The film stars Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Cory Grüter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, and Rich Sommer.

It received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances, direction, acting, dark humor, and screenplay, with many calling it one of the best horror films of 2018.

As the summer begins, 15-year-old Davey Armstrong, who works a paper route, initially enjoys carefree diversion with his friends, Dale "Woody" Woodworth, Curtis Farraday, and Tommy "Eats" Eaton.

When a local newspaper receives an anonymous letter from someone claiming responsibility for the boys' murders, Davey suspects that his neighbor Wayne Mackey, a popular police officer in their hometown of Ipswich, is the Cape May Slayer.

However, when a boy Davey had seen inside Mackey's house appears on the back of a milk carton days later, they agree to help him investigate.

Farraday, who attends the festival as a lookout, discovers that the bags of soil were purchased for a city beautification project, and he and Eats abandon their posts.

They enter the bathroom and are horrified to find the missing boy's desiccated corpse in the bathtub, along with a still-living recent abductee.

Rescued and returned to daily life after a hospital stay, Davey retraces his morning paperboy route: passing Woody's foreclosed house, seeing Nikki wave goodbye to him as her custodial parent drives her away due to the threat of Mackey, coming upon Eats and Farraday trashing the now-demolished treehouse, both of them avoiding his gaze as they are traumatized over Woody's death; and Mackey's house, plastered with police tape.

[2][8] It was released as midnight showings in limited theatres in the United States from August 10, 2018, by Gunpowder & Sky,[9] followed shortly later by VOD, and streaming as a Shudder exclusive in October 2018.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Summer of 84 suffers from an overreliance on nostalgia for its titular decade, but a number of effective jolts may still satisfy genre enthusiasts.

[15] Film Threat said it "lulled you into a false sense of security and banality before slamming you into a brilliantly dark chilling finale.

"[18] Variety found the film "neither funny nor scary enough to leave a lasting impression" and "more slowly paced than necessary, and those seeking horror content will find the payoff underwhelming after a protracted, mild buildup" and that "the leisurely progress isn't justified by any well-developed subplots, or by much suspense – there's never a doubt who the perp is, and apart from a couple of false-flag jump scares, little real peril surfaces until quite late.

"[1] The review noted that it was unclear if the script by Matt Leslie and Stephen J. Smith was intended "to be played for satire, straight suspense, or a mixture of both.