SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Alternately boring and creepy, stream-of-consciousness home movie about five obnoxious teens hangin' out around town, checking out some supposedly haunted places on the outskirts of their tiny little town in Ohio. These little nitwits play pranks, puke, and generally act like obnoxious teens for about 80 minutes of the footage, but the other 15 minutes of it, was very creepy, and really got to me. Something about this movie stuck in my mind, more so than its obvious inspiration, The Blair Witch Project, a film which I have never been a fan of. This film has the similar look and tone, but largely different story and ideas, of the people of a small town exacting a horrific revenge on these little pricks. When the teens first think they see something in the dark in the woods, I watched the scene again to see if there really was something there. I didn't do that at any time, for any scene, in the BWP. The twins standing by the windows, blankly staring out at them, as simple as that may be, was supremely creepy, as was the little girl's voice on the radio. And the ending was brutal, very cold. But, for all its suspense in those scenes, I couldn't help get the feeling that these were just unbelievably boneheaded teenagers who, basically, get just what's coming to them. Also unusual and unique to this film is that such a major plot twist actually takes places *after* the closing credits.I'll definitely check this film out again, which is more than I can say about its obvious inspiration, The Blair Witch Project.

jfgibson73 Here is another "found footage" horror movie in which the story is told through home video shot by the characters. In this film, the premise is that some high schoolers are looking for something to do during the summer, so they drive to a small nearby community to poke around and mess with the locals. They peek in windows, sneak around garages, trespass, and ridicule people from afar. Little by little, weird things begin to happen. For example, on one trip, they look in a house and see several Amish-looking men just standing and staring ominously. After each incident, they go home, talk about what happened, hand out, and then get together to go back out to bother the strangers again. By the end of the movie, you start to feel like these kids definitely deserve some consequences. Eventually, they are brutally murdered by the residents of the town. We see them getting beaten and cut apart pretty graphically. It adds to the creepiness that the killers seem to be doing this in a very methodical manner, with their children helping out as if its a daily chore. This lengthy ending sequence is the most effective part of the film, and made it worth sitting through. Whereas the build up portions of the movie are fairly unremarkable, we get a very memorable horror movie payoff.

bob_meg 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.

FelixGJr2010-702-459161 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