Hell of a Summer (2025)

​“Hell of a Summer” stars Fred Hechinger, Abby Quinn, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Billy Bryk, Finn Wolfhard, Pardis Saremi, Rosebud Baker, and Adam Pally.  Released on April 4, 2025, the film has a group of counselors confronting a masked killer at their summer camp.

The film was written and directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, with Bryk making his feature directorial debut.  Wolfhard also directed the 2020 comedy short film “Night Shifts”.  Summer camp is a safe and tranquil environment where kids experience the great outdoors and enjoy various activities with friends for three months straight.  It’s also an excellent way for children to get off their electronics and enjoy the beauty of nature for once.  But, of course, it’s not without its drawbacks that may affect their fun in the sun, especially when you’re a camp counselor.  Dealing with children is one thing, but having to prepare for opening while a killer is on the loose?  That will make for one hell of a ghost story to tell the campers…that is if they don’t get murdered first.  We went from one horror comedy from a first-time director to another in the span of two weeks, as Billy Bryk and “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard seek to take a stab at the genre in their feature directorial debuts.  Don’t worry; it doesn’t involve a mythical creature this time, although that doesn’t make the situation less dire.  With that said, let’s head down to camp and see if it marks an early yet gleefully bloody start to summer vacation.

The story centers on the staff members of Camp Pineway, including Jason Hochberg (Hechinger), an enthusiastic yet overgrown man whose only purpose is working at the camp.  The counselors are in the middle of preparing their summer camp for the arrival of the young campers.  However, this seemingly normal night at Camp Pineway unexpectedly hits a massive snag in their preparations when an unknown serial killer arrives and starts killing the staff one by one.  As they approach the final hours before the camp opens, Jason and the remaining counselors must trust each other to subdue the killer’s rampage before their summer gets canceled for good.

The slasher subgenre is one part of the horror category that usually piques my interest if the concept seems entertaining enough to justify its existence.  Based on the trailer I've watched a few times, “Hell of a Summer” seems like it could be another example of this occasion.  Its plot takes many pages from “Friday the 13th”, mainly a masked killer wreaking bloody havoc on teenage victims at a camp.  But, knowing me, I’m usually in the mood to see this type of rampage unfold, especially with the young blood involved behind the scenes, including Finn Wolfhard.  Wolfhard had his experience as a director through his short film five years ago and at a pretty young age, too.  I guess it shows that it’s never too early to start their filmmaking career.  Now, he’s already making a leap to feature film territory, with Bryk backing him up as a newbie co-director.  Fun fact: Wolfhard and Bryk bonded on the set of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” over their similar sense of humor.  As someone who hasn’t watched Wolfhard’s “Night Shifts”, I was curious to see if his directorial style is as compelling as his acting career.  After viewing it at a small auditorium with a few people, I could only say it was a fine trip to summer camp that's also nothing to write home about.

“Hell of a Summer” doesn’t have much to say amid its slasher-esque throwback.  It’s just a straightforward and appropriately short movie about a group of people being killed by a masked murderer.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If that’s what you seek, this movie provides enough serviceable moments to satisfy your murderous campy desires.  However, I can also say that it doesn’t offer much else in terms of narrative and humor to stand out from other slasher movies.  Regarding its screenplay, Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk took several inspirations from the teen horror and comedy movies we grew up with, mainly “Friday the 13th,” but with young adult counselors instead of teenage campers.  So, it’s easy to tell that this is more of a homage to the old-school slasher movies of the 80s, ranging from stereotypical characters to the traditional slasher kills that are more subtle than over-the-top.  On the one hand, Wolfhard and Bryk certainly have an eye for acknowledging the good old days of slasher movies before the genre got bombarded by CGI and far-fetched gore.  On the other hand, it also risks the story of being another formulaic, middle-of-the-road horror movie that didn’t do much to revitalize the genre, which happens to be the case for “Hell of a Summer”.

The film’s first act took a bit to start the killing spree since it focuses on introducing the characters and their personalities.  One such case is Jason, who prefers to work at a summer camp for another year instead of being a responsible adult.  However, when the masked killer appears on the scene and his love interest, Claire (Quinn), becomes involved, Jason is thrust into a situation that compels him to take responsibility.  Despite its 88-minute runtime, the first act’s pacing can be a bit of a drag when dealing with people with personas you usually see in any other slasher movie.  Not to mention, the movie’s intended humor, which stemmed from the characters’ awkwardness and genre homages, didn’t click with me as much as I wanted it to initially.  But once the killer with the demon mask starts hunting the counselors down, it becomes an enjoyable and often humorous ride from start to finish.  It’s still plagued by its quality issues, including the dim lighting for the nighttime scenes and the underwhelming horror aspects, mainly the lack of scares and mundane kills.  Thankfully, they didn’t hinder my experience with the counselors getting paranoid about the mystery behind the demon-faced murderer.

One reason was Wolfhard and Bryk’s direction, which provided a couple of merits that are as delectable as eating roasted marshmallows around the fire.  Alongside the genre homages, the duo gets a few points for how they envisioned some editing choices, including the sequence involving the killer’s second murder.  Without spoiling anything, that scene meshes well with the timing of one of the characters’ actions.  Wolfhard and Bryk’s direction didn’t evoke a visionary spark worthy of standing alongside other horror classics, but their benefits to the quality were enough to admire their minor efforts in paying tribute to the genre’s traditional callbacks.  The other reason was its cast, which provided enough charisma in their performances to carry the film’s length, including Fred Hechinger as the naive yet kindhearted Jason.  This film and last year’s “Thelma” are some examples of Hechinger showcasing his genuine talent if the script and direction allow him to.  While his performance here didn’t match what he accomplished in “Thelma”, Hechinger’s appealing charm offered a few chuckles to elevate Jason’s character arc, which is enough to compensate for a few misses he starred in in-between.  Billy Bryk and Abby Quinn also did pretty well in their commendable performances as Bobby and Claire, respectively.

Overall, “Hell of a Summer” is a mildly watchable throwback to the slasher genre that lacks the refreshingly sharp edge to cut through its familiar trappings.  It’s far from a revitalization of the elements we’ve seen a dozen times regarding its screenplay, first act, and hit-and-miss humor.  However, it did its job of making its formulaic essence mostly entertaining and humorously brutal, even if its homage elements didn’t elevate the concept in a witty and offbeat manner.  Its cast, mainly Hechinger, and Wolfhard and Bryk’s approach to a few editing choices were enough to maintain my interest in the killer’s brutal camp activities.  Outside of that, this ghost story lacked a few spooks and laughs to keep me up all night.  If you enjoy watching slasher films, you might find some enjoyment in this one.  Otherwise, you’re better off waiting for a killer-free summer vacation.

C