So where did all this attention come from?  

Promoted through social media platform Tiktok, users share their experiences and opinions after watching the movie, declaring it “traumatizing” and “horrific,” while others said it was “anti-climatic” and had “bad acting.”

But what is the real rating here? Was the movie as good as everyone made it out to be or overhyped? According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was rated 34%, with 100% being the best, and 4.6 out of 10 on IMDb. Statistically, the movie has low ratings, but the frightening plot that entails a story of a kidnapped girl with eerie directed scenes that were made out to look like a documentary, might appeal to the audience as a film that is meant to disrupt them psychologically. 

Although the movie does not derive from a true story, it is based on real abductions similar to that of the disappearance of Miranda Gaddis and Ashley Pond back in 2002. Ashley Pond, who was twelve years old at the time, disappeared on her way to the bus stop in Oregon City. Three months later, her classmate Miranda Gaddis also went missing mysteriously. 

In “Megan is Missing,” Megan Stewart, a popular fourteen year old, suddenly disappears after communicating with a friend online, Josh, who claims to be a seventeen year old skater. They talk online, but Josh never reveals his face. He gave excuses such as his camera is broken due to his little brother and that he’s shy and intimidated by Megan’s personality. Megan overlooks this until she was lured to meet Josh behind a diner, where her missing whereabouts began. Megan’s friend, Amy Herman, who is the complete opposite of Megan, considering she’s an outcast in the social circle, notices Megan’s disappearance. Amy continues to document her life including the passing days of her missing friend. Finally, Amy, too, is kidnapped and throughout the film, uncensored and disturbing scenes that resemble unedited footage found on Amy’s camera is shown to the audience.

Seems like an interesting enough plot, but why do the ratings show otherwise? The movie’s budget was very low with only $35,000 to use in production and only five crew members to help direct the film, while the whole movie was recorded in a duration of one week in 2006. To explain the “poor acting” described by viewers, it was Rachel Quinn’s first experience in a professional acting field, playing the role of Megan. Amy was played by Amber Perkins who made her first debut as an actress from the movie. The only cast member with past experiences was Australian actor Dean Waite, who played Josh. 

With mixed feelings, “Megan is Missing” has critics either loving it for its frightening plot or hating it because of the bad scripting. But overall, how well the movie is evaluated depends on the watcher. If you are a horror movie fan, you might be more strict when analyzing the movie. Or someone like me, who tends to like other genres besides horror and thriller, is more likely to give it a high score because of how scary it is. Either way, you never know unless you watch the film yourself. 

Viewer discretion is advised, since the movie can be triggering and involves the sensitive topic of sexual violence and child abduction.