June 9 (2008)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I can remember when I saw the film 'REC' on suggestion from a friend and I was terrified by it. Then, a few months later, I was scrolling through a selection of movies and I found this film. I picked it out and watched it the full way through. By the end, I was in shock by what I'd seen.Bear in mind, this film isn't award-winning acting or plot, but the style in which it's executed is all but horrid, managing to flawlessly pull off the style of the late 90's, the year being 1999 in the film.-Plot- A gang of friends decide to go around from town to town causing mischief and mayhem on the locals and catching everything on their hand-held camera. What they don't realize is that the pranks they pulled off on the locals of a town called Boston Mills didn't go unnoticed and, as such, have stirred up the hive. Soon, the trips to Boston Mills become more and more bizarre, leading to the massacre of the four teens by the townfolk in a cornfield. Each teen is killed in some gruesome, maniacal way, one young woman sustained a direct jab from the rough edge of a sledgehammer to the forehead while another received repeated blows to the skull with a rock from another crazed local. Another short film during the credits reveals that the teens were carved up and fed to pigs while their belongings were stored and sifted through by the locals in a shed behind a church.The plot seems recycled from the 70's crazed killer movies, but the execution is nearly flawless. With solid and realistic acting from most of the characters followed up by a gruesome and truly disturbing ending that you thought would've been tamer, this film is truly a hidden gem in the sinking ship that is the horror film genre.-Overall- 'June 9' attempted and managed to pull off a P.O.V hand-held film that would normally go along nicely using a regular 35mm. The feeling that you get from the film is that you're accompanying these teens on some sort of adventure that is abruptly halted by a sickening ending. You watch as these four kids you traveled about with are slaughtered mercilessly and you can do nothing about it. These are nightmares that every person has when they'd watch films like Deliverance or even Jason and, for that, 'June 9' will always remain my pick as one of the better horror movies to come out of 2008.

It's not that uncommon for me to start a movie and be so turned off by it that I *actually* turn it off. It is uncommon, however, for me to give a movie a second chance and then be totally blown away by it. I stopped watching "June 9" about 37 minutes in, weary with the juvenile antics of the largely unlikable cast, the derivativeness of many scenes (the opening is almost stolen frame by frame from the opening tracking shot of "Halloween," down to the look and lighting) and the slowness of the story. I went to my PC and brought up IMDb, and the reviews here persuaded me to stick with it. I'm glad I did."June 9" effectively chronicles the first week of Summer vacation in a sleepy suburb of Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, as cool kids Robert and Derek cart their introverted sidekick Birdie, Derek's sister, and his girlfriend around in Robert's beater van. The inevitable boredom of Summer break-down almost immediately settling in, the quintet soon tire of playing their grade-school league pranks and become curious about the legends and myths that have grown up around Boston Mills, a neighboring town. The wild pot plants on the outskirts of the local nature preserve are an added bonus.What writer/director T. Michael Conway lacks in framing ability --- the jacking off and practical jokes that embody much, much too much of the film's first half will get on your nerves --- he more than makes up for in some truly isolating and disturbing images: an abandoned shed is stocked with stone statues not out of place in a cemetery supply shop; shadowed figures stiffly stand, silently staring through windows; a white gowned, masked figure is briefly seen standing in a vacant field --- we see it, our protagonists don't. There's also a sequence where a character creeps into one of the townie's houses that is quite frankly one of the tensest five minutes I've experienced in a while.Yes, these characters are annoying but the kids playing them are frankly very natural and don't seem for a minute to be "on stage." Their naturalness makes the climax even more unsettling and I for one was pleasantly surprised by its unrepentant savagery. And perhaps the indifference and irritation we feel for them is intended, and this point really turned me around on my opinion of this film. Perhaps what is most disturbing about "June 9" is that it's not really a supernatural ghost hunt at all...it's about rural country people protecting what's theirs. I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere and that attitude is very much present in most communities. They'll leave you alone if you leave THEM alone...you screw with them, and they'll f*** you up...good.

