In 1979 in a small Ohio town a group of kids is making a Super 8 zombie movie at night so their parents don’t know about it.

One of the group, played by Joel Courtney, is not as interested in the movie making as he is in meeting Elle Fanning (who usually plays younger versions of her older sister Dakota), who plays the only girl involved with the movie.

While they are shooting at the town’s railway station a spectacular train crash takes place and they barely escape with their lives. Then the military arrives to clean up the crash and a mysterious cargo, but is obviously trying to hide something sinister.

Meanwhile, since the crash, some unseen, but deadly, monster is causing people to disappear, all the town’s dogs run away and there are other strange occurences.

While the plotting doesn’t always work, Super 8 is a super entertaining film, scary and funny too, probably too scary for young children. It’s kind of an old fashioned Hollywood kids movie and it works because you care about the characters and get wrapped up in the story. Writer/director J.J. Abrams is also doing a tribute to early Steven Spielberg films like E.T., and not surprisingly, Spielberg is one of the producers.

Don’t leave when the credits come up because you’ll miss the zombie movie the kids were making while trying to figure out what is happening to their town.

Rating: four deer out of five

Next Week on Video

Matt Damon turns in another excellent performance as an up and coming politician battling his fate in The Adjustment Bureau.

Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.