New film packs plenty of scary tricks for the entire family to feast on. In theatres now.
By Tim Estiloz/El Mundo Boston
Family-friendly films in Hollywood are about as hard to find these days as an actor in Los Angeles without a headshot.
Most film studios in recent years make niche films for a specific target audience. There are R-rated slasher horror films and myriad superhero franchises to appeal to the young adult crowd.
They make violent action and sci-fi films primarily for young men and sweet but silly romantic comedies for the ladies.
Meanwhile, married couples with kids are usually dragged to the movies simply to babysit their kids during the latest animated pablum from Disney or Pixar.
It seems there are few, if any, movies being made that the entire family—young and old—can enjoy together.
However, there’s a new movie in theaters right now that’s trying to change all that and appeal to the entire family. Just in time for Halloween, the new film Monster Summer hits a home run as fun, exciting, and completely appropriate entertainment that both kids and their parents will thoroughly enjoy for the same reasons.
This nostalgic film, set in 1997, focuses on themes that everyone can relate to: friendship, youthful adventure, childhood dreams, riding your bicycle, and even the Red Sox and Little League baseball.
This coming-of-age story centers around three young friends—Noah (Mason Thames), Ellie (Lilah Pate), and Eugene (Julian Lerner)—spending their summer as permanent residents of Martha’s Vineyard. Noah dreams of one day becoming a newspaper writer like his father, who passed away years before.
He spends his time looking for a big story that he hopes will one day get printed in the local paper. The problem is, not much that could be considered “big news” happens on Martha’s Vineyard, except for the comings and goings of seasonal tourists.
That is, until some strange happenings start to occur with the arrival on the island of a mysterious woman dressed in black, played by Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas). Soon, various kids around the island start disappearing. Then, days later, they reappear, but are acting strangely, in some sort of blank-stared trance.
At first, Noah and his friends suspect the island’s reclusive and suspicious resident, Gene, of being responsible. However, eventually, Noah and Gene join forces to investigate something even stranger—the possibility that an actual bona fide witch is attacking the kids to feed off their life force.
No worries—this film is strictly PG-13 in content. While there are some genuinely frightful jolts, they’re no more frightening than a typical October visit to Salem during Halloween.
What makes this film a standout is that it embodies many themes and traditions that Latino families would appreciate. Good childhood friendships and responsible, loving parents are at the forefront of the storyline.
There’s also the nostalgia of a time long before smartphones and video games, when simply taking a bike ride with your friends and grabbing an ice cream cone together was the best thing in the world on a hot summer day.
This film is a labor of love by director David Henrie and producer John Blanford. Both men have not only created a truly fun, family-friendly movie reminiscent of classics like The Sandlot, The Goonies, and even elements of Stand By Me, but they’ve also sprinkled in plenty of cool references to our hometown of Boston.
And if you’re a fan of the wonderful 1993 film The Sandlot, there’s a great surprise cameo by one of the actors from that film.
Monster Summer is a fantastically fun treat, with lots of scary tricks, for your entire family to feast on this Halloween season together.
