is presented by way of "found footage" and follows two teenage girls that go online to find friends but instead go missing.
Plot
Megan Stewart, 14, and Amy Herman, almost 14, though polar opposites in personality, are best friends. Megan carries the front of being the most popular girl in school and a straight-A student, but this masks a lifestyle of hard partying, drugs, alcohol, and indiscriminate sex. Amy, unpopular and socially awkward, clings to her relationship with Megan as a lifeline to social acceptance. Together, these two girls forge a deep friendship based on their mutual needs and regularly communicate by web chat cameras or cell phone. As Megan seeks friends who are different from her usual posse of hangers-on, she is introduced by a friend online to a 17-year-old boy named Josh in a chat room. Megan and Josh bond quickly and Megan finds herself intrigued and attracted to him. One day, Megan goes to meet Josh in person behind a diner, and she is never seen again. Police investigate into her disappearance, but soon begin to give up after finding little to no leads and begin to assume she simply ran away.
However, Amy believes otherwise and talks online with Josh to find out if he knows about Megan's fate. She finds his answers regarding Megan suspicious. After seeing security footage of Megan's kidnapping, Amy tells the police about Josh and his possible involvement in Megan's disappearance, which re-sparks the investigation. Josh says that he is watching her and tells her to shut her mouth or else. Soon after, however, Amy visits her favorite spot and begins to record a video diary. Right before the video cuts, someone is seen about to grab her. The police start to investigate Amy's disappearance and find her video camera in a garbage can near her favorite hiding spot.
The last twenty minutes are "unedited footage" found on the camera. Josh is holding the camera and unlocks a large door in what appears to be a basement. This is where he has been hiding Amy, who is wearing nothing but her bra and underwear and is chained to the wall. He makes her eat food in a dog bowl before he violently rapes her. He comes back again later and apologizes and says he will let her go. He then shows her a barrel and tells her to get in it so she won't know where he lives when they leave. After Josh opens up the barrel, Amy runs away screaming as she sees Megan's rotting corpse inside. Josh grabs Amy and forces her into the barrel along with Megan's body before locking it. He loads the barrel into the car and then drives to a forest, where he digs a large hole as Amy screams and begs for her life. Josh pushes the barrel in the hole and fills it up before walking away, leaving Amy to die.
The film concludes with a clip of Megan and Amy relaxing on her bed together while talking about how one day they will meet the perfect guy and their plans for a happy future.
Why It's Nightmare
- Most of the budget looks like it went into the scene where Megan invites Amy to the house party, the rape scene, the torture scenes, and those two pictures of Megan.
- A horrible ending that doesn't make a lot of sense.
- The movie is very poorly made, with some scenes showing production within the film including a boom mic being seen during the party as well as one where you can actually hear the director say "Action!"
- Nonsensical moments. In one scene, Megan is talking to a guy on Skype but his Webcam is broken so she cannot see him, however instead of communicating another way she continues to look at her Webcam despite there being nothing to look at. Also, in the scene where Amy is raped, she smiles all the way through.
- Poor casting. The film is apparently centered around two "teenagers" but they look and act nothing like 13-14 year old girls as they were played by actresses in the mid or early 20s.
- For no apparent reason, they don't show the villain's face even though it probably is no one special...
- Megan is very unlikable and conceited.
- Inane and unrealistic script.
- Poor acting. It's almost like the casting people got the actors for this movie off the streets.
- The movie comes off as rather exploitative, especially the rape scene and the overly-detailed explanation of oral sex. Overall, it seems to glorify abuse.
Redeeming Qualities
- The film's concept can be considered to be kinda creepy. Too bad this film executed it poorly.
- Good Moral: The film has an important moral about being careful who you talk to and trust online.
Reception
The film was extremely controversial upon it's limited release due to its graphic and exploitative depiction of violence and rape and the overt sexualization of the fourteen-year-old titular protagonist. Although, some critics have emphasized that Goi succeeds with the film having an impact. It was heavily panned by critics and audiences alike for its depiction of sexual violence and brutal imagery. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critic score of 60% and an audience score of 34%. It has a 1.5/5 on Letterboxd, a 1/5 on Common Sense Media and a 4.6/10 on IMDb.The film was panned by the Oklahoma Gazette as "annoying" and "dull". Beyond Hollywood and DVD Verdict also panned the film, with Beyond Hollywood calling it "majorly disappointing" and DVD Verdict stating that they "[wished] this disc had been missing from the box".
Trivia
- The film was actually banned in New Zealand. In October 2011, New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification banned Anchor Bay's release of this film by classifying it as "objectionable". They claimed that it contained sexual violence and sexual conduct involving young people to such an extent and degree, and in such a manner that if it was released it would be 'injurious to the public good'. They went on to say that it relished in the spectacle of one girl's ordeal, including a three-minute rape scene. They also stated that it sexualized the lives of young teenage girls to a "highly exploitative degree".
- Originally developed as a low-budget independent feature in 2006, the film was shot for $30,000–35,000. It did not find distribution until Anchor Bay Films gave it a limited theatrical release in 2011.
- Goi wrote the script in 10 days and shot the film over a week. Because of the graphic content, he requested that the parents of the young cast be on set during filming so that they were fully aware of their involvement in the project.
- It is one of the first computer screen films. The film experienced renewed popularity in 2020 after clips of the film were shared on TikTok. Goi later issued public warnings to prospective viewers after many users began calling the film "traumatizing." Entertainment Weekly called it "2011's scariest horror film." The film placed sixth in the DEG Watched at Home Top 20 Chart for Week Ending November 21, 2020.
- The movie ended up becoming a meme on TikTok circa 2020. Goi actually went on TikTok with some "suggestions" to anyone who saw the film.