User Reviews

First and foremost - this film is not to be compared to Stranger Things and / or It because it was never intended to be compared to those films.

Summer of '84 is a well constructed indie slow-burn film which draws on the neighborhood and suburban vibe which was only realized fully in this country during the 1980's. Harkening back to such classic films as The 'Burbs, Rear Window, When A Stranger Calls Back and other such '80s gems that hone in on the mentality of evil in our midst sight brought about by the Cold War and anti-communist rhetoric of 1950's McCarthyism.

Many of our younger readers will not remember a time when kids actually played outside at night in the neighborhood. Games we all loved such as Kick the Can or War or Flashlight Tag, games that parents secretly worried would expose us to that unknown evil... it is this mindset that Summer of '84 sets itself on.

Not your typical serial killer film, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I will say I was surprised by the ending as I am cursed with determining the plot too early for most films - this one blindsided me and for that I thank the writers.

Haters of this film either 1) Don't understand that a horror movie doesn't have to be all in-your-face or 2) have no recollection of life during that period so don't see it as realistic. I was that age during the '80s and I vividly remember playing those games, being exposed to nudie mags, doing the neighborhood festivals, hearing about killers and half-wishing something happened in my area so I could play hero.

Well done production crew.

Did not expect film to be to good! But I was very suprised & odd moments of iffiness for me in regards to acting/lines! But I really enjoyed this film. Also has you in suspense till the end & beyond! Also when I thought it was over it was not at all! Really good film I actually hope there is a 2nd! But the Quote of there are serial killers everywhere is so factual sadly. I am a big true crime fan & this tells the story of what has often sadly at times been a reality! Great film. Deffo worth the watch.

I was well entertained but I wouldn't call Summer of 84 a horror movie, rather a mystery thriller with some (very few) elements of horror. Reminds me of movies like Stand by Me, Super 8 etc. Fine style, fine music, good production and direction make this a well crafted one.

Well, if you like kids as heroes playing detective, this one is like a fine summer's breeze for you.

Suspenseful, with good acting. Highly recommend. Takes a little while to get started but once it does you aren't bored for a second.

I see so many people praising this movie, but for me an ending can ruin an otherwise great movie...and that was the case for this movie. I'm so annoyed at how the makers of this movie decided to end it!

Yes, it resembles the first season of Stranger Things. Yes, it echoes Disturbia. I suppose it even tangentially recalls the remake of It if you've never watched real 70s/ 80s horror. Still, this film has its own take on the eighties and kid-centered horror. I liked it more than Disturbia (which was too slick) and more than the remake of It (which was too CGI action-oriented to be scary). Even though the story of Summer of 84 is not at all supernatural, the film recalls Phantasm (1979) in the way that its mood blends easy going playfulness with eerie suspense and horror. The cast is good, the writing is strong, the cinematography is spot on, the editing is tight, and the score is lush in its own synthesized way. Summerof 84 may be more creepy than horrific, but in that vein, it succeeds!

This is a nice flick about a group of friends that suspects a neighbor of being a serial killer. The movie is nice directed, well shot and never gets really dull, al-dough there isn't a lot of action in this movie. There are a few good jumpscares, but it never gets scary. Also the plot is pretty predictable. Personally I believe that "The 'Burbs" is the best scary neighbor movie.

So, a lot of people are comparing this movie to Stranger Things, but they are wrong in almost every regard. While Stranger Thing is a sci-fi adventure rooted in fantasy and unrealistic fiction, this film is as realistic as any news story. It seems like the comparisons come from the 80's soundtrack and the fact that it was 4 young boys on an adventure, but that's where the similarities end. This movie is more along the lines of films like The Goonies or Stand by Me; movies about young men who are taught harsh things about life at an early and fragile age. While Stranger Things was for children, this movie is clearly aimed at a much more mature and discerning audience.

The first two act of this film are pretty straight forward and standard; 4 young and immature boys suspect their neighbor of being a serial killer. They break into his house, dig up his garden, ect. in order to find proof of his horrifying acts. But nothing really comes of it, at least nothing concrete. The movie is funny, suspenseful and entertaining, and it reminds you of the kids mysteries that were all the rage in the late 80's.

Then, in the final act, the film suddenly makes an 180 and it becomes a serious film with real horror, real stakes and real consequences. Just like real life, the story doesn't end just because you hope it does. Good people are often the victims of their good intentions, and this movie proves it.

