Hell of a Summer

The plot of the film is messy and uninspired. Most of the humor in the movie fell flat to me and it doesn't balance comedy and horror much at all. The story could've been told in thirty minutes if you cut out all the random running scenes where they go pretty much nowhere. The villain's costume was cool and some of the kills delivered but most of it was a canoe to nowhere. I still have to give credit to Finn for directing a theatrical release film at 22 years old but I just hope to see him evolve as a filmmaker and try on some different hats when it comes to storytelling. Honestly wait for this on streaming if you really want to see it.

I saw the trailer for this film some months ago and it looked pretty good. As the horror fanatic I am, when I noticed that this film was out, I went ahead and watched it... It was not good at all.

The plot is the most generic thing that you can think off, a slasher in a camping in the middle of the woods. It also decided to throw away some Scream elements in there, which wasn't ideal, only making the film more predictable. The deaths are extremely bad and lack any sort of creativity. Also, for some reason, every one of them except two or three including the opening sequence are off screen. I mean, if you are going to make a bad slasher film, at least try to have some good kills, if not, it loses a lot.

The humor is flat, and the ending is predictable too. There's just nothing going for this, don't watch it.

As one of my most anticipated films of the year, it's genuinely disappointing to be let down by Hell of a Summer. While the movie does a solid job of paying homage to iconic camp slashers like Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, and The Burning, it ultimately doesn't offer much beyond the nostalgia factor. The humor feels relatively mild, and while that could be forgivable if the film leaned more heavily into its horror elements, it doesn't quite succeed in that regard either. Despite a few moments of tension, there's a striking lack of satisfying kills. In fact, out of the entire film, I counted only one on-screen death, which was a missed opportunity for a more engaging horror experience.

That said, Hell of a Summer still has its bright spots. Finn Wolfhard stands out as the film's highlight-marking the first time I can say he's truly been my favorite part of a movie. Though his comedic timing isn't always perfect, his style of humor, which resembles comedian Daniel Avidan (aka Danny Sexbang of Ninja Sex Party and Game Grumps), works well. Wolfhard's dynamic both on and off-screen with Avidan is noticeable and adds an interesting layer to his performance.

In the end, Hell of a Summer is a letdown, but it's not without its redeeming qualities. I've certainly seen worse movies, and I'm willing to give the two first-time directors a second chance, hoping they'll take what they've learned from this project to improve their future work.

Hell of a Summer wants to be Scream meets Sleepaway Camp, but ends up feeling like the pilot of a slasher show too scared to kill off its cast. The characters are cartoonishly dumb, the kills are mostly offscreen, and the gore is weirdly tasteful for something clearly inspired by '80s splatter.

There are a few fun editing choices-some clever transitions, a grill-sizzle jump scare-but the film leans too hard on its actors' charm and not enough on actual suspense or style. The killer reveal is predictable, the comedy's uneven, and the whole thing feels too safe to be a parody and too shallow to be satire.

Compared to recent slashers like In a Violent Nature or Heart Eyes, this one's just stuck in neutral. Not terrible, just a bit of a shrug.

This a Gen Z film and cast try to retry the Camno Horror genre with flat results. Finnland as a director set to create an original retake, was just another imitation.

It features a young cast, but most of characters didn't deliver the humor, that film critics claimed that the film had. Gore effects are minimal with most of killing off screen.

As an independent film, it feels very weak, could have really challenge the genre's tropes. Some critics has compared it's story to Scream and Sleep away Camp franchises.

Other claimed that the characterization hasa modern twist on 80s era antics, I didn't see them.