Megan Is Missing (2011)

Directed and Written by Michael Goi. Starring Amber Perkins ("Amy") and Rachel Quinn ("Megan"). Unrated. Body Count: 1. Boob Count: 0.

Source: Region 1 DVD (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Run time: 01:25:27
Country: USA

Look closely

To Michael Goi and to Anchor Bay Films, please consider the following quote for a blurb on any future releases and prints of this film:

"Megan is Missing is the cinematic equivalent of waking up to your uncle molesting you."

Thank you.


MEGAN IS MISSING is of the "found footage" genre, and it's based on multiple cases of actual child abduction. The film features a claim that everything you will witness during its 85-minute running time is based on actual news footage, home videos, computer files, webcam chats, and cell phone transmissions, but what they don't tell you is that it's all obviously altered to translate into a film. In other words, a re-enactment; I assume the girls who the characters in the film are based on didn't spend their waking hours videotaping every conversation they had. A title card at the beginning of the movie may lead people to believe the filmmakers are are playing the entire movie off as being legit footage of the girls when it's obviously not the case.

When the movie begins, we're immediately introduced to both Megan, 14, and Amy, 13, who, according to title cards, were abducted in 2007. They're an odd couple, to say the least. Megan is very promiscuous for her age and confesses to being sexually abused as a child and giving her first blowjob at the age of ten to an older man who looked like the "creepy killer guy from SE7EN." Amy is the polar opposite: shy, virginal, socially awkward, gets along with her parents. Somehow they find enough common ground to be best friends. The relationship between the two (in the film) seems genuine and not based around ulterior motives of any sort. As the film progresses, Megan makes contact with someone in a chat room named "Josh". Megan tells Amy about a proposed meet-up between she and the mysterious Josh, and it's the last time Amy speaks to her best friend.


One of the things that surprised me about the film was how gradually it built up to something I wasn't expecting AT ALL. It starts out with subtlety. Lots of BFF-ing, annoying dialogue, stereotypical (and probably far-fetched) teenage behavior, and "girl talk", for lack of a better term. And then comes certain revelations in regards to Megan, which I mentioned earlier, that adds a new dimension to both the film and her as a character. And then the abduction... and the weird news footage, which bordered on comedic. Following the abduction and the news footage, however, the film takes a turn equal to getting a bucket of ice cold water dumped on you when you're least expecting it, and even at that point it's still rainbows and puppy dogs compared to the last twenty minutes of the film, which goes to some incredibly dark places... literally and figuratively.

Not since A SERBIAN FILM has a movie knocked me on my ass as much as this one. Initially, anyway. Whereas SERBIAN used its characters and plot and moments of shock value to lure you in for the inevitable knockout punch, MEGAN IS MISSING uses circumstances surrounding actual events involving children that took place over a number of years and affected different families. Because it's rooted in reality, it hits closer to home in general more than director Srdjan Spasojevic could have ever dreamed of with A SERBIAN FILM, and the great thing about MEGAN is that it doesn't rely on graphic visuals and shock value so much as it does driving a certain point home and making you realize what kind of people are preying on children. Rarely do films haunt me long after I've seen them; I have a feeling this will be one of the few exceptions.

Score: 8