Film Review: Monster Summer

Monster Summer
Director: David Henrie
Pastime Pictures, Nickel City Pictures
In Theaters: 10.04

The spooky season is upon us, and while Halloween at the movies began early with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, with October here, it’s officially time to go start binging on supernatural cinema. While Monster Summer is the kind of film that is going to play far better right now than any other time of year,it’s not really a bragging point in this case.

It’s the summer of 1997 in the town of Orar Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard, and 12-year-old Noah (Mason Thames, Incoming) and his friends, Ben (Noah Cottrell, The Spiderwick Chronicles), Eugene (Julian Lerner, Yes Day) and Sammy (Abby James Witherspoon, Secret Headquarters) are soaking in the fun, including Little League baseball season and trips to the lake. Everything changes, however, when Ben is attacked while swimming and is left in a zombified state. Noah suspects a dark force is at play. An aspiring journalist, Noah already has a reputation with the local newspaper owner, Edgar Palmer (Kevin James, The King of Queen’s, Grown Ups) for having a vivid imagination and chasing lurid stories. The only ally that Noah can find comes in the form of Gene (Mel Gibson, Braveheart, Lethal Weapon), an ex-cop who is the town hermit and the subject of many a dark urban legend, as his own son disappeared years ago. As more children are targeted by the mysterious evil, Noah and Gene team up to uncover the truth. The danger escalates when Noah connects the attacks to a new arrival in town, Miss Halverson (Lorraine Bracco, Goodfellas, Medicine Man), whom he believes to be a witch. Together, Noah, Gene and the gang race to confront the evil before it takes the town with it.

Director David Henrie has roots in the kids and witchcraft genre as a young actor on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place, and he does a solid job of setting the mood and mimicking the feel of ‘80s Amblin fare such as Gremlins and The Goonies, and I was having a fair amount of fun with  during the first half hour. Ittakes a little less than that to start feeling that the script by Cornelius Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie) is struggling to find a story here, and the movie becomes less interesting and more convoluted as it goes. A significant reason why it veers, of course, is that it’s an uneasy mix of dark elements—the backstory of the kidnapping of Gene’s son and how his grief ultimately ruined his marriage is quite heavy for a family film—and some frustratingly hammy supporting performances. There’s also a surprising and unsettling amount of gunplay from Gibson in the finale, and by the time he’s shooting what looks far too much like a Hocus Pocus-style witch in the head at close range, the question of who exactly the target audience is here really comes into question. 

Thames is a very charismatic young actor, and he’s demonstrated that he has the presence to play the lead. There are moments of interplay between Thomas and Gibson that are really quite enjoyable and made me really want to love this movie. Gibson isn’t capable of giving a half-hearted, just for the paycheck performance, and that’s both a strength and weakness here. When he’s playing the grumpy old reluctant mentor, his comic timing and charm really lift up the movie, and those of us who can remember the days when he was one of the biggest stars in the business are reminded of why. As the movie progresses, we get more of his patented intense, brooding, scenery chewing, emotionally-wounded man routine than is called for, and it’s just too much for this movie. James is doing an over-the-top, Foghorn Leghorn accent and wearing a ridiculous sunhat, and when he and Gibson share the screen while acting in two entirely different movies, it’s just nerve grating. It’s good to see Bracco again, even if she’s underused here.

Monster Summer has far too many strengths to write off entirely and far too many weaknesses to give it too much of a pass. If the story was more focused and it could settle on a tone, there’s more than enough talent here to make a solidly entertaining Halloween movie. In the end, it has too few tricks up its sleeve to prove to be a satisfying treat. –Patrick Gibbs 

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