While the first half of the movie is just an enjoyable coming of age film, the second half is what really sets this movie apart. It's endings like these that make a movie really shine, and separates the audience that always wants a happy ending versus the ones that want a better, more realistic one.

Stop judging this movie based on a trailer. It's wrong and idiotic. A movie should be judged on its entire running time, and this movie deserves nothing but the highest praise. Everyone involved should be proud of their work. Amazing.

In this film a teenager starts to suspect that his next door neighbor, who just happens to be a cop, is a serial killer hiding behind a facade of normalcy found in the suburbs. With the help of his buddies, they begin to surveil the man.

I ended up really enjoying this. Creepy neighbors are always good material for a thriller. No one wants weirdos living next to them. While this is meant to be a thriller, let me just say that I was really feeling a bit of "The Burb's" (1989) from time to time with this film. I read a review that stated that this was like "Disturbia" (2007) and I can see that. Just mix a bit of goofy from "The Burb's" and some of the suspense from "Disturbia" and you'll find this movie.

So glad I took a chance and checked it out.

Im born in the 70s so the 80s is warm and nostalgic to me. I was around these boys age then so I know the my stuff. What I hate about remakes of the 80s is that almost no one cares about making it authentic. They throw in a few things but the lingo, the hairdue, the fashion anf colors are all wrong.

So thats a big minus for this movie.

The other thing is that everything is so predicable. They telegraph every scene a mile away.

The third thing is the very weird ending. Its like a third act after the resolution. Felt like the movie was over and this part was some kinda pickup idea cus they couldnt find a fitting end to it.

The fifteen year-old Davey (Graham Verchere) lives in the suburb with his parents and spends his vacation with his friends Eats (Judah Lewis), Woody (Caleb Emery) and Faraday (Cory Gruter-Andrew). He has a crush on his neighbor and friend Nikki Kaszuba (Tiera Skovbye), who was his babysitter when he was younger. One night, while playing with his friends, Davey sees a boy in the house of his neighbor, police officer Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer). When he learns that the boy is missing and there is a serial-killer in their neighborhood, David suspects that Mackey is the serial-killer and decides to investigate his neighbor with his friends.

"Summer of 84" is a nostalgic and creepy thriller with many elements in common with "Stranger Things". The story takes place in the 80´s and there is a group of snoopy boys in a suburb that decides to investigate his neighbor. The screenplay is well constructed with a creepy and surprising plot point in the very end. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Someone here has already compared this to Ready Player One and I think that's a pretty apt comparison. This movie's idea of recreating nostalgia involves nothing more than a lot of name-dropping and going down a sterile checklist of 80's tropes without seeming to really understand any of them.

We've got a retrowave soundtrack that wants to be an homage to the 80's, but doesn't have an authentic feel to it at all. A nerdy kid that looks almost exactly like ones we used to see cast in the 80's and an edgy semi-punk kid that looks as much like young River Phoenix as possible and etc etc, but neither they or any of the other cast have any charisma whatsoever. There's also a badly done montage, an unbelievably cringey romance subplot, a plot we've seen many, many times before, and much more that's all ripped directly from 80's movies/shows, but it never actually manages to properly capture that 80's spirit and just feels like a desperate, hollow attempt to copy familiar things without any real thought put into it.

I really don't see what there is to like here. The kids mostly sit around constantly name-dropping 80's movies, talk about jerking off a lot, and then act really weirdly excited that there's a serial killer targeting boys their age nearby. None of it's funny or interesting or at all authentic.

Maybe the comparison to Stranger Things is already overdone, but it's still very valid. The kids in Stranger Things have all the charisma and acting talent that these ones don't and they live in a world that has a quality retro atmosphere to it that doesn't rely entirely on making a bunch of lazy retro references. Stranger Things also has its characters surprise you by playing against perceived stereotypes, whereas this just has everyone diving headfirst into being a complete cliche and not even doing that well. Hell, even something like The Guest felt vastly more well done and authentically 80's than this and it doesn't even actually take place in the 80's.

There's not really a nice way to say it, but this really is one for the Ready Player One crowd who don't even really care about characters or story quality, as long as someone sits there and reads a list of names of 80's movies and shows to hit their nostalgia hair-trigger.

