It is more than clear that we are living a real 1980s revival. At least, that is what the studios think, regarding a number of remakes and original titles that are seeing the light in the last years. Movie remakes like the close coming out It (2017) or the announcement of future new versions of Escape from New York (1981) or Pet Sematary (1989) being in consideration are nothing but the confirmation that studios want to bring a face washed retro feeling to the new generations of movie goers. Other new versions of movies like The Blob (1988) or An American Werewolf in London (1981) are already in production. In addition to all these, we can’t forget the movie Super 8 (2011) and the successful TV series Stranger Things (2016– ), only naming a pair, drinking straight to the fountains of 1980s nostalgia.
Although far away from the big studios, raising from the clandestinity that an independent production can bring, one of the most visually interesting titles that spawned from this 1980s revival was Turbo Kid (2015). Written and directed by the tandem formed by feature film debutant filmmakers François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, the movie was placed in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in 1997, where a comic book fan adopts the persona of his favorite hero to save his enthusiastic friend and fight a tyrannical overlord. The movie was described as some sort of “Mad Max (1979) on BMX Bikes“. Fantasy and science fiction fans worldwide welcome the movie with enthusiasm, and although didn’t reach a big distribution it became an instant classic after its running in a long list of film festivals. Well, not a long time passed and the tandem of filmmakers are already working on their second feature film.
Entitled Summer of ’84, the movie tells the story of a group of teenage friends who suspect that their neighbor police officer is a serial killer, and spend their summer time in the good old 1980s spying on him and gathering evidence. Again, the young trio of filmmakers will exploit this love for the retro culture that so many good results they harvested in their previous movie or the wide list of short films they have been producing since over a decade.
The cast is mainly formed by a bunch of young promising actors like Tiera Skovbye, Cory Gruter-Andrew, Caleb Emery, Judah Lewis and Graham Verchere. Filming has already started, so the movie might be expected to hit theatres sometime in 2018.
Besides Summer of ’84, the filmmakers trio who call themselves team Roadkill Superstar (RKSS), are in pre-production for the sequel of Turbo Kid (2015), still with an unknown plot and with the working title of Turbo Kid 2. Check out the trailer for the first feature film adventures of Turbo Kid here and let the retro magic take over your mind:
