A ‘twisty’ thriller that left viewers on the edge of their seats is coming to Netflix this month.
Missing, released in 2023, is a screenlife film following June (Storm Reid) using various technological devices while left home alone when her mother (Nia Long) goes on holiday in Colombia with her new boyfriend.
But when her mother disappears, June – stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles – is forced to use the same technology to track her down – a tactic which soon raises more questions than answers.
Directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, it is a spiritual sequel to 2018 screenlife thriller Searching and 2020’s Run, both of which were directed by Aneesh Chaganty.
Chaganty wrote Missing, but passed the directorial torch to Merrick and Johnson, who serve as editors on Searching and Run.
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Missing currently sits at an impressive 88% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and an even higher 90% from audiences.
In their review, Empire called the film: ‘A gripping, well-told, incredibly watchable thriller for a new generation of TikTok sleuths — and a compelling argument to up your average screen-time.’
AV Club wrote: ‘Screenlife may never be one of the primary ways we tell cinematic stories, but ‘Missing’ is a prime example of what the format is capable of, tapping into our increasingly digital humanity to excellent effect.’
The Hollywood Reporter added: ‘Adopting its predecessor’s template, the film mines and manipulates the tools on a computer desktop to tell a pulsating and alarming story.’
Others, however, found it too similar to Searching, with the New York Times also saying: ‘It’s not exactly riveting to watch June download and install WhatsApp so that she can video call Colombia.
‘Yet, there’s some pleasure in a brains-over-brawn quest that flatters us to fancy that we might be clever enough to solve it ourselves.’
IndieWire thought: ‘The many logic-defying developments in Missing make it difficult to hold one’s attention, especially considering that the film gives viewers plenty of time to think about the countless ways it doesn’t make sense.’
Speaking about the film, Euphoria star Reid shared why her role in Missing was one of her most challenging.
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‘I think…the biggest challenge cause I had never done a computer-screen film before,’ she told ComicBook.com.
‘All of the technological things we had to correct, not being able to have a scene partner, or not having staging and blocking, and things I’m used to.
‘It was a hurdle to jump over at the beginning but once I got the hang of it, the whole team made me feel comfortable. I think it paid off.’
Missing comes to Netflix on January 20.
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