Actually my heart sank when I read the description of the movie because there were some striking similarities to a tragic case that happened here in Portland Oregon. Another reviewer mentioned that the movie is supposed to be based on a true story but when they tried to research it they could not find anything that matched. If you read more carefully you will see it is based on a study of multiple cases which I am guessing means they used elements from different cases to create this story.
Several years ago 2 teenage girls who were friends disappeared in Oregon City Oregon. Their names were Ashley Pond (almost 14 years old when she went missing) and Miranda Gaddis (14 years old when she vanished). They both lived in the same apartment complex on a dead end road. At the top of the road there was a house where a man named Ward Weaver lived with his daughter who was roughly the same age as Ashley and Miranda. The two girls became friends with Weaver's daughter. In August of 2001 Ashley accused Ward Weaver of attempting to rape her but the police did not investigate. In January of 2002 Ashley disappeared on her way to school. As in the movie - everyone searched for her including her friend Miranda - she was never found. Two months later Miranda vanished.
As in the movie there was media coverage that speculated the girls ran away. There was talk that one girl had a bit of a reputation and came from a home that would be considered "broken". Both families insisted their children were victims of foul play. They appealed to the public and put up ads on billboards all over the city. In both cases the girls left for the school bus stop at the top of the road but never made it there. They just seemed to vanish. They were never seen alive again.
For months there was speculation that Weaver had something to do with the girls vanishing but he denied it. I remember him giving a local news anchor a tour of his property showing his yard and proclaiming his innocence. I also remember being sickened when the truth came out. At the time of the interview they were standing on a recently poured cement pad and underneath that pad was the body of one of the girls in a blue barrel.
I remember being glued to the TV for hours in August of that year as the story broke. Every local channel ran uninterrupted coverage that weekend. I remember watching them use ground penetrating radar and cadaver dogs. I remember the video from the news helicopters as the police sifted through the dirt looking for the bones of the missing girls. Eventually they were both found dead on the property. One of the bodies was found in a shed. The other girl had been put in blue barrels before she was buried behind the house and then covered with concrete where Weaver planned to put a new hot tub. I remember crying for the families of those children whose lives were cut short by a monster. Watching this movie with all the similarities brought all of this to mind in vivid detail.
What I took from this movie was that this could happen to anyone's child in the blink of an eye. I grew up in that neighborhood. I had a friend that lived in the same apartments that those two girls had lived in. When I was a teenager I went to the same schools that Ashley and Miranda went to. I walked on the same roads, shopped at the same stores, etc. If this horror had happened 10 years earlier, it could have been me or one of my friends. From time to time I still have to drive past the place where those girls died and laid hidden in the ground while their families searched for them. Eventually they tore the house down but the land will never go away.
Who cares if the acting is bad, the writing is corny, the budget was cheap or if it was shot in a week - It is the message that is important. If this movie brings awareness to young girls or saves a single life it is worth every star I can give it.
Several years ago 2 teenage girls who were friends disappeared in Oregon City Oregon. Their names were Ashley Pond (almost 14 years old when she went missing) and Miranda Gaddis (14 years old when she vanished). They both lived in the same apartment complex on a dead end road. At the top of the road there was a house where a man named Ward Weaver lived with his daughter who was roughly the same age as Ashley and Miranda. The two girls became friends with Weaver's daughter. In August of 2001 Ashley accused Ward Weaver of attempting to rape her but the police did not investigate. In January of 2002 Ashley disappeared on her way to school. As in the movie - everyone searched for her including her friend Miranda - she was never found. Two months later Miranda vanished.
As in the movie there was media coverage that speculated the girls ran away. There was talk that one girl had a bit of a reputation and came from a home that would be considered "broken". Both families insisted their children were victims of foul play. They appealed to the public and put up ads on billboards all over the city. In both cases the girls left for the school bus stop at the top of the road but never made it there. They just seemed to vanish. They were never seen alive again.
For months there was speculation that Weaver had something to do with the girls vanishing but he denied it. I remember him giving a local news anchor a tour of his property showing his yard and proclaiming his innocence. I also remember being sickened when the truth came out. At the time of the interview they were standing on a recently poured cement pad and underneath that pad was the body of one of the girls in a blue barrel.
I remember being glued to the TV for hours in August of that year as the story broke. Every local channel ran uninterrupted coverage that weekend. I remember watching them use ground penetrating radar and cadaver dogs. I remember the video from the news helicopters as the police sifted through the dirt looking for the bones of the missing girls. Eventually they were both found dead on the property. One of the bodies was found in a shed. The other girl had been put in blue barrels before she was buried behind the house and then covered with concrete where Weaver planned to put a new hot tub. I remember crying for the families of those children whose lives were cut short by a monster. Watching this movie with all the similarities brought all of this to mind in vivid detail.
What I took from this movie was that this could happen to anyone's child in the blink of an eye. I grew up in that neighborhood. I had a friend that lived in the same apartments that those two girls had lived in. When I was a teenager I went to the same schools that Ashley and Miranda went to. I walked on the same roads, shopped at the same stores, etc. If this horror had happened 10 years earlier, it could have been me or one of my friends. From time to time I still have to drive past the place where those girls died and laid hidden in the ground while their families searched for them. Eventually they tore the house down but the land will never go away.
Who cares if the acting is bad, the writing is corny, the budget was cheap or if it was shot in a week - It is the message that is important. If this movie brings awareness to young girls or saves a single life it is worth every star I can give it.