My Summer as a Goth (2018) Poster

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5/10
A coming of age story for the Goth youngsters...
paul_haakonsen14 November 2020
Well, while the 2018 movie "My Summer as a Goth" was a watchable movie, it was, however, definitely not aimed at me as a target audience. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that director Tara Johnson-Medinger's movie was bad, it just fell short of my preferences.

This movie from writers Tara Johnson-Medinger and Brandon Lee Roberts is a coming of age movie, hence the not aimed at me as the target audience, but I didn't know that prior to sitting down to watch the movie. I sat down to watch this as I too went through a Goth phase during my late teenage years. So I thought it might be a fun movie to watch and reminisce on days long gone.

The storyline was adequately written, but the movie was just a bit out of my realm of usual means of entertainment. As such, then I found the movie to be somewhat mundane in its pacing and felt like it was just trotting onwards set on auto-pilot mode.

The acting in the movie was good, although it was sort of difficult to take the Victor character serious, as he sort of looked like a spoof.

It was nice to see a movie with this particular setting and topic though, as there aren't all that many of such movies readily available.

Now, I am sure that there is a massive audience out there for "My Summer as a Goth", that being probably late teenage or young adult females. So of course the movie should find a base among a good amount of viewers.

My rating of the movie, as it turned out to be something that I wasn't really looking for, much less impressed by, settles on a mediocre five out of ten stars.
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6/10
Fun!
BandSAboutMovies22 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I totally did not expect to enjoy this movie at all and came away totally enjoying it. It's the first film written and directed by Tara Johnson-Medinger, who definitely gets the tone and voice right for this coming of age film.

After the sudden death of her father, Joey Javitts (Natalie Shershow) goes to stay with her grandparents for the summer while her famous author mother goes on a book tour. While there, she meets the goth neighbor Victor (Jack Levis) and decides to change everything.

Oh to be sixteen again and Manic Panic-dying your scalp for the first time. My Summer As a Goth may not ring true for those deeply invested in the subculture, but for those of us on the outskirts or outside, it presents a charming tale of a young girl seeking to find herself. The supporting cast is really fun and I loved the way the movie chose to show text messages as animation.

It starts streaming on demand on November 11. Check it out. I think you'll end up liking it too. Take it from someone who went to Darkwave nights every Sunday and felt out of place because he can't dance and didn't wear makeup. It gets the alienation right.
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3/10
A horrible film and an bad presentation of goth subculture
Gelaos2 December 2020
This is a very pretentious film full of (not only) goth clichés. The characters are poorly written, acting is hillariusly bad most of the time and the plot - despite its pretty standard coming-of-age formula - feels more like a series of events/scenes that together don't form anything coherent or atmospheric. Atmosphere and pacing are also nonexistent.

If you're edgy teenager at the start of "goth/emo phase", you might perhaps enjoy this film. Otherwise, I don't think so...

As for the goth subculture, it's portrayed in the most stereotypical and cheesy way possible (dancing at graveyard, suicidal talks, "Bela Lugosi's Dead", death jokes). I definitely don't recommend this film to anyone who wants to seriously understand goths and their culture.

At least Joey's grandparents were kind of funny and the ending was somewhat sweet (nevertheless, still very cringy).
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7/10
Poorly done but good fun
henri-2684213 March 2022
It is clunky and the diologe delivered like real life speach which isn't easy to watch when we have cleaner and easier films in the mainstream. However there are webseries that are acclaimed that have done worse. Its sweet, fun and dark worth a watch.
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8/10
Excellent teenage romance story
robertmurray-7063716 March 2022
This is very entertaining story with a lot of humor but with substance also. It's about a 16 year old girl whose father recently died and she feels a bit lost when her mother leaves her with her (hilariously wacky) grandparents for a while. The she meets the goth boy next door and the fun really begins.
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8/10
Beautifully crafted coming of age story
tobiwalker7 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Everything about this little film is predictable but lovingly created. I'm in my sixties, so the goth culture is something I know about only tangentially, but really, it's just dressing for a classic story of teen heartbreak. The movie was made in Portland, Oregon (which I like because I live there) and nicely shot. The number of women involved in the production is exciting. All the actors acquit themselves well.

It's delightful seeing a young woman explore who she is and come away with knowledge of herself after not too much damage. I think girls ages 12-15 would enjoy this film, and I'll give a fond wave to Hot Topic when next I visit the mall.
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