A fantastically chilling story of mayhem and vengeance comes to us by way of “June 9”.
And what makes June 9 the scariest date by far on my calendar? A herd of kids, out for some summer vacation fun. This means pranks and cameras, so they can have a complete visual record of the stunts they pull, making it really, really easy to convict them later, should they get caught. But of course, nothing’s going to go right for the “Boston Mills Five”, as they’re called. Granted, that doesn’t sound all that scary. But by the time we get to the end of that video footage, you’ll be as scared as I am. The first minute is positively unbelievable. Ostensibly the results of what will be taking place over the next ninety minutes, if what happens on that tape is any indication of what’s going to happen for the rest of the movie, set up one wild ride with the Boston Mills Five. Sure, it starts off all wedgies and drive-by water blasting, but it gets pretty wild pretty fast.
There will be inevitable comparisons here to “The Blair Witch Project”. It’s just unavoidable, and frankly, it’s sad. It’s sad that this utterly more believable and wildly scarier venture is going to be compared to that. You may be questioning my assertion that “June 9” is a lot more believable than “The Blair Witch Project”. Well, let me give you the rundown: three kids out hunting for a “legend in the woods” and getting killed by a homicidal devilwitch is a whole lot harder to swallow than what’s going to happen to this bunch. Believe it. Here’s the best part… this is at least somewhat based on an actual place, home to several actual legends in Ohio. I didn’t believe it either, but part of this is true besides. In case you want to check it out yourself, go Google “helltown ohio” and you’ll get some background.
Yhe cinematography is pretty similar to “The Blair Witch Project”–at least THESE guys can hold a camera steady!–but aside from that, it’s actually scarier in its own right. There are plenty of creepy moments to be had here; keep an eye out for the Terra Cotta Salvation Army, for example. Plus, loads of chilling breaking-and-entering moments that make everybody just plain nuts. Even better is the spectacularly creepy CB conversation just after the halfway mark. I got chills. And watching them check out the haunted bus gives a pretty nice surprise too. But in all honesty, these kids got it coming. Watching these kids on this footage makes it clear that they are probably the biggest a******s in Cuyahoga Falls and the surrounding area.
The last half hour is just absolutely fraught with terror. Strangely enough, there’s an image that’s really rather creepy in an out-of-focus sort of way if you watch really carefully while the van’s being attacked. I’m not sure what it is or what it’s doing there, but it’s at one hour ten minutes and thirty four seconds, in case you’re interested. It’ll happen at least twice more, so just watch for the static bursts. What’s really odd is how nothing seems to actually stick with this bunch. They’ll have the most horrific things happen to them, and the next day they’ll be right back out throwing moons and defacing signs, at least, until the last when they finally manage to learn something.
All in all, unbelievable. “June 9” is a story that pulls no punches, told in a minimalist style that actually adds to the believabilty, and makes it, handily, one of the most shocking and downright chilling horror movies I’ve seen in a good long time.
Finally, someone who appreciates this movie as much as I do! It is a brilliant little number, especially as it was cast with unknown actors (victims?) and set very convincingly in 1999 (hell for all I know it could have been a project started in the early part of the decade). How they found some of these people is amazing. Some are clearly actors, others are just…well, there’s the gypsies, the man with a big ol’ brace on his leg and the woman with hairy armpits (oops, was that a spoiler? haha). Anyways, cheers for a fantastic review!