The 1970s and 1980s produced some excellent sci-fi flicks.

Technology gave effects pioneers and scene-set-up/cinematography innovators Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and others ways to expand on techniques learned from masters such as Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, John Ford, Stanley Kubrick, Cecil B. DeMille and Orson Welles.

It was a fascinating film era and one writer/director J.J. Abrams pays tribute to in his new effort, and the Spielberg co-produced, Super 8. It is set in 1979 in small-town America where a group of kids in their early teens are making a very amateur zombie movie on 8mm film.

-- Local show times, theaters, trailer.

For the unknowing and younger readers, 8mm is grainy film and even more antiquated than video cassettes. Stick around for the outtakes at the end. The film turns out perfectly and is a blast.

Sneaking out one night and shooting at the local train depot, the friends film a spectacular train crash. Barely escaping with their lives, the kids are told by the man that caused the crash to tell no one what they saw. Do so and they’ll die and their parents and families will die, too.

That kind of thing will freak a kid out.

Then strange things begin to happen in town. People and animals disappear. Metal objects fly through the sky. Buildings are destroyed. The police and locals want information but are ignored by the army unit cleaning up the wreck.

Something strange and dangerous is loose.

Abrams (Star Trek & TV’s Lost creator) casts unknown but talented teen actors — including Issaquah’s Riley Griffiths and Elle Fanning -- Dakota’s sister. He keeps the kids at the center of the story. Only they really know what is going on and — of course — can’t share it with non-believing adults until it is too late.

The what-you-don’t-see-scares-you scenes are terrific. So are Abrams' throwback camera work and cinematography, and the sets and effects are superb. But by mid-movie there's a been-there, done-that deja vu that sets in. Things begin to drag. Adults spring into action but thwarted. As expected, the kids save the day.

That happens in the third act, and that's when the fun ends and where Super 8 becomes not-so-super 8.

There are also some loose ends and — depending on the box office take — the unfinished business may tempt Abrams to do a sequel. Motel 6 anyone?

We’ll leave the light on for ya.

Mr. Movie rating: 3 1/2 stars

Rated PG-13 for mature themes and some violence. It opens Friday, June 10 at Regal’s Columbia Center 8 and at the Fairchild Cinemas 12.

5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it's your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on video.
2 stars to 1 star: Don't bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.