The most celebrated example of this contemporary 80s throwback trend is almost certainly the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things, and given that this show centres on a group of young friends caught up in a bizarre mystery in anonymous small town America, there have been plenty of accusations that the film under discussion here, Summer of 84, is something of a rip-off/cash-in on the hugely popular and acclaimed Netflix series. However, it’s worth noting – as Celluloid Screams festival director Robert Nevitt did, immediately prior to the film’s screening at the Sheffield 2018 event – that RKSS, the Canadian team behind Turbo Kid (itself quite the 80s throwback), started developing their new film before Stranger Things hit the streams. We should also acknowledge that the central tropes of school-age male misfits uncovering extraordinary goings-on beneath the surface of their seemingly uber-ordinary suburban world were in no way unique to Stranger Things in the first place. Above all else, though, we cannot fail to note that Summer of 84 is geared toward a slightly more mature audience, pitches itself in a more grounded reality, and takes its Steven Spielberg/Stephen King-esque coming of age yarn to some considerably darker, more disturbing places.
As the title suggests, it’s summer time in 1984, and the kids are doing the best they can to make the most of those long months of no school. (Side note here: can I just note how bewildered and, in some respects, jealous we in Britain are of the summer breaks on the other side of the Atlantic? You get the best part of three months, we get six bloody weeks!) Our Elliot/Mikey/Sean-esque ringleader is Davey Armstrong (Graham Verchere), and it seems the plan is for him to spend the whole summer playing Midnight Manhunt, scouring for porn and hanging around the bowling alley with his best buddies, punk rocker Tommy ‘Eats’ Eaton (Judah Lewis, almost unrecognisable from his diametrically opposed, more Davey-ish character in 2017’s The Babysitter), skinny nerd Curtis Farraday (Cory Grüter-Andrew), and the obligatory big fat friend, Dale ‘Woody’ Woodworth (Caleb Emery). Yet while the summer’s activities initially seem diverting enough, Davey – being a devoted National Enquirer reader and conspiracy theory fanatic – soon finds his attention grabbed by a sensational local news story about a serial killer in their county targeting boys of about their age, dubbed the Cape May Slayer; and events lead Davey to suspect that this might in fact be the seemingly affable local police officer Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer). Anxious to find proof of this, Davey persuades his gang to join him in investigating Mackey; but in so doing, the boys soon find themselves getting too close for comfort to the case, for while it may seem like a bit of a lark, it may yet prove to be all too real, and much, much too dangerous.
While I was among the apparent few to have not been won over by Turbo Kid (while it had its charm, it struck me as a bit of a one-dimensional, one-note joke), the RKSS team have brought their 80s nostalgia to the screen in a very different form here, and – sorry to keep making this comparison, but – much like Stranger Things, Summer of 84 offers up a much more sincere, heartfelt evocation of the era and its storytelling, as opposed to Turbo Kid’s overly tongue-in-cheek approach. Again, the two Steves – Spielberg and King – seem the most obvious benchmarks, as the ensemble and their summer schemes evoke plenty of that youthful joie de vivre radiated by the casts of ET and The Goonies; yet there’s also more than a soupcon of It and The Body/Stand By Me in the mix, as these are kids who eff and blind like nobody’s business, try their damnedest to act like it doesn’t faze them tasting alcohol, and barely suppress their raging hormones. Much as the core quartet fit the classic 80s kids movie mould, we have another box ticked Tiera Skovbye’s Nikki, Davey’s one-time babysitter and the girl of his dreams. Her interactions with the younger boy might seem to strain credibility in some respects, as well as almost certainly overstepping some boundaries as regards what we would today consider appropriate behaviour, both on her part and his; yet when we consider Summer of 84 simply as a love letter to that era of boy’s own adventure storytelling, the gorgeous, almost-yet-not-quite attainable girl next door is as essential an element as the creepy, suspicious neighbour who may or may not be up to no good. We can certainly detect echoes of Fright Night, or even more recent kid-friendly horror Monster House, in our protagonist’s single-minded obsession that Mr Mackey down the street has to be a serial killer, yet I found myself most reminded of The Burbs, given just how ambiguous it’s all played until very late in the day.
And here’s the rub with Summer of 84: everyone coming out of its screening at Celluloid Screams (and I’ve no doubt similar scenes have played out wherever it’s been shown) immediately started talking about the ending. As I’ve no wish to get into spoilers, I’m going to do my utmost to avoid specifics; suffice to say, whilst the film adheres to the conventions of its era for the most part, the climax most pointedly does not. When a film centres on the hunt for a serial killer who targets young boys, you might think it goes without saying that things will get a bit grim, but I can promise you, the grimness of Summer of 84’s final act will catch you off guard. Indeed, I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the most stunning, truly unexpected endings I’ve seen in the past decade of genre cinema. It may leave some viewers unhappy given how radically it alters the mood of the piece; and yet, as engrossing and enjoyable as Summer of 84 may be beforehand, I can’t help suspecting it might have easily faded from memory were it not for the bold note it chooses to go out on.
Again, 80s nostalgia is nothing new, and those who’ve no taste for it may struggle to get into Summer of 84. However, if you’re in that boat I would recommend biting down, doing your utmost to cast such concerns to one side, and giving Summer of 84 a watch whenever the chance arises, as you may be genuinely surprised by what you find.
Summer of 84 just screened this past weekend at Sheffield’s Celluloid Screams. Our thanks to all at the festival.