Edwige, my faithful kangaroo companion, and I had felled the ruffians threatening us in the second floor men’s restroom of the Museum of Schlock. I freed myself from the office chair I was duct taped to, dusted myself off, and scratched Edwige behind the ears. I led the way, trying to figure out where the gang had stashed the Revenging Manta, the ninja vigilante of downtown Orlando. I owed him and now I had some kangaroo muscle to back me up. — to be continued.

Tonight’s movie is 2018’s Summer of 84 from directors François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl. Wow. Three directors. I think that’s a first for this blog. The movie centers around four teenage boys during the summer of 1984. You have our main protagonist, Davey Armstrong (Graham Verchere), local paperboy and connoisseur of conspiracies and monsters. There’s a serial killer on the loose in the area. Young boys his age keep disappearing and Davey begins to suspect his neighbor, Wayne (Rich Sommer), of being the killer.

Ready to help Davey catch the killer are his buds: Eats, a delinquent type, Woody, a heavyset kid, and Curtis, a nerdlinger. They hang out in a treehouse, look at dirty magazines, and argue over how the Ewoks could have defeated the evil Empire. That’s a Star Wars reference and I have to wonder if kids were still rambling about Star Wars in 1984. I thought everyone moved on a year after Return of the Jedi came out. 1984 was the summer of Ghostbusters, Sixteen Candles, Purple Rain, Top Secret!, The NeverEnding Story, The Karate Kid, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. It was also the summer of C.H.U.D., but no one (other than my editor) seems to remember the greatness that is C.H.U.D.

Summer of 84 is dripping with 80s nostalgia from the G.I. Joe walkie talkies to the synth wave soundtrack. I blame Strangers Things for our current 80s nostalgia overload. I was a child in the 1980s. I remember it well. There was great stuff like Mad Scientist kits, Boglins, and that Shrieks & Creaks board game with the talking tombstone. But it was also the decade of Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, Herself the Elf, and microwave milkshakes! It was also the decade of Freaky Freezies, those gloves that change under cold temperatures to reveal new patterns or characters. I hated those. Not that I ever owned any because my parents never bought them for me no matter how much I begged.

Anyway, I was a weird 80s kid. I wasn’t into Masters of the Universe, Transformers, or G.I. Joe. My bread and butter was Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger action pictures, but I don’t ever hear anyone waxing nostalgic for those. Instead, we have kids on bikes finding adventure in their no-name suburban blah-scape. Will the serial killer be the neighbor across the street, a police officer with an outstanding record? It’s a bunch of 80s kids and they always have to be right so what do you think? But it’s a modern horror movie so expect a twist at the end. No one’s getting out of this movie unscathed. 

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, and episode 575) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.