Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of September 30, 2024
Monster Summer
Rated PG-13 for some violence and terror
In Theaters
Just in time for Halloween comes this creepy teen thriller about a teenage budding reporter (Mason Thames of The Black Phone) in a small New England town who tries to investigate the weird behavior of some of the kids in the area after they experience an exposure to a supernatural force. When he becomes friends with a retired cop (Mel Gibson), the two team up to try to uncover what is happening in their town. When I was a kid, there were tons of these kinds of original younger-skewing scary movies, like Something Wicked This Way Comes and Escape to Witch Mountain. Watching them now won’t exactly make the hair stand up on your arms, but when you’re a kid, you are scared to death. Recently we’ve had some decent fare like Goosebumps, and some not some decent examples, such as last year’s Haunted Mansion. I have to admire when someone takes an original story like this and goes for it. The story might be geared for kids, but it at least it delivers some light scares from some decent actors and fresh young talent. And while it might be a B movie, it doesn’t feel like it at all. Gibson’s presence definitely gives the film some credibility (and watchability) and he doesn’t simply phone in his role here as you would expect. Even Kevin James and Lorraine Bracco try to breathe life into parts that could have been played by anyone. In the end, you get a decent enough family-friendly horror film with zero bad language and nothing that should give the kids lasting nightmares. It’s nothing special, but not horrible either. B-