Monster Summer is a nostalgic 90s horror flick that sets out to capture the attention of the whole family. It seems very rare that a ‘scary’ film actually pulls off a multi-generational appeal but director David Henrie and writers Cornelius Uliano and Bryan Schulz do just that: it’s spooky, fun and won’t give your children nightmares, well, too many. It’s sort of like The Goonies meets Scooby Doo. The only drawbacks lie in its mass market magnetism – yes it’s slick and well shot, but it gives a very sanitised look at both small town life and its misfit teenage inhabitants, and is brimming with generic clichés. However, in this opinion of this reviewer, that’s kind of the point.
The narrative begins with classic americana tropes – a group of teens cycle home after a baseball game on a balmy summer afternoon, and they encounter the local grump Gene Garruthers (Mel Gibson) digging something out of the ground at his home. They try to spy on him and he chases them off, with the protagonist Noah Reed (Mason Thames) leaving behind his backpack. This leads them to strike up an unlikely friendship and in the end to work together to thwart the supernatural entity spiriting away children in their town and others like it. Gibson’s performance is fine, but a little unbelievable on his own, whereas Mason Thames is an enthralling lead and it’s his chemistry with Gibson that makes the film pleasantly watchable. In fact, throughout the film it’s Thames who carries the bulk of the narrative development and intrigue. Without such a capable young actor, this film might not push past its own lack of originality and fall flat.
With only a small release and a relative lack of much advertising, Monster Summer is quite quiet, which feels oddly true to the overall vibe of the film. It’s not going to reinvent the genre, it’s a pre-teen horror. In order to capture its intended audience it needed to rely on predictable storytelling and recognisable villains. There are plenty of red-herrings to keep younger audiences entertained, and us adults can have the unique feeling of superiority by spotting them before the story reveals its secrets. It also benefits from being very ‘on trend’ – profiting from the current 90s revival started by shows like Stranger Things. Aesthetically it’s a beautiful film – the cinematographers and editors creating a wistful homage to a pre-millenium small town feeling of safety and simplicity that we seem to be craving in this more manic modern world.
Though it avoids being a true children’s film with just a sprinkle more hair-raising scenes than the under 12s could handle, Monster Summer is firmly family friendly and isn’t trying to be anything else. I feel that many people will dismiss it because it’s not scary enough, and it’s been done before, but they will be missing the point. Monster Summer is aimed very specifically at a niche that many bigger films fail to notice. It’s perfect for a family movie night, or just scary enough to stay up late to watch at a slumber party.
7/10
