Right off the bat, Hell of a Summer is enjoyable even if it doesn’t live up to its slasher influences. Ultimately framed around the allure of nostalgia and the fear of moving forward in life, the movie falls a little flat on the overall plot and theming, even as the characters and comedy shine through. Is there enough to keep audiences interested? Depends on what you’re here for.

• Directed By: Billy Bryk. Finn Wolfhard
• Written By: Billy Bryk. Finn Wolfhard
• Starring: Adam Pally. Rosebud Baker. Fred Hechinger

Like all good camp slashers Hell Of A Summer is about a group of camp counselors being stalked and killed by a mysterious murderer in a mask. The main point of view character is Jason, a 24 yr old who should be starting a law internship but is instead back at camp, avoiding the real world.

Hell of a Summer starts with a woman hitting a guitar guy with a bug zapper. Shortly after, an unseen stalker murders him creatively with the guitar. She’s taken out next in nice play on a standard slasher trope.  From there, we don’t see much in the way of our slasher for another 45 minutes, as the movie choses to spend the time to establish characters over horror.

The Good

Ordinarily I’d have a problem with this.  Here, the characters are all fantastically terrible people.This is the kind of movie where the stylized dialogue and characterizations might not click with everyone.. Everyone is a little awkward, especially the oldest counselor, Jason. He’s avoiding moving on with his life by clinging to summer camp nostalgia. Jason, the name can’t be an accident, is weird and overbearing, as well as slightly delusional.  He also shows off impressive skill with a bow and arrow during an archery range scene inspired by the original Friday the 13th. 

There are a couple of flaws in Hell of a Summer. First and foremost, it’s a character-driven comedy first, and a horror movie second. This isn’t a flaw exactly, but it does mean that your enjoyment of the movie will rest on how much you like watching these characters. Written to be archetypes of obnoxious modern personalities, they are mostly one-dimensional slasher bait.  Despite this, the actors do such a good job with these characters, I had fun watching them.

There are stand-outs: Finn Wolfhard’s overly socially and politically correct Chris is fun to watch, and a nice change from his turns in Stranger Thingsand the last couple of Ghostbusters movies. The vegan, Miley, has surprising depth, if not a lot of screen time. It’s unfortunate that the amount of characterization and early screen time does tend to telegraph certain plot elements.

The Bad

The pacing is a little uneven. Yeah, I’m never going to stop harping on pacing. It’s essential in a horror movie to establish and build tension. Hell of a Summer just sort of switches tracks from comedy to funny murder. There are still great moments after the switch; for example, the counselors finding the occult-obsessed member more credible than Jason is a great beat.

I’m going to try not to spoil too much as I get into this next bit here, since it’s talking about the killer and motive.  As far a motive goes, I feel like this is one we’ve seen before, developed better. The back-up plan that’s devised is better than the original, to be honest.   However, when the murderer gets their final moment to shine, it’s pretty great.

For a slasher, most of the kills happen off-screen or are relatively tame, with one fantastic exception.

Technical Quibbles

The night shots in the woods are a little dark and hard to see . Since a lot of the slasher action takes place at night, in the woods this a bit of a down side. Also, some of the editing is rough when they use quick cuts that are meant to establish tension.

Slasher Elements

Well, there are people in great masks that kill campers with a variety of bladed weapons in an isolated environment.   So, it hits all the basic elements. Since it leans more towards character comedy, establishing an atmosphere of horror isn’t the main focus. 

One of the elements missing that would have strengthened the slasher aspect are red herrings. While the counselors have a suspect for the killings, the audience knows it’s implausible at best. However, no other options are presented.  It makes the experience less thrilling, as it leaves only a few options.  

First-Time Directors

Hell of a Summer is written and directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk. For a first movie, it has a ton of personality and charm.   I hope they continue to work together to refine their style.  Character is often the most challenging part of a film, and they have that well in hand.

Final Thoughts

If you are going into Hell of a Summer looking for a true camp slasher, you’re probably going to be disappointed.  It doesn’t offer much in the way of innovative gore or true scares. What it does deliver is funny character interactions with a slasher backdrop. It’s light viewing, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll probably watch Hell of a Summer again, most likely on a lazy August day when it’s too hot to move, and I don’t want to have to think too much

Hell of A Summer is available now on streaming

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