Leave it to the TikTok world and other young Gen Z social media users to uncover a nearly ten-year-old movie and get it trending again all over social media!
The movie in question here is the 2011 horror low-budget horror film Megan Is Missing, which is a found-footage psychological horror film about the dangers of meeting people online. At the time, it drew a lot of attention for being graphic and very realistic in some of its depictions, and now, well, TikTokers are finding that to be the case, too!
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It all started late Saturday night, when TikTok users started showing interest in the Michael Goi film. Originally wrote and produced in 2006, the film itself didn’t find a buyer until 2011, when it was finally distributed worldwide. It even got banned in New Zealand, due to what the country termed its exploitative nature and overly sexual depictions of its teenaged cast, among other issues.
The film is about two popular high school students in North Hollywood, California — Megan Stewart and her best friend, Amy Herman. It revolves around the days leading up to Stewart’s disappearance after having been talking to a boy she was interested in online, and the fallout from that. Goi, who wrote the script in just ten days, apparently knew the film had such serious depictions of scary events in it that he actually required the parents of his casted teenage actors be on set during filming so they knew exactly what was going on.
The film caught a lot of negative reviews from critics immediately after it was distributed, but even those most critical of the writing, acting, and overall production were keen to note that there was a serious message there involving online predators and some of the dangers of social networking. Clearly, TikTokers who re-visited the film now nearly a decade later must have thought the same way, judging by some of the online reactions to it that we can see!
For those interested in the film even after reading all this, here’s the official trailer for the movie, in which you meet both Megan and Amy and get a sense of the Blair Witch Project-like style Goi was going forward with this found footage genre:
Wow…
And like we mentioned up top, TikTokers — and quickly thereafter Twitter users, as it went viral on Sunday morning — had a LOT to say about the film itself once they collectively discovered and re-watched it overnight.
For some, it was funny that these TikTok and Twitter users (primarily of Gen Z age) had finally found the decade-old film. And yet for others it was a serious moment to remember a scary, triggering piece of art — a totally legit reaction to a movie that, at the time it was produced, garnered a LOT of serious reaction and emotion from viewers.
Still others mistook it for a documentary which it’s not) and while giving out good-natured warnings about it being triggering, also steered incorrect notions about the nature of the film along the way. So much confusion spreading so quickly!
Here are just a few reactions (below):
tw // megan is missing???
i just watched it and i have never been more triggered or traumatized by something in my entire life. this world is so fucking disgusting, i cant stop crying and i feel sick to my stomach. if you haven’t watched it yet, please don’t. it’s horrifying.
— liv???? misses grayson (@remotedols) November 14, 2020
Just watched the movie Megan is missing…. I am not okay. THE PHOTOS… THE FOOTAGE… I- pic.twitter.com/iPxCT539qj
— Maria aka shakira (@maria_xox33) November 15, 2020
why am i just now finding out about Megan is Missing i literally never want to step foot outside a day in my life & all men are DISGUSTING
— YANA (@yana2time) November 13, 2020
Gen Z has found Megan is Missing and it’s hilarious pic.twitter.com/rUSE66fyD7
— Daddy Krueger (@nekr0mantix) November 15, 2020
cw // megan is missing
i havent watched the movie, however the writer gives some warnings for it in this video. please give this a watch if you are considering watching the movie
pic.twitter.com/WnvLNFKQ6I
— comrade (@HORRORFILMTWO) November 15, 2020
megan is missing man,, that shit got me staring at the wall and wanting to delete all my social media accounts and never come back ever again pic.twitter.com/DldL7b14P0
— batrisyia ☽ (@whoisbatrisyia) November 15, 2020
Not gen z being scared shitless of Megan Is Missing but thinking they’re going to lead a revolution……….. pic.twitter.com/6WmaJ6An7v
— G҉R҉O҉S҉E҉R҉O҉ (@eatmyv0mit) November 15, 2020
Not me watching megan is missing alone at night and then seeing a clip of the director saying not to watch it alone at night pic.twitter.com/EQyi6hQ4tB
— ไทนิส♡ (@thainychi) November 15, 2020
everyone on twitter: don't watch megan is missing if you have severe anxiety
me: pic.twitter.com/7ZVy2pPOQp— robyn (@tiredinpink) November 15, 2020
It is 5am and for some reason Megan is Missing is trending so I wanted to give anyone who may be interested in watching it a warning that it is a horror based on *realistic* trauma. It is extremely graphic and triggering to survivors of sexual assault, rape, abuse, and violence.
— Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) November 15, 2020
just letting you guys know, megan is missing isnt real! its based off a few cases but it isnt real! its a “found footage” film, NOT real. pic.twitter.com/khu1DF6EvH
— rae ⚯͛ △⃒⃘ (@euphoric_whore) November 15, 2020
Don't watch Megan is Missing. It includes
R4pe, T0rture and Mental Trauma
— Amare ???? (@_amareoculi_) November 14, 2020
What do U think, Perezcious readers? Scary AF, or what?
Cautionary tale about social media and some of the dangers of younger and younger people going online, or just a good ol’ scare??
Sound OFF with your take on Megan Is Missing and the new social media reaction (below)…
[Image via Megan Is Missing/YouTube]
The post Gen Z Unearths Controversial 2011 Horror Film <em>Megan Is Missing</em> & They Have A LOT Of Thoughts… appeared first on Perez Hilton.