Film Review: Hell of a Summer

Hell of a Summer
Directors: Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk
30 West, Aggregate Films
In Theaters: 04.04.25

When I first heard that young Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard was co-directing his first feature film at age 19, along with fellow young actor Billy Bryk who he befriended on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, part of me was really rooting for them. Another, more cynical part of me saw this as a case of a charming, talented and very experienced Hollywood kid being handed a shiny toy before he’d earned it. After seeing Hell of a Summer, it’s even easier to look at it that way. 

Hell of a Summer follows 24-year-old Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger, Thelma, Gladiator II), a long-time counselor at Camp Pineway, who returns for another summer despite feeling out of place among his younger co-workers. As the counselors prepare for the season, a masked killer begins picking them off one by one. The first victims are the camp’s owners, John (Adam Pally, Sonic the Hedgehog) and Kathy (Rosebud Baker, Life & Beth), setting the stage for the counselors’ fight for survival. Among them are inseparable duo Chris (Wolfhard) and Bobby (Bryk), social media-obsessed Demi (Pardis Saremi), tough Claire (Abby Quinn, Knock at the Cabin), goth Noelle (Julia Lalonde), theater nerd Ezra (Matthew Finlan, All The Lost Ones) and arrogant jock Mike (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Reservation Dogs). Trapped with no way to call for help, the counselors must band together to stop the killer before none of them make it out alive.

Wolfhard and Bryk, who also wrote the screenplay, are clearly having a lot of fun here, and while the script is a slapped together recycling of Scream, The Cabin in the Woods, They/Them and countless other comic takes on the slasher genre, the light chuckles come at a steady pace and there’s a breezily entertaining atmosphere to it all. For better or for worse (I say better, many slasher fans would say worse), the comic violence is tamer than one might expect, providing just enough blood and gore for a “Dude, we’re totally making horror film!” glorified home movie that successfully spoofs the genre, but it never wallows in excess. This is one of the stronger choices that the creative duo makes, recognizing that Hell of a Summer plays far better when it’s being endearingly goofy than when it’s failing to feel edgy or smart. The answer to who is committing the murders is so lazy and uninteresting that it feels like it was a placeholder until the creatives came up with a better idea, and sadly, they never do. Still, there’s just enough of a likably entertaining quality to make the movie an easy watch, and honestly, I enjoyed it more than any of the other films mentioned above. The fact remains that those films all had a certain degree of clever ambition, even the criminally overrated Scream, and Hell of a Summer is so lacking in that department that it’s very difficult to justify why it was ever made.

The bigger strength of the film is the appealing ensemble, with Hechinger and Quinn bringing so much personality and presence to Jason and Abby that I could probably sit through the movie twice more just to enjoy their cute and lovable characterizations. Between Hechinger’s work in Thelma and Quinn’s portrayal of Paul and Jamie’s daughter, Mabel, in the revival of Mad About You, these two are new favorites of mine and make up the shortcomings enough that I may own it in video. Wolfhard keeps largely to the background, nailing all of the jokes he’s given himself with his impeccable sense of comedic timing and perfect delivery, but never materializing as a character. Bryk is a much bigger focus, presumably because he needs a vehicle and some exposure far more than Wolfhard, but while he does a capable job, his one-joke character becomes annoying rather quickly. Lalonde is a scene stealer as the quirky and dark Noelle, and despite his character being a stereotype and a cliché, Finlan shines as the flamboyant wannabe thespian.

Hell of a Summer was probably a hell of a lot of fun to make, and at just under 90 minutes, it’s an easy watch, but it feels more like a party or a summer project made by a group of energetic teens than it does like a movie worthy of theatrical release. If Wolfhard and Bryk want a future behind the camera, they may want to consider bringing in an experienced writer with some genuine ideas next time. Hell of a Summer is the latest example of one of filmmaking’s oldest unspoken rules: If you don’t have what it takes to make a good movie, just make a horror movie, and someone will still fund it. —Patrick Gibbs 

Read more SLUG film reviews here:
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