Monster Summer

There are some decent PG-rated thrills and scares for the preteen audience, but adults are unlikely to find it especially convincing, with clunky dialogue and a generic score letting down a solidly traditional spooky mystery.

"Monster Summer" captures a wholesome sense of wonder, and it depicts that time in life between childhood and adulthood when the world is both too big and too small at the same time.

It won’t exactly hold you under its spell, but it might charm just enough for the sparse 90 minutes of attention it requests.

It’s a fun movie that lands on the right side of “innocuous,” being pleasantly formulaic rather than simply bland.

Safe, cosy, undemanding thrills for family friendly viewing.

A blockheaded kid-centered scary story, one where 12-year-olds race around on their bikes either toward or away from something menacing and creepy.

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.

Larry Blanford's impressively strong wide-screen camera work elevates a perfunctory screenplay...

Monster Summer is a solid mid-grade film that I enjoyed way more than I thought I would. It’s not hardcore horror but it’s a good film for those who want solid but thrilling scares for Spooky Season.

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.