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MONSTER SUMMER (2024)
4 stars
Signature Entertainment. Digital Platforms. Out Now
It’s 1997 in Martha’s Vineyard. Apparently considered a safe place where folks go to vacation. Young Noah (Mason Thames, THE BLACK PHONE) lives with his mum, who runs their house as a guest house during the summer. He is desperate to be a journalist, to follow in his father’s footsteps, who passed away a few years back. He keeps trying to create stories to be published in the local paper but to no avail. He spends his time bombing around on his bike with his friends in a nostalgic echo of other previous films we know and love.
When one of his mates, Ben (Noah Cottrell) is out swimming one night he and the girl he is with are attacked by something in the water – Ben survives, remembers nothing about what occurred, and has a vacant look and is seemingly completely disconnected.
When several other local kids are affected in a similar way Noah teams up with Gene (Mel Gibson), a retired police detective who at first has trouble believing what the youngster is telling him – that a witch is using her supernatural powers in the small community…
Thames is good in the lead and the rest of the teen cast aren’t annoying – as is often the case. Add in Gibson as his usual reliable self, as the irascible ex-cop and you have a winning, simple tale unpretentiously told. Whilst it is not likely to win awards for originality it’s an entertaining watch which I rather enjoyed – an undemanding but nonetheless nicely done ‘kids investigate witch’ movie. The sort of film Amblin’ and the like were making back in the day.
Steve Kirkham
