Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Monster Summer’ on Paramount+, An Entry-Level Horror Movie About A Discovery Of Witches

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In Monster Summer, now streaming on Paramount+, it’s up to a kid to lead the charge to uncover strange goings-on in a 1990s New England community. You could also say Stranger Things are happening, but that’s probably too on the nose. Monster Summer, directed by David Henrie – aka Justin Russo in the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place universe – and featuring Lorraine Bracco and Mel Gibson in brief character roles – stars Mason Thames (Black Phone, How to Train Your Dragon), Justin Lerner, Abby James Witherspoon (Reese’s niece!), and Patrick Renna – he’s not Ham from The Sandlot in Monster Summer, but he still spends a lot of time on a baseball diamond – in a film where fairy tales threaten not only to come to life, but to hit way too close to home.

MONSTER SUMMER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In his treehouse, Noah (Mason Thames) taps away on his Smith Corona typewriter, and dreams of getting out of the island community of Martha’s Vineyard, which is whole existence in 1997. Noah’s late father was a globetrotting journalist who believed in people as much as the power of a story. But when the potential for a huge mystery pops up on the radar of his son, the budding reporter, it’s not how Noah expected. Old Man Carruthers – Mel Gibson; soon he will be “Gene” – is the grizzled bearded guy kids in the area spread rumors and theories about. His property is on the outskirts of town. His family disappeared. Maybe he had something to do with it. But in actuality Gene is an ex-cop with an emotional investment in following the growing problem of missing kids that has plagued New England. Gene has even got one of those “it’s all connected”-style maps in his house, complete with red strings connecting map points and thumbtacks.

Here’s the thing: it’s not just kids who are missing. After strange experiences, young people have returned to their families largely unhurt but utterly dazed, and they stay completely out of it. Kids like Ben (Noah Cottrell), Noah’s power-hitting friend from his little league team. After swimming at night and experiencing a strange light in the seawater – which may or may not have had to do with Miss Halverson (Lorraine Bracco), an older woman visiting the island – Ben’s checked-put condition inspires Noah to team up with Gene to find some answers. Because it’s not like parents around here are gonna do it, and as for Noah’s editor at the local paper (Kevin James in a seersucker suit and southern accent for some reason), he wants to portray Martha’s Vineyard only as a vacationland haven for kids from all over the country.

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And if Noah’s pals Eugene (Julian Lerner) and Sammy (Abby James Witherspoon) think he’s just looking for his next reported story, that’s their problem. “If you don’t want to believe me, then don’t believe me. But somebody…something is still out there. If we sit around and do nothing, kids are gonna get hurt. Including us.”

So what do Grimms’ fairy tales say about witches and their power? Is it true that witches boil kids in cauldrons to extract spiritual nutrients? Gene Carruthers isn’t sure about Noah’s theory of active witchcraft in the area, and how such beings might shapeshift to stay hidden. But Gene’s police training provides a parallel. “After a handful of children go missing, like all serial predators, they go to the next place, and start to recycle their old behaviors again.”

Photo: Paramount+

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The Goosebumps film and 2023 television series – both from Rob Letterman – offer good examples of achieving the tone Monster Summer is aiming for. (Season 2 of the series even features its own ’90s throwback elements.) You could also look to a Monster Squad for inspiration on Monster Summer, and a handful of collected DNA samples from Stand by Me, Stranger Things, and even ET.

‘Performance Worth Watching: Mason Thames, Noah Cottrell, Julian Lerner, and Abby James Witherspoon are more than capable as the kid crew at the center of most of Monster Summer. With their little league togs, backwards baseball caps, and gaggle of bmx bikes – and reference points like camcorders and namedrops of the T-1000 from T2 – their camaraderie makes most of the film’s late ’90s setting tangible.

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Performance Worth Watching: Mason Thames, Noah Cottrell, Julian Lerner, and Abby James Witherspoon are more than capable as the kid crew at the center of most of Monster Summer. With their little league togs, backwards baseball caps, and gaggle of bmx bikes – and reference points like camcorders and namedrops of the T-1000 from T2 – their camaraderie makes most of the film’s late 90s setting tangible.

Memorable Dialogue: Let’s check in with that staple character of the horror-style movie genre, The Skeptic. “Not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as witches…”

Sex and Skin: Come on now.

Our Take: Imagine Monster Summer as like a movie version of a local library’s young reader program for the summer months. From a grownup perspective, this movie has predictability written all over it. It’s predictability central, like how every single move made by the severe Miss Halverson has the potential to be misconstrued by a kid – like Noah – with an overactive imagination. But at the same time, for younger viewers – and for those, like Noah, with overactive imaginations – Monster Summer might transform that predictability into mystery. A kid looking for junior-level horror movie thrills, while holding out on the gore and outright scares for a few years down the road.

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There is some enjoyably mild freakiness here. A creeping hand full of cracked and yellow nails. Screams just off camera. But with Monster Summer, the frights are mostly at theme park level. (More than once, a cliched witch’s cackle is triggered in the distance; it’s like overhearing the audio from a nearby horror ride.) And since it’s not trying to outright fright, Summer is mostly trying to unite Noah and his friends in a noble quest with frightful elements. The film has that prevailing quality of its inspirations – absentee adults, and a town full of young people who are both susceptible to being victims and the only force committed enough to truly stop what they’re confronting. Whether that’s sorted out predictably or with touches of scariness and whimsy really depends on your age group.

Our Call: For a kid who likes the idea of horror movies but probably isn’t ready for the real thing, Monster Summer feels like a Stream It. It could function like a quick school’s out read. But for the rest of us, the predictability of this Summer probably outweighs its hints of scary mystery.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.