Welcome to Movie Shortens.
Today’s movie, set in the same decade as - and strangely reminiscent of the popular
TV Show - Stranger Things - examines the notion that even Serial Killers live next door to
somebody.
People hardly ever let you know who they really are.
Inside any house, anything could be happening and you’d never know.
Everything may seem normal and routine - but the truth is, the suburbs are where all the
craziness happens . . . Davey is out on his paper round.
He stops at the house of Mr Mackey, a local policeman.
The headline in the newspaper alludes to the disappearance of yet another teenage boy.
Mr Mackey appears and asks for Davey’s help to move some furniture in his basement.
Downstairs, Davey looks around and notices a padlocked room.
Davey is clearly already suspicious - get out of there now kid!
They move the cabinet into Mackey’s dark room and Davey hurriedly leaves.
That night, Davey plays a game of Manhunt with many of the local kids.
Afterwards, he joins his friends Woody, Farraday and Eats inside Eats’ Treehouse where they
pore over some adult literature and fantasize over a local girl named Nicky, who used to
be Davey’s babysitter!
Boys will be boys!
Davey shares with his friends his theory that the missing kids are all connected in some
way.
The other kids all mock him before dispersing to enjoy some private time.
Boys will be boys!
These friends are so tight that even after bedtime they stay in contact through walkie
talkies,,,, and Davey also keeps an eye on the neighborhood using a pair of binoculars.
At dinner one night, Davey’s family discuss the fact that Nicky’s parents are separating.
Davey’s father is a cameraman for a local news channel, and one night he hears him being
called away to film a report about a serial killer, who has claimed responsibility for
the deaths of the thirteen teenage boys.
In Davey’s bedroom, the boys discuss the killer and Woody suggests that they stop going
out at night.
Suddenly they all spy Nicky from the window and stop to stare - as she turns, everyone
ducks - except for Davey who she spots.
The boys go to the library to research the victims.
That evening, the boys go out to play.
On the way home they go to call on their friend Sammy, to make up the numbers for Manhunt
but there’s no-one home.
Davey’s spider sense starts tingling . . . Why haven’t they seen Sammy for some days now?
Why is there no movement in the house?
Why is the car still in the driveway?
The other boys are dismissive and head off home but Davey has a look around.
He looks across at the neighbor’s house - Mackey’s . . .
Back home, Davey’s parents are working late so he fixes himself some dinner and notices
the picture of a missing teenager on the side of the milk carton.
He remembers seeing a kid that looked like this in Mackey’s dining room a few weeks
ago, and so starts to think that Mackey could be the killer.
Eats reminds Davey that Mackey is a cop but of course - that is the perfect alibi!
They begin to follow Mackey’s and start to gather some rather suspicious evidence.
One afternoon, they watch from the Treehouse as Mackey gets home.
Every night at 11pm he goes for a run and so they check his trash.
Finding nothing, they decide to start checking his mail instead.
Woody asks if he can sleep over at Davey’s house, but first he checks on his mum.
She is sad and tired after a long day at work.
Clearly she works hard in order to provide for her son.
When Davey’s doorbell rings, he is surprised to see Nicky instead of Woody.
They chat in his bedroom and she reveals that she will be leaving the area soon.
Their moment is interrupted by the return of Davey’s parents and Nicky disappears
out of the window.
Meanwhile, a teenage boy is outside, alone.
He suddenly has the feeling that he is being followed and runs - coming to a halt in an
alleyway.
Don’t stop now you fool - keep running!
Suddenly he is abducted in the night, to the squeal of car wheels escaping.
The following morning, Mackey heads to work with the boys following in Woody’s mum’s
car.
Mackey stops at the hardware store, and while they watch, Davey tells the others of the
previous night’s encounter with Nicky.
They notice that Mackey unloads some digging tools and a huge amount of earth into his
patrol car.
They speculate how many bodies could be buried with that volume of earth and continue to
follow him.
However, after a near miss, the boys lose Mackey.
Behind them, some sirens wail and Woody stops the car as a policeman approaches.
Is it Officer Mackey?
How are they going to explain what they’re up to . . . ?
Luckily, it’s another policeman - Officer Cole, who scolds them, but ultimately sends
them home where they will be safe.
That night when Mackey arrives home, Davey notices that he has switched cars.
Outside, he sees Nicky waving so he goes down to join her.
He sympathizes as she tells him about her parents' separation and confides in her about
his suspicions regarding Mackey.
Nicky laughs at this notion and warns him against pursuing this.
The following night, Davey tells his friends that he has been spending time with Nicky
but they don’t believe him.
They decide to go and check Sammy’s house again, and this time they find that the door
is unlocked.
They go inside but are startled by the appearance of Nicky.
She tells them that she has been looking after their cats as they have been away on vacation
for some weeks.
They tell her that they were worried because they hadn’t seen Sammy and she guesses that
they believe Mackey is to blame With this news, Davey’s friends finally
believe that he has been hanging out with Nicky and congratulate Davey on his achievement.
High-five!
The next day, Davey suggests that while playing Manhunt, they could plant a Walkie Talkie
outside Mackey’s window.
While planting it, they spot him inside with cleaning equipment and Farraday notices that
there is something resembling a blood stain on his shirt.
Suddenly a window opens and Davey is face to face with Mackey.
Busted!!!
Davey hotfoots it away and later the friends muse whether Mackey is on to them.
