A parents’ worst nightmare: your children disappear without a trace. There is no ransom demand. Nothing.
Seventeen children from Ms. Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner – “The Fantastic Four: First Steps“) third-grade class disappeared at 2:17 a.m. on a Wednesday. One student, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher – “An Almost Christmas Story”), and Ms. Gandy herself are the only ones in the classroom the next day. 2:17: two left, 17 gone.
Naturally, the disappearance of the children, seen running freely from their homes on various security cameras, sets the town on edge. Gandy is accused and threatened by various people, including Archer Graff (Josh Brolin – “Inherent Vice”), whose son Luke is one of the missing. He even goes so far as to write “Witch” on Gandy’s car in red paint.
The police investigate, including calling Alex’s father in for questioning. When he appears, with Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan – “Rebuilding”), he is withdrawn and barely communicative, while Gladys dominates the communication.
As time goes on and the children remain lost, Justine takes matters into her own hands, trying to find out where they are and why Alex was not taken. At the same time Archer, while following Justine, figures there is more going on that at first appears.
Writer Director Zack Cregger (“Barbarian”) has woven a tale of mystery devolving into horror, with some memorable characters, especially Aunt Gladys, who comes to Alex’s house, presumably desperately ill and in need of care. The film is listed as being of comedic/horror genre, but the humorous elements are muted and don’t detract from the growing suspense of the story. The storyline has similarities to a 2021 film, the underrated “Antlers”, written and directed by Scott Cooper and featuring Amy Madigan as a school principal. No missing children here, but there is a withdrawn child whose teacher expresses concern and investigates what turns out to be a horrifying secret in the boy’s home.
Excellent performances by Madigan in a truly creepy role, Brolin, playing a grieving father who won’t give up, and Garner as the plucky school teacher who ignores her principal’s admonitions to find out what really happened and, in the process, clear herself.
Other notable characters are Principal Miller (Benedict Wong – “Bad Genius”), who is eager to please everyone but also a stickler for the rules; James (Austin Abrams – “Do Revenge”), a drug addled homeless youth who runs afoul of the police and aunt Gladys; and Alex who must face multiple dire situations.
At its heart, this is a story of a town that faces an overwhelming, unexplainable tragedy that comes out of nowhere, suffers a breakdown of social norms as a result, and in the end, will probably never be the same.
Notes: Moments of extreme violence and body horror.
The title also relates to the death of one of the directors friends who died at that time of night.
Amy Madigan ascribes her getting the role of Aunt Gladys to her reading for the part in full costume and makeup, wowing Director Cregger.
Runtime: Two hours, eight minutes
Availability: In select theaters, streaming on HBO MAX
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