Dark Summer

This movie was well made, entertaining, had a lot of twists and was really unexpected. Much, much better than the 4.3 it currently sits at. The acting was good, the story was good and production values are high. I hope to see more by the team that made this happen. The soundtrack and audio production is particularly strong. The visual effects are well made, especially because they don't seem to involve too much digital CGI. This movie was a nice break from the 'insidious'/'sinister'/'paranormal activity' style movies that have taken over the horror/thriller genre.

Because film crews often post extremely positive reviews (like this) on IMDb, I want to make it clear that I am not involved in the production of this movie in any way, nor is anyone I know.

Wow! Just wow.... How in the world did this movie ever make it out of someone's horrible, drug-induced imagination into a film? First of all, I couldn't even begin to allow myself to understand or comprehend what this "movie" was supposed to be about, thanks to the AWFUL soundtrack that was so distracting, annoying, and what may be: the most terrible piece OF CRAP that was ever to be produced! The music producer to this garbage should be fired & never be allowed to cause further torment, headaches & ear damage to poor, unsuspecting viewers. It's painfully obvious the score was trying to imitate a Trent Reznor style, but doesn't even begin to come close to being SO FAR AWAY from it! The soundtrack definitely ruins what positive aspects there may be to the film, it's THAT BAD!! As for the actual movie itself- Maybe it's OK, if you're heavily sedated on some kind of mind-altering drug! The whole pretense of the film MIGHT have been decent, MIGHT have been almost watch-able, if it weren't for the shaky camera, sub-par, terrible acting of one of the most important characters in a horror film- the ghost! How she landed the role-is beyond me, as she is completely unconvincing and actually brings a cheesy, amateur, homemade feel to the already poorly directed film. There really is nothing worth giving a a good review about this movie. The actors are forgettable, the make-up/visuals are not even worth mentioning, and the soundtrack....I don't even want to go there again! If the writer to this story had different direction, it could have been a somewhat decent flick, but unfortunately, this was a COMPLETE FAIL-all the way around!!! Don't waste your time & if you do; have plenty of Advil & Xanax handy for the headache & frustration you'll get.

To start off, lately I've started to watch lower rated movies to find the hidden gems that may be out there. This experience led me to Dark Summer.

While the concept of the movie is intriguing, the movie itself fell short. The acting was not the greatest, however also not the worst. Possibly with a better script we could have seen some breathtaking shots from them unfortunately that's just not so. The camera work involves too many close ups, most of which are unnecessary, but is otherwise decently done.

For a horror/thriller the movie is just not there.

Hated by some horror geeks, loved by others, it's such a strange flick. Is it really a horror, well, in some ways it does but it's more about supernatural things going on or what's going on in one's mind. So don't think you will see a gory flick or will have jump scenes. What you will get is following the sick person for over 35 minutes. What he can do and what he can't do but towards the end it do offer some scenes that can offer some horror.

Some shots are done in an arty way, have a look to the girl being shot in the pool, done in a really arty way.

I still don't know what to think about it, for me it wasn't that bad after all but once summer is over I will have forgotten this flick...

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

I like slow movies, especially slow horror movies. The old school kind of horrors. Some of the newer ones have actually been quite good (It Follows for example), so I went for this open minded. Well, it really was slow. Even tho there are some intense moments, there are also a lot of slowly lingering scenes so I recommend not watching this when you are tired, I was close to dosing off a few times.

Soundtrack and the sound editing were good. FX were pretty good too. The slow style was somewhat good too, but the overall touch how everything was done didn't quite deliver. This movie lacks style that makes movies like It Follows exceptional. Cinematography was OK, and with more effort into color grading it might've been very good looking movie. Now it falls a bit short.

Acting was OK. Surprisingly Peter Stormare does the worst role here. He kind of has the part that is often played by has-been actors that have been dug up from 80s movies after making years of bad TV series. I don't think Stormare is quite there yet, but he truly sucks here. No one else really shines either, but are passable. Acting was a bit uneven, shuttling between pretentious, natural and "artistic".

Easily forgettable and can't really say I enjoyed it that much.