The next day Mackey confronts Davey but he gives the excuse that they were just playing
Manhunt and Mackey seems to believe him.
Phew!!
However, Davey does notice some freshly laid earth in Mackey’s backyard..
That night at 1am, Davey is watching Mackey’s house but suddenly spots Mackey watching him
right back.
He calls an emergency meeting and the boys decide that they will search Mackey’s garden
while he’s out and search for evidence.
The following day Mackey goes to a garage - followed by Woody and Farraday.
He goes inside and leaves soon after.
Meanwhile Davey and Eats check inside Mackey’s shed and discover a blood stained T- Shirt.
Davey recognizes this as belonging to one of the missing kids.
The boys all meet up and Woody and Farraday reveal that they found bags of Sodium Hydroxide
inside the garage.
They check and find that this chemical is used to cover the smell of decomposition.
Davey feels that it is finally time to tell his parents - but they refuse to believe him.
They march the boys across to Mackey’s house to apologize for breaking into his shed.
Mackey laughs at the notion and tells them, that the boy that Davey saw in his house before,
was his nephew - the T-Shirt belongs to him, and he was injured whilst helping his Uncle
work.
Mackey offers to call his nephew to corroborate the story but Davey’s father says that that
won’t be necessary.
Davey still believes that he is guilty but the others have all had enough and head home.
The following day, Mackey shows up at Davey’s house to talk about what happened yesterday.
He tries to assure him that the police are doing all they can to find the killer.
Davey doesn’t want to hear what Mackey has to say and even asks Mackey to call his nephew
to corroborate his story.
Mackey walks inside the house to use the phone.
What are you doing Davey??
You should never invite the killer inside your home!!
Davey conceals a knife about his person - just in case.
Nobody answers the phone and Mackey offers to come back later and try again but Davey
tells him that it won't be necessary.
Once Mackey leaves, Davey calls the Operator and asks for the last number called from that
phone.
It appears that the last number was to Mackey’s own home!
Mackey was lying!
Davey goes to tell his friends but they are beyond disinterested by this point.
Suddenly, the news reports that the killer has been arrested - and who is the arresting
officer??
None other than Officer Mackey himself!
Suspicious - no?
Davey is horrified to find that Mackey is being lauded as a hero and determines to find
out what is behind that locked door in Mackey’s basement.
He asks his friends to look out while he breaks in and films with his dad’s camera.
Reluctantly, his friends agree to help.
The following day, the whole town goes to a festival while Davey is still grounded.
He seizes the opportunity to carry out his plan.
The boys are all in position and Davey and Woody break into Mackey’s house.
They are startled by Nicky’s appearance at the window but she joins them in their
mission.
They make their way to the basement but suddenly receive a call from Farraday who is at the
festival.
He spotted that Mackey has been involved in a gardening project - hence the earth and
the garden tools.
Farraday decides that he is out and he and Eats abandon their posts.
Nevertheless, the others break into the locked room.
They find the walls adorned with family photographs.
They are shocked to also discover a decomposing corpse in a bathtub as well as another restrained
victim who begs for help.
As they flee, Davey realizes that the family photographs are actually pictures of the victims
and spots a picture of him and his family.
Davey is the next intended victim!
Some time later, Davey, Woody and Nicky are at the police station.
A unit is dispatched to bring in Mackey and the Sheriff congratulates Davey on saving
the boy’s life.
Davey and Nicky sit on the steps outside the station and she tells him that when her parents
arrived she saw them hug for the first time in ages.
She’s not going to get her hopes up - but she acknowledges that it is because of him.
She gives him a kiss.
Way to go Davey!
In the car, on the way home, Davey’s family expresses their pride in their son.
That night, Woody comes to stay the night while his mom is at work but Mackey still
hasn’t been found As the boys sleep, the steps from the attic
slowly come down and Mackey emerges.
He sends Davey to sleep and abducts him from his bed.
Davey regains consciousness in the back of the squad car with Woody.
They manage to scape into the woods.
Mackey’s voice comes over a loudspeaker telling them that they are going to play a
game of Manhunt - only now they’re going to play it for real.
The boys try to escape but they don’t recognize the surroundings.
They can hear Mackey following them and suddenly find themselves amongst the remains of Mackey’s
victims.
Davey tells Woody that he’ll create a distraction whilst Woody goes to steal Mackey’s car.
However, Mackey injures Davey's ankle with a knife.
Davey cries out in pain and tries to warn Woody that he’s coming but he’s too late.
Mackey takes his knife and Woody dies in the woods with only the evil cop as witness.
Davey arrives at the car and discovers his friend’s body.
Mackey appears and tells Davey that this is all his fault - all he needed to do was leave
him alone.
Davey is terrified as Mackey yells that he stole his life.
He tells Davey that he has spent so long thinking about him, and so he now intends to leave
him alive, wondering forever when he will return for him.
He will constantly live in fear that today might be the day and one day - he will be
right.
Mackey gets in the car and leaves Davey behind in the road where he is eventually picked
up by a passing stranger.
As he is driven to safety, Mackey’s burning police car is visible by the side of the road.
After some time Davey resumes his paper round.
He notices Nicky leaving with her parents.
Eats and Farraday have been made to dismantle the Treehouse.
The old friends don’t even acknowledge one another.
Davey has learnt that people hardly ever let you know who they really are.
Even serial killers live next door
to somebody. . .