There has long been a tradition in shoe-string horror movies for the filmmakers to capitalize on their lack of studio equipment and funding by deliberately capturing a raw, realistic atmosphere to make the events on screen more believable. "The Blair Witch Project" probably took the cake in successfully convincing the world that what was taking place in the film really happened, but it was certainly not the first to do so, owing quite a bit to the controversial 1980 Italian film "Cannibal Holocaust" and the 1992 BBC special "Ghostwatch." Legion Filmworks now presents another pseudo-realistic shocker, "June 9." Written, produced, and directed by T. Michael Conway, this direct-to-DVD feature was filmed entirely on a digital camera to give it an eerily authentic feel and, like "Blair Witch," supposedly chronicles the last days of a group of kids who mysteriously vanish without a trace.During a carefree June in 1999, five Ohio teenagers set out for some mischievous fun in the nearby suburb of Boston Mills. After hearing strange tales of the small town's sinister past, Derek Boggman (Trevor Williams) decides to go back for further investigation with his sister Lisa (Alasha Wright) and friends Robert, Jennifer and Berty (Jon Ray, Maggie Blazunas and Chad Vincent). With video camera in tow, the group records every moment of their summer adventure as they drive through the sleepy town in their van. At first only interested in Boston Mills for its novelty value, the kids soon realize that the residents seem to be keeping a particularly close eye on them. Why are the locals so fascinated by five harmless teenagers? And what is it that they are hiding behind locked doors? Lacking conventional plot structure and character development, "June 9" relies heavily on the juvenile antics and defiant attitudes of the lead characters to anchor the film as the horror steadily builds around them. Indeed, the young cast comes off quite natural as they interact with one another. With all of the action captured on a jerky digital camera, the film takes on the appearance of a video diary, making the horror all the more tangible. Through a gallery of genuinely disturbing imagery, the filmmakers subtly create an increasing sense of dread as the kids move closer to uncovering the truth about Boston Mills. Strangers peeking out of windows and voices speaking in foreign tongues conjure up greater fears than all of the special effects money can buy. Tension builds as the kids become more and more aware that their quest for fun is leading them to something they could never have fathomed, culminating in a final twist that could very well go down in cult horror film infamy.Legion Filmworks' DVD presentation looks quite good, preserving the film in its original full-frame aspect ratio. The picture is as good as it can look for being filmed on digital video. Whatever digital artifacts are present are part of the original source and conjunctive with the "home-movie" illusion. The image is frequently bright and quite clear, with a grainy look during night scenes. Again, all of this is intentional.Audio is presented in a 2.0 stereo track that, like the picture, deliberately reflects its low-budget status. There is really little to be said of it. This is not a Hollywood picture with a souped-up sound mix. What you get is exactly what it would be were this footage of an actual event. Accordingly, there are no subtitle options.What we have here is a creepy, unnerving little feature that works because of its utter simplicity. There are no bogeymen jumping out of closets or CG specters coming through the walls. Just the documented footage of a group of ill-fated kids who went out for some thrills and got much more than they bargained for. Director T. Michael Conway knows what scares and has taken no cheap shots with this surprising picture. Don't expect to have a good night's sleep after this one, as the chilling images will stay with you long after the final credits roll.Felix Gonzalez Jr. DVDReview.com

I didn't expect to like this movie... and for the first fifteen minutes I really didn't... for the next half hour after that I was on the fence... but by the middle of the movie I was pretty much into it. The thing is, the characters are presented in a way unlike how a mainstream movie would do it. They aren't pretty and they aren't smart and they aren't 'cool'... they're just ordinary bored punks wasting their summer together. You have to stick with this movie and let it move at its own pace.At first you expect the movie is, like most Hollywood movies, in love with the protagonists... selling the characters to be admirable somehow... but it really isn't. It just lets you watch them and slowly get to know them. It's so rare that a movie would take the time like this one does in letting you get to know the protagonists. Not that you ever grow to love them, the movie doesn't want you to anyway... but the kids and their abrasive behavior begin to be nuanced with their other shortcomings... and you recognize them as being like people you've known. Their initial swagger is all for show and they're really deeply vulnerable. Great acting on the parts of the main performers carried this off like no smug Hollywood 'stars' ever could have. The weakest parts of the movie were some of the townsfolk and the scattered 'FX' jump-cuts. I also think it was a BIG mistake to put the giveaway shot of the TV at the beginning of the movie... this movie needs some subtler method of foreshadowing than that. It's obviously influenced by Blair Witch, which I loved... but its got a lot of unique elements of its own that most folks are gonna miss or ignore. Some have said the violence looks 'fake' and I think that's a reaction based on having only seen violence in other movies where it's done in a more cinematic way than it is here. This isn't a particularly cinematic film... there is nothing spectacular about the violence. It's done in a very matter-of-fact sort of way. This isn't really the sort of movie that scares you much while you're watching it... but it will creep back into your mind later and haunt you... if you're patient enough to give it a chance.*SPOILER* The bits at the end with the Lisa character were most disturbing for me because, while she comes off as one of the more innocent characters her final scenes are some of the most brutal. Also, for people who are so SHOCKED!!! that there are small children present during the violent scenes... just stick to Disney movies why dontcha?