MONSTER SUMMER (2024)

MPAA: R.
Release Date: 10/04/24 [Cinemas]
Genre: Adventure. Horror. Mystery.

Studio: Pastime Pictures. 

The kids are not alright. Or at least they aren’t in the latest directorial effort from Disney alum David Henrie, Monster Summer. As the title teases, the film takes place over the course of one summer and follows a group of friends who suspect that a mysterious creature is preying on children in their small New England town. 

If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is absolutely derivative of works such as The Goonies or It. But what sets it apart is its overarching mystery, its well-executed action and a standout performance from Mel Gibson (you read that right).

The film begins with someone breaking out of a remote cabin by crashing through the window, and landing in an equally remote wooded area. Spoiler alert: it is not Mel Gibson. Instead, it’s a young boy running from an unknown assailant. Although he manages to make it pretty deep into the forest, the assailant still catches up with him. But they don’t kill him. The next time we see this kid, he’s discovered by police, seemingly drained of all of his joy.

A little while later, we meet our main character, Noah. The summer has just begun, and he and his best friends are excited to play baseball and make new memories. But when his best friend, Ben, falls victim to the same mysterious assailant and loses his zest for life, Noah and the rest of his crew take it upon themselves to find out who or what changed him. As more children begin to lose their zest for life, the group teams up with a dried-up former detective. What starts as an earnest investigation leads to an unbelievable discovery.

Noah is played by Mason Thames, who most might recognize from Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone. While his performance is far-less compelling here, he’s still a protagonist that you enjoy rooting for. While young, his character has a real knack for investigative journalism. We find out early on that he regularly submits stories to the town’s local paper in the hopes of following in the footsteps of his late father. While they mostly get denied, that only motivates him to search deeper for a solid story worth telling. What’s most interesting about his character arc is that when he finds himself at the center of the story, he runs into a different problem altogether. No one will believe him. That is, until he meets Mel Gibson’s Gene.

Gene is the aforementioned dried-up detective. Similar to how Noah has lost father, we learn that he has lost his son. Noah’s dad died. Gene’s son was abducted. Naturally, they fill each other’s respective familial gap. What makes Gibson’s Gene the standout here is his journey from becoming the stereotypical tough-as-nails skeptic to a true believer. Even when he tells Noah that he believes about all the strange things happening in their town, you get the sense that he doesn’t really buy into it. When Noah tries to alert local law enforcement, Gene even fails to stick up for him. But after an encounter with the supernatural himself, that changes. Surrendering to the script’s spooky yet often silly stipulations unlocks arguably one of his best performances in years. As an artist who has been battling personal demons for years, it feels somewhat satisfying to see him battle literal ones. Simply put, without Gibson or his commitment the film would totally fall apart.

That’s not a jab at Henrie’s direction. In fact, the film is actually quite impressive from a technical standpoint. However, it is an absolute jab at the film’s writing. As previously mentioned, this film is extremely reminiscent of some of the most iconic genre movies about kids ever. While scribes Bryan Schulz & Cornelius Uliano cram the story with every imaginable cliche possible (including having characters constantly reference older films such as T2 and The French Connection), nothing is worse than the frequent promise of a much richer premise. 

There’s a running theme throughout the film that the world is filled with “monsters,” and that they can take different forms. The most memorable is when Gene talks about the “monster” that abducted his son. For a film literally titled Monster Summer, it feels implied that there might be more than one monster responsible for what’s going on - or that the film’s main character will run into more monsters along the way. Sadly, that is not the case. As disappointing as it might be to discover that there’s only one mythical antagonist, the film’s second redeeming factor (after Gibson) is its twist. Without giving too much away, it’s not only a much better bait-and-switch than the title, but it’s also one that is a genuine wink and nod to fans of another similar genre film starring kids.

Monster Summer isn’t perfect, but it is a solid entry in the subgenre of spooky horror. Clearly inspired by works like Goosebumps, it may not give you them, but the homages to other, more memorable films, paired with Mel Gibson’s performance, are enough to call it a wicked fun time.