There are movies that speak to you. Movies that not only take you to new places, but allow you to revisit those from your past with a startling clarity and emotional connection. I am not saying that Super 8 is a horror movie. I’m not even saying that Super 8 is guaranteed to connect with horror fans. Super 8 is a movie made by a movie lover and it shows in every frame. Super 8 is a movie that deeply resonates with those of us who have been horror movie lovers since we were kids. Kids, in fact, are at the heart of Abram’s film and it works to let you access those moments of innocence when horror sci-fi and monsters were so new that you loved every minute of everything you could consume. When you were a horror lover as a kid your appetite was voracious. Movies didn’t fall on a sliding scale from suck to awesome, there were just varying degrees of KICKASSERY. Every kill, every creature, every moment of counselors getting stalked by a killer with preternatural powers infused itself into your psyche and shaped your outlook as a fan and creator… and there was only a handful of peers that felt your enthusiasm. It made for an often exciting yet lonely childhood. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE can capture that period of adolescence if they themselves have not been there. Abrams, sells it, and he sells it in such a way that you watch it the way you first watched Close Encounters or Poltergeist. It is a film that is very much a love letter to those that came before it and it is earnest, full of heart, and often times pitch perfect. Super 8 follows a group of kids who, while trying to film their own super 8 horror film, witness a train crash carrying an airforce secret that gradually starts to change the face of their small Ohio town. This secret is BIG and is driven by a singular, mysterious purpose. Our POV during the events is through the eyes of Joe, played by Joel Courtney. Joe is suffering through the recent loss of his mother, further alienating him from his peers and his own grieving father (Kyle Chandler). We feel for Joe and it is his motley crue of fellow movie lovers that allow us to endear ourself to the core of the picture. The core, is actually a good, ole fashioned monster movie, one that hearkens back not only to the pictures that inspired it, but the fashion in which it is shot, which is decidedly its producer, Steven Spielberg. The kids, while trying to wrap their own film, get further involved in the mystery, culminating in an extremely satisfying and rewarding ending, which, might leave some of the audience divided. For, me it was in line with the tone of the picture and worked to further carry the message home. Super 8, despite an exercise in competent screenwriting, is a great technical exercise and one that proves that frenetic “quick-cut” filmmaking that has undeservedly become a staple in a lot of modern films is not just overdone, but downright unnecessary when a creator like Abrams is at the helm. Lifelong horror film lovers will be pleasantly surprised and fans of the much younger variety might come away feeling a little more than inspired. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
