As a horror fan I jumped on watching this as soon as I could, especially as it was released during the summer when pickings for shows to watch are fairly slim. It has been highly recommended on social media and I don't think i have read anything but super positive reviews..well here is the first somewhat negative one then.
The movie is set in 1980 something Indiana. Four 8-11 year old nerdish... av club, dungeon and dragons playing boys are all friends and one of them goes missing. First of all this..like lost of movies with children..have what I'd call fairly absent parents. Why these children are allowed to just ride their bikes after dark all over town alone is beyond me. That kind of crazy stuff always gets me because who would do this? I was an 80s kid and believe me my parents would have never let me just ride around at night at 10 years old. Further the boy who goes missing isnt even missed until the next day. Sure his mom is overworked but it never occurred to her when she got home to just open her kids bedroom door and check? Yeah this bothers me because it's just ridiculous..but I digress..
Kid goes missing and the boys go looking for her and find this little girl who can control things with her mind who just might hold the clue to finding their friend. all the while the boys mom has some crazy supernatural things that happen which actually make no sense in the series to be honest..even after watching it in its entirety...the sheriff joins in on the hunt..and the boys bother kinda has romantic dalliance with one of the sisters of one of his brothers friends.
So here is the thing..this would have more than likely been awesome, had it been a maximum of four episodes long. I enjoyed the first episode and then the last two episodes. I could hardly stay interested during the middle. someone compared it to Stephen King..and ill agree ..if by king you mean an over inflated story. You know what was awesome about films in the 80s..they were short and got the the freaking point. what is up with today's obsession of story's that go on for DAYS.
The best part of the film is certainly the 80s music they throw in. I'm not a big fan of the sets(as most people apparently are)..the boy that goes missing lives in a complete dump and everything is in brown...like the entire town is a world of neutral. Its just not visually interesting.
So do I recommend this..yes..its worth a watch. As much as id like Netflix to make a horror series about ADULTS (I really hate movies about children..I need more blood people, if the kids in the movie aren't like the ones in the shining..lets make the horror movie about ADULTS for the love of Pete. ) its pretty ok. I'd give it 3 stars and that's way better than most of the stuff available to watch right now. My suggestion however is to just watch episode 1-2 and then 6-8..because otherwise you might get a bit stressed out waiting for the story to make its point.
