“Hell of a Summer”

Besides the method and style of the murders, one of the best parts of a successful slasher movie is an inventive, or at least reasonably good, motive for the bloodshed. That’s one of the crucial things that “Hell of a Summer,” from co-directors Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard, is missing. The dumb motivation of a camp slayer paired with uncreative kills makes this a big misfire for the genre crowd.

The counselors at Camp Pineway have arrived early and are getting everything prepared for the upcoming summer season. It’ll be a few days before the campers arrive, but something is amiss. After finding bloodied bodies, the counselors realize there’s a masked killer on the loose who is picking off the staff one by one. If they hope to survive for the season, they must work together to terrorize the murderer before they become the next victim.

As in classic slasher fashion, the stereotypical character set-up is fun. There’s the goofy guy that nobody likes (Fred Hechinger), the goth gal (Julia Lalonde), the rich snob (Pardis Saremi), the theater nerd (Matthew Finlan), the hippie vegan (Julia Doyle), the tough girl next door (Abby Quinn), and your average Joes (Wolfhard and Bryk). The pickings are perfect for a comedy, but the directors choose to take a straight horror path that leads to disappointment.

Working as a pair, Wolfhard and Bryk each have a decent eye for directing horror, and they have the potential to build a solid career behind the camera. The movie is visually appealing and they manage to get better than average performances from the cast, but it’s the story that doesn’t work.

The major fail comes from the lack of campy fun. There are a few jokey gags, but the laughs that “Hell of a Summer” needs are nowhere to be found. The story takes a long time to get going and the kills are a bit of a bore. The gore will appease horror fans, but “Bodies Bodies Bodies” is a better Gen Z slasher flick.

By: Louisa Moore