Audiences know there’s nothing new under the sun, but the new Gen Z-oriented slasher, Hell of a Summer, steals an hour and 28 minutes of our time to remind us of that. After premiering at TIFF in 2023, its theatrical release has been a long time coming, and the years have not been kind to the movie. The film follows the story of Jason (Fred Hechinger) as he returns to his childhood summer camp as a counselor one time too many. He and his fellow counselors spend their first night trying to outsmart a serial killer who’s targeting the camp.
Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Billy Bryk (Saturday Night) co-wrote and directed the film, their feature directorial debuts, and it’s clear that Hell of a Summer is the handiwork of filmmakers who haven’t yet been seasoned. I was surprised to learn that Neon is distributing the project, as the studio has been known as the contemporary indie tastemaker now that A24 is leaning more mainstream. However, there’s no taste in Hell of a Summer. The movie is a loosely strung-together set of jokes and references hanging onto a larger story arc by a thread.
Like most recent attempts by my generation to make movies, Hell of a Summer dates itself from the first moments of the story and makes a half-hearted attempt to drive home the tired point that social media and fame are bad. Who would have thought? Hell of a Summer spends a lot of time poking fun at itself and its audience for how shallow and reactionary we’ve all become, making us all the more susceptible to a lurking slasher. However, the project rarely stops to genuinely look at itself in the mirror and wonder what it has to say, if anything.
Hell Of A Summer Relies On Nostalgia To Make Up For Poor Pacing & An Unoriginal Story
Without The Veneer Of Childhood Sentimentality, Hell Of A Summer Would Have Little To Offer
I didn’t go into Hell of a Summer expecting the film to reinvent the slasher genre or sneak in some surprising social commentary. If it had adhered to all the expected tropes and interwoven some laughs here and there but had laid out a fun and interesting premise, I would’ve been satisfied, if not impressed. However, Hell of a Summer is lazy, and that’s what makes it hard to watch. The heavy-handed foreshadowing and formulaic dialogue are meant to be funny, but they’re not smart enough to make me think that Wolfhard and Bryk are really in on the joke.
Hell of a Summer is the latest addition to the horror projects that young filmmakers have spearheaded, mining the genre for its easy and immediate conflict. However, where projects like Bodies Bodies Bodies succeeded, Hell of a Summer failed. It’s packed with contemporary references that have already become passé, and it never lets us get to know anything about the characters outside of their most basic desires. This is compounded by the fact that the dialogue feels like every line was written in a separate room. The jokes feel ripped directly from a screenshotted tweet from two years ago.
The final reveal and decidedly not-shocking twists of Hell of a Summer prove that references are hollow if there’s no substance to back them up.
Hell of a Summer is a stark reminder that a film really does get made in the editing room, but here, the proper term might be un-made. It’s obvious the script didn’t offer any help in the pacing department, but each transition is so clearly an Edgar Wright knock-off that it’s almost unbearable. This isn’t helped by the fact that every scene begins with three to five establishing shots of the woods since Wolfhard and Bryk know that all they have to offer is the nostalgia of the atmosphere.
I can see that the filmmakers attempted to reference genuinely innovative classics of comedy and horror like Wet Hot American Summer, I Know What You Did Last Summer, or pretty much anything that has “summer” in the title. There’s some love for those movies interspersed throughout that makes it bearable, but liking films isn’t the only qualification you need to create one. The final reveal and decidedly not-shocking twists of Hell of a Summer prove that references are hollow if there’s no substance to back them up.
The Performances Save Hell Of A Summer From Being Completely Unwatchable
The Movie’s Cast Boasts Some Charisma And Heart, Even If Their Chemistry Is Off
Though the actors have little to work with, they’re a game ensemble, potentially making them the only redeeming quality of Hell of a Summer. Fred Hechinger’s Jason is a genuine bright spot in Hell of a Summer, taking what could be a one-dimensional and contrite character and making him into someone we want to root for. His romance with Abby Quinn’s Claire is so forced it’s laughable, but that’s a common denominator among all the half-baked love stories in the film. Pardis Saremi and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai get to have the most fun as Demi and Mike.
All these performances force me to admit that I can’t despise Hell of a Summer, but the story makes it impossible for me to like it. There’s very little chance I will ever watch it again, and I feel confident that it will fade from memory after a brief resurgence when it’s added to streaming sooner rather than later. However, I don’t feel bad for Hell of a Summer since Wolfhard and Bryk have nothing new to say, and they don’t even have the courtesy to make the packaging slightly different.
Hell of a Summer is now available to watch in select theaters.