Megan is Missing DVD Review from Anchor Bay!

After writing my review for Take an Easy Ride (see review here), I began thinking about a DVD I’ve had sat around unwatched since 2012 called Megan is Missing. You see, whilst the former is a sexploitation take on the perils of hitch-hiking in the 70s, the latter is a warning against, well, everything that can befall a teenage girl in the modern era with the world of cyber predators, etcetera.

Megan is Missing sounds as if it could be a Christian made lightweight sermon about such things and that when she’s found (if she’s found) she’s seen the good side. Or if she’s dead, her family scream to the heavens and God shows his beard and… you get the point.

However, it’s beyond that. Anchor Bay released a vile little creature which is quite mellow and frankly boring, I suppose, until the grand finale — 20 or so minutes of uncut nasty. Look, considering the amount of SOV snuff wannabe discs in circulation since 2011 (the year this came out) it’s maybe tame to the desensitized viewer with his or her pants off, having a play to some young girl being abused. However, Megan is Missing builds up fairly well and is based on a true account. I say true, but the two girls never actually existed, there was a small time Blair Witch kind of internet blag to sell the film. The closest we had was a real case when some fella buried a teen girl alive, that kind of thing.

Look, let’s get to the movie. My word, the girls do look like rather young actresses. They open the film posing in front of Amy’s new “expensive” video camera and call each other slut and bitch before laughing like best buddies. The writing pops up explaining how on January 14th 2007, Megan Stewart aged 14 disappeared, then her mate Amy Herman vanished three weeks later. The makers of the film have assembled it from homevideo, computer files, news reports, that sort of thing.

Megan curses up a storm. She needs a good hiding as they both sit in a diner talking to the camera about “fucking a guy and get it over with.” “You’re a hoe!” Then some webcam chin wags with a friend who has evil drugs, and then sweet Amy.

A few days pass and Amy’s sat in front of the camera putting her face on like an apple pie American gal. Her Dad walks in looking happy. She has teddy bears and a big room. She’s so cute she’s a bull’s-eye target for a paedophile ring.

Then we find there’s going to be a big party. Megan wants to bring Amy — her friends are dragged down by this suggestion. This makes Megan have second thoughts. After a debate, it’s agreed clean cut, Amy is allowed to come. Saturday arrives and the party is on — ten dollar entrance fee or you suck dick if you’re a girl. Lol, serious.

Things go well until people start messing with Amy’s head and she finds Megan sucking dick. Music, wobble cam, drugs, the usual. Quite tame. Me and my gang used to get more insane on the local field playing NWA and Bobby Brown tapes on a ghetto blaster. Then Amy vomits on the heads of two girls who are kissing for a camera. Ha ha ha.

Afterwards, Megan goes into detail for about three or four minutes about how she first sucked a dick, down to the smell and taste, whilst Amy is all Ewww.” Then comes a candid interview with Amy’s video camera by Megan as she explains how her stepfather raped her from the age of nine for a few years but was finally locked up. She’s out for sex now, her head is clearly a messed up shell. Her mother has issues, blaming her for everything.

Soon afterwards, Megan starts talking to a man on the web. He sounds so nice and chilled out. A romantic. They are meant to meet at a party, she only has a picture of him. He’s called Josh. (His webcam is broken) However, he apparently doesn’t show. She has a go at him online, but as he describes her that night, turns out he was watching her but lost his nerve. She likes this, he sounds so lovely. Both her and Amy have a quick talk with him (his webcam is still buggered). He sends them a picture of him surfing. He’s the perfect USA surfer dude with a smooth voice. When Amy leaves, they arrange to meet up. He says she’s a smart ass, he knows how to deal with a smart ass. They laugh. “I would never hurt you, Megan. Do you trust me?”

The next day, Amy is ringing everybody Megan knows. She missed class. She tells Josh, he said she stood him up last night.

MY CHILD IS MISSING is an American show which profiles missing children and teenagers. Megan is on this. “Is she a runaway or is she the victim of foul play? One thing is for sure, Megan is missing!” says the host. Her mom is interviewed, her head teacher, her so called friends (not Amy).

Then comes an update when CCTV footage has captured her savage abduction, followed by a funny news article about a dog. The guy on the footage certainly doesn’t match the photo of Josh.

On January 20^th, Amy talks to Josh. He starts grooming her. Calling her sexy and she smiles. They discuss the man on the security tape. Then he changes it around and starts tearing into her, calling her fat and friendless. “Would you like to sleep with something other than your teddy bear? You’re a loser who won’t spread her legs!”

“What did you do to Megan?” she spits. He says, “Nothing she hasn’t done before.” Amy goes to the police. She explains the chat room, the name Skater-Dude profile and his name, Josh. Days after, Amy gets into a confrontation with Megan’s other friends outside the diner who accuse her of so many things whilst filming a video diary. Amy takes it all quite casually — good for her.

“You have a big mouth!” snarls Josh. “I want you to shut your big fuckin’ mouth! If you don’t, I might have to pay you a visit!” He claims no one will ever find him, he uses so many different names.

And then on one of her video diaries, Amy turns her back and a male arm reaches out to grab her. Amy Herman has also vanished. Days later, her camera is found in a litter bin.

FOOTAGE OF A MAN BELIEVED TO BE “JOSH” FOUND ON AMY HERMAN’S VIDEO CAMERA.

We first see a shadow through some bushes as she’s talking. Then comes the gut punch! The final 22 minutes of footage recorded totally uncut. Amy in her underwear chained up crying and pleading to go home in a stone cell covered in feces. Then passed food in a bowl, being made to eat like a dog. It gets more brutal, believe me. I won’t say any more, but it’s very well acted and absolutely drawn out for the emotions. You know the scene at the conclusion of Uwe Boll’s Seed, when the little girl stands in front of her dead dad, that sort of “Aww, poor thing…” The obligatory rape is horrific and doesn’t shy away from the girl’s cries and tears. Megan is Missing is no I Spit on Your Grave or Ms. 45 — she has no way of getting revenge. Yes, there has been more harrowing rapes in films, more detailed and so forth, but I think it’s the way it’s built up that gives it an little sharper razors edge.

Yeah, this final chapter game changes and raises the bar in this flick just for its realism and the clever way it catches anyone who thinks they’re in for some nudity and abuse. What makes the whole film more real is the deliberate lack of music (aside from the party) and the banal conversations.

I’m surprised that the actresses, Amber Perkins and Rachel Quinn haven’t done much since because they totally hold their own against such a script, especially Amber for those final 22 minutes. Dean Waite as the unnamed assailant they know as ‘Josh’ simply does his job, he’s a split personality of youthful charm, and an older sexual predator who kills in his spare time.

Director/writer Michael Goi went on to work heavily on the American Horror Story series, as sometimes director, but mainly cinematographer (A job he’s done since the early 80s).

Megan is Missing has never been released in the UK but is worth getting on R1, and if you’re anywhere else, just have a look, it’s not a classic but it’s worth a viewing. If you can stomach really irritating teenagers, for the most part.