Monster Summer

Every generation seems to bring forth a rites of passage film that includes several young preteens in the hope to uncover something sinister going on in the neighborhood. We've seen "Stand By Me", "The Goonies", "It", "Super 8" among the few. Now we have "Monster Summer" in the offing to sink our teeth into. 

Martha's Vineyard 1997. When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah (Mason Thames) and his friends, including Ben (Noah Cottrell) and Sammy (Abby James Witherspoon), team up with a local retired police detective, Gene Carruthers (Mel Gibson) to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island. Between the town not believing Noah since he's only a kid and a retired detective since he IS retired, these individuals have an incredible time attempting to convince the local police in whet they believe that's going on and it is definitely sinister and the children of the town are disappearing. What IS going on ?!

Others to round out the cast are Lorraine Bracco as Miss Halverson, Patrick Renna as the umpire, Lilah Pate as Ellie Evans, Spencer Fitzgerald as Ronnie Harlow, Julian Lerner as Eugene, Kelly Collins Lintz as Deb Harlow, Gavin Bedell as Kevin and Kevin James as Newspaper editor. 

This was directed with intensity by David Henrie ("This Is the Year" '20) plus shorts. This relative newcomer behind the camera was actually right on with his direction--he knew how to encourage his actors to dig deep and convince us that there are monsters among them. His pacing and staging was effective and considering he is also an actor, this certainly served him. He should receive more work behind the camera. It was effectively written by Cornelius Uliano and Bryan Schulz ("The Peanuts Movie" '15) plus TV and shorts. These writers are apparently a team in their work,and even though they are new to writing, penning scripts as a team certainly can be more effective. Considering they are relative newcomers, this script was sequenced well and it was able to build the intensity so as to keep the audience on the edge of their seats wondering what's going on and who is it that's causing such havoc? There were a few places where certain things weren't explained and a couple of places of choppiness, but otherwise the story kept the audience's attention. 

If you like 'rites of passage' films, you'll like this. It's a great way to spend an hour and a half to simply sit and go into another world so as to escape. It has some nifty visual effects and the with a twist, it should take one by surprise. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                         Rated: PG-13                                      98mins.