I wasn't expecting much at all from the ratings but the description really enticed me so I went for it and I'm very happy about it. I was firmly stuck on an 8 for this film but it changed to an 7 because the ending was abit controversial for me. It's not like I hated the ending it just wasn't the best for the different directions it could have gone in. Also why was that girl trying to get with that kid, he's only 15 that's Abit of a madness. Someone check her hard drive.

This movie isn't a masterpiece, in fact, it´s quite far from being a great film. Summer of 84 doesn't let their characters to develop at all, it only lets us see a little bit of their personality and the story behind them which I think it ´s not enough for us to care about what could happen to them at all.

The stage and clothing it´s great and obviating some moments the acting is as good as it could be.

In my opinion, the only important thing that pulls apart this movie of being a good thriller it´s the character development and the unexisting tension or jump scares all across the film.

80's nostalgia is very much 'in' at the moment with the success of Stranger Things and IT, so I approached this movie with a little scepticism given that it's not big budget or on wide release. How wrong I was to doubt it! This is a fantastic little flick, extremely well written and directed and the lead players all give great performances, very typical of how teens were portrayed in the movies of the era. The story centres around a group of four teenagers who begin to suspect that a neighbour is the notorious 'Cape Bay Slayer'. Nothing particularly original in the concept, we've seen it before in movies like The Burbs and Disturbia, even as far back as Hitchcock's Rear Window. The trick here is in the execution, and it's clearly a movie that's been made with a real love for the 80s and for the genre. Those of us who were there will enjoy the pop culture references, which thankfully aren't over used and are subtly included to set the tone. There's the usual annoyance of characters doing things that are apt to get them into trouble, but hey it's a movie and so we need these situations to unfold otherwise it would be pretty boring watching them hang out in a treehouse for 100 minutes right? I won't drop any spoilers, the movie is better if you just go in and let it happen.

Give this one a chance and you'll be pleasantly surprised, I know I was.

This was a great movie and I loved every second of it... Growing up I watched lots of movies and tv shows with my favorite movies always being the coming of age classics: "Goonies" and "Stand By Me". Later on in life, I always looked for coming of age movies that could meet my standards. Even with newer movies like "The Edge of Seventeen" (2016) I still wasn't very satisfied. For the first time in a while, I walked away from a movie theatre actually satisfied and my expectations and standards were fully met.

If I could sum this movie up in a few words for anyone interested in watching, it would be; A coming of age movie with a similar nostalgic feel of Stand By Me and the Goonies with a thrilling storyline that'll have you on the edge of your seat...

336. Summer of 84. Definitely going for that 'Stranger Things' sense of 1980's nostalgia, mixed with a bit of 'The Goonies' and a dash of 'Fright Night'. A mystery movie based in, you guessed it, 1984, in a small suburb in anywhere USA, only thing this one has a serial killer on the loose. Luckily, the local paperboy, Davey, is into true crime and along with his group of friends believe they can track down the true killer... a neighbor of course, but is it true? Filled with 80's sounding synthesizers, it was a cool throw back type movie, and yes, of course it includes the hot babysitter next door that used to babysit our hero, and yes she's about to check out of this small town soon, and of course she's gonna give our hero hope of touching her girl parts, however... well. I did really like the ending, it wasn't the typical ending to a flick like this, but still satisfying! Check it out! Filmbufftim on FB.

It's 1984 Ipswich, Oregon. Even serial killers live next door to somebody. Teen boys are missing and the Cape May Slayer is on the hunt. Paper boy Davey Armstrong suspects his neighbor policeman Wayne Mackey after recognizing a kid from the milk carton. He and his friends hang out, play manhunt, and start investigating the cop next door. He has a crush on his former babysitter neighbor Nikki.

This is Stranger Things crossed with Hitchcock. Stranger Things is becoming a genre of its own and this is full ST. The kids are not quite as cute. They're older and talk a lot of trash about sex. The plot does run over a couple of speed bumps. The first comes in the form of the parents. I buy the skepticism but I can't buy the lack of skepticism. I can accept them dismissing the kid. I can't accept that he has absolute faith in any policeman. It's not like he's a priest. The parents are an awkward movie trope. The last act goes through some more awkwardness. The villain's reappearance is completely expected. It needs to incorporate the walkie talkie. It also needs to keep Nikki around. It does do something unexpected. Overall, this is a fine nostalgia thriller.