MONSTER SUMMER

Here's the decision. MONSTER SUMMER is a genuinely clean, genuinely thrilling teenage horror movie in the tradition of GOONIES — four stars of jeopardy, mystery, and heart, with Mel Gibson anchoring a group of kids who won't stop chasing the truth. There's no overt sex, almost no foul language, and Christian symbols run throughout. The film commends the pursuit of truth and shows good triumphing over evil.

But it earns its PG-13 honestly. The witch is very scary — partly because she can appear as an ordinary next-door neighbor, which leaves you suspicious of everyone. The final showdown is extremely scary, with strong violence. For older teenagers and adults who love a good fright, that's the appeal. For younger children, it's the reason to wait.

So: if you're an adult or a teen 13 and up who can handle real suspense, go — this one's a treat. If you're choosing for younger teenagers or sensitive kids, hold off.

Noah is a young teenager on Martha's Vineyard, living in the boarding house his mother runs. His father was a journalist who died — so Noah wants to be one too, and he's already suspicious that something is wrong on the island.

Then his friend Ben goes swimming with a girl, gets attacked by something under the water, and comes back changed. Noah recruits two friends to investigate, and finds an unlikely ally in Old Man Carruthers (Mel Gibson), a former detective with reasons of his own to hunt the culprit. Noah is convinced they're chasing a witch. That's where we'll leave it.

Four stars, and here's what they buy you. MONSTER SUMMER delivers strong, sustained jeopardy — the kind of investigate-the-mystery thrill that made GOONIES a classic — and the kid detectives are easy to root for. Mel Gibson gives the hunt some weight as the ex-cop with a personal stake.

The one real flaw is the ending. The final showdown is so prolonged and so scary that a little more humor and some judicious editing would have served it better; the jeopardy was already strong enough to hold you without dragging out the terror. It also could have leaned harder into the Christian references the rest of the film gestures toward — the way a movie like THE CONJURING does. Even so, this is a well-made, genuinely gripping adventure.

MONSTER SUMMER carries a mixed worldview, but its moral compass points the right way. Christian symbols and allusions run throughout, the movie honors the search for truth, and by the end good clearly triumphs over evil. That's a solid frame for a horror story to hang on.

The tension lies in how the film treats witches. It presents them as incredibly versatile and powerful, and it dwells on a genuinely unsettling idea: that evil can wear the face of an ordinary neighbor. The effect is that you begin to fear everyone — which is exactly the kind of dread the movie wants, but also why it lands where it does on the caution scale. The good guys win, but the darkness gets a lot of screen time first.

The film's instinct — that evil is real and hides in plain sight, and that truth must be dragged into the light — is one Scripture shares. The difference is where the light comes from and who finally wins. The movie could have named that more openly; some viewers will wish it had reached for more explicit faith in the climax. Still, its bones are moral, and its resolution is just.

Scripture says the same thing this film half-glimpses: "For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8).

MONSTER SUMMER is a clean, four-star thrill ride with a moral heart and a witch that will genuinely rattle you. That combination makes it a treat for older kids and adults — and too much for the youngest. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: worth the trip — ages 13 and up. Choosing something for the little ones tonight instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.