November 10, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by David Henrie
Culture Representation: Taking place in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in 2000, the horror film “Monster Summer” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A group of teens and an ex-cop try to solve the mystery of an apparent witch who is targeting children for spells and kidnapping.
Culture Audience: “Monster Summer” will appeal mainly to people who like watching teen-oriented mysteries about the supernatural and don’t mind if the screenwriting and some of the acting are substandard.
Corny to a fault, “Monster Summer” is a lightweight horror movie about a group of teens and an ex-cop trying to solve a supernatural mystery involving a witch. Amateurish acting and a weak screenplay lower the quality of the film. “Monster Summer” can be watchable to some viewers, but there are enough cringeworthy moments for the movie to not be worth the time for anyone looking for a compelling and interesting mystery story.
Directed by Davd Henrie and written by Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, “Monster Summer” takes place during the summer of 2000, in the Martha’s Vineyard small city of Edgartown, Massachusetts. It’s somewhat fitting that this movie takes place in 2000, because a lot of “Monster Summer” looks like a very outdated made-for-TV movie in a world where we now have Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Much of the story’s mystery is clumsily told.
In “Monster Summer,” the protagonist is Noah Reed (played by Mason Thames), who’s about 13 or 14 years old. Noah, who is an aspiring journalist, lives with his kindergarten-aged sister Lilly Reed (played by Emma Fasano) and widowed mother Abby Reed (played by Nora Zehetner), who operates a bed-and-breakfast business from her home. The family is grieving over the death of Mason’s father, who was a journalist/writer. Like a lot of kids in Edgartown, Noah wants to eventually move out of Edgartown and do something ambitious with his life when he’s old enough to get his own place.
Noah (who is intuitive and likeable) is on a Martha’s Vineyard Little League baseball team with his three best friends: neurotic Eugene Wexler (played by Julian Lerner), tomboyish Sammy Devers (played by Abby James Witherspoon) and confident Ben Driskel (played by Noah Cottrell), who is the star player on the team. One day, all four pals are caught trespassing in the shed of a cranky neighbor named Gene Carruthers (played by Mel Gibson), a retired police detective who has a reputation for being a mysterious loner.
Gene, who is divorced, has a tragedy in his past: In 1965, his 5-year-old son disappeared. Gene was under suspicion for this disappearance, but no arrests were ever made, and his son was never found. Gene’s marriage did not survive this family tragedy. Gene’s ex-wife is still alive but hasn’t been in contact with Gene for years.
Noah has a semi-secret crush on a schoolmate named Ellie Evans (played by Lilah Pate), but Ellie is attracted to Ben, who asks her out on a date. Ellie eagerly says yes. Ben doesn’t find about Noah’s crush on Ellie until after Ben asks Ellie on the date, and Noah graciously tells Ben that he’s okay with Ben and Ellie dating. Ben and Ellie go swimming in a nearby lake for their first date.
But something bizarre happens on ths date: Ellie and Ben both see what looks like an elderly witch when they’re underwater. The witch attacks Ellie and Ben. And the next thing you know, Ben is recovering in a hospital and is soon discharged.
After this attack, Ben seems to be in a daze, and he barely talks. Ellie tells Noah that she and Ben were definitely attacked by a witch, who cackled right before a bright light flashed where they were. Ben isn’t talking much, but his version of the story is different from Ellie’s. According to Ben, there was no witch and everything was an accident. Ellie’s story sounds far-fetched, especially to people who don’t believe in the supernatural.
Noah tells Gene about this strange occurrence. Gene doubts Ellie’s story that Ben was pulled down in the water by a mysterious force because there’s no physical evidence that Ben had these types of injuries. But then, another “witch attack” happens to another teen named Kevin Lampkey (played by Gavin Bedell), who was at a campfire party in a wooded area called No Man’s Land, when he was lured into a secluded place by the witch disguised as a teenage girl. Kevin also become nearly mute after this encounter.
It’s enough to convince Gene to join Noah in this investigation because Gene confesses that he believes his missing son might have also been kidnapped by something supernatural. Other characters that appear in the movie are Miss Halverson (played by Lorraine Bracco), a bed-and-breakfast guest in Noah’s family home; a baseball umpire (played by Patrick Renna) who is always at the teenagers’ Little League games; and Edgar Palmer (played by Kevin James), the cynical editor of the local newspaper.
“Monster Summer” has an awkwardly constructed story that lurches from one scene to the next. One of the worst scenes is when Noah and his pals confront Miss Halverson when they suspect her of being the witch. Thames and Gibson (who seems to be permanently typecast as playing grouchy characters) show capable acting skills, but many of the supporting cast members don’t have this level of talent. Longtime actors Bracco and James aren’t in the movie for very long to make much of a difference.
The mystery in “Monster Summer” just isn’t very interesting. By the time secrets are revealed, and there’s an inevitable showdown scene, it all looks haphazardly thrown together. “Monster Summer” isn’t a complete waste of time, but viewers’ time is much better spent on the abundance of higher-quality entertainment about supernatural mysteries.
Pastime Pictures released “Monster Summer” in U.S. cinemas on October 4, 2024. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 8, 2024.
