Hell of a Summer (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – The counselors of a summer camp are terrorized by a masked killer.

My Take – Like most of us, I too love a good slasher and eagerly await the arrival of the next ‘Scream‘, ‘Halloween‘ and ‘Friday the 13th‘ installment. Don’t get me even started on the enthusiasm I have for the new ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer‘ which comes out in a few months.

Meanwhile, we have to get by with any feature that has a masked killer going on a rampage on a bunch of spoiled teens, leaving the decent nature final girl to survive the night by any means possible and unmask the blood thirsty psychopath.

But what truly sets apart this new NEON distributed feature, which also counts Jason Bateman and Fred Hechinger as one of its producers, from other aspiring gore fests is that it has been by co-written, co-directed, and co-produced by ‘Stranger Things‘ star Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, his co-star from Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).

After premiering at TIFF in 2023, its release has been a long time coming, determined to be the newest playful entry into the “camp slasher” genre, sadly the film relies on nostalgia only to make up for its uneven approach and an unoriginal story.

Acting as an homage to every ’80s summer camp flick, the Gen Z horror-comedy boasts a few touchstones that connect it to the splatter films of yore, like its campground setting being the most obvious, yet the film’s approach to slaughter and mayhem is more relaxed than chilling. It’s here to make people laugh, not give them the disgust.

Unfortunately, it isn’t particularly great at doing either. Rather than leaning into the darker, grittier aspects of traditional slashers, this film works more like a tongue-in-cheek homage and a lighthearted parody that plays with its tropes with full self-awareness. But then this jokes are also hit and miss, and the methods used to kill these characters end up packing no ironic punch.

Leaving nobody laughing and scared. No doubt, this one 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 summer project made by a group of energetic youngsters than it does like a film worthy of theatrical release or all the backing it has received. If Wolfhard and Bryk want a future as filmmakers, they may want to consider bringing in an experienced writer with better ideas next time.

The story follows Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger), a 24-year-old 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) and Kathy (Rosebud Baker), setting the stage for the counselors’ fight for survival.

Among them are inseparable duo Chris (Finn Wolfhard) and Bobby (Billy Bryk), the catalyst between the two Shannon (Krista Nazaire), social media-obsessed Demi (Pardis Saremi), tough Claire (Abby Quinn), the resident goth Noelle (Julia Lalonde), the hardcore vegan Miley (Julia Doyle), theater nerd Ezra (Matthew Finlan), the wannabe sophisticated Ari (Daniel Gravelle) and arrogant jock Mike (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai).

Trapped with no way to call for help as their phones have gone missing, the counselors must band together to stop the killer before none of them make it out alive.

With their basic scenario ready to roll, directors Bryk and Wolfhard play with the genre’s tropes to the best of their ability. You can see that the debutante 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.

But while the two do a good job of recapturing the feel and atmosphere of a 80s camp slasher flick, their narrative is mostly a loosely strung-together set of jokes and references hanging onto a larger story arc by a thread. I went into this one expecting a crazy horror-comedy slasher flick, but it plays out more like a comedy with a couple of horror elements.

It focuses a lot on its goofy dialogue, weird transitions whenever it seems like something might go down, Jason’s experience at the camp and his struggle to fit in and the relationships between some of the teenagers. The absence of atmosphere may be deliberate, but even an overtly comedic slasher should at least include a whiff of danger or menace.

Where a more typical slasher might take the quickest route to its next set piece, this one opts to hang out with its cast and indulge in even more awkward humor. While the rest of the time, the film mines empty character traits for laughs, such as the hostile vegan Miley who secretly craves meat or the insecure Bobby, desperate for any kind of attention.

Like most recent attempts by my generation to make films, this one too dates itself from the first moments of the story and makes a confused attempt to drive home the tired point that social media and fame are bad. Even the killer, a knife-wielding maniac in a trench coat and devil’s mask is a conceptual dud.

There’s no intimidation factor, and their gimmick doesn’t even try to reflect the film’s setting. Also, their identity is the least surprising aspect of the film.

Though, the actors have little to work with, they’re a game ensemble, potentially acting as the only redeeming quality. Fred Hechinger is the standout as the childish but good-natured Jason. His romance with the Abby Quinn feels a bit forced but the two make up for a likable pair.

Pardis Saremi and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai get to have the most fun. Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk bringing their a-game and chemistry shines in their scenes. Meanwhile, Krista Nazaire, Julia Lalonde, Matthew Finlan, Julia Doyle, Daniel Gravelle, Rosebud Baker and Adam Pally are solid. On the whole, ‘Hell of a Summer‘ is a typical slasher comedy that’s not very funny or exactly terrifying.