'Hell of a Summer' - Hell of a boring movie.

Josh
Sep 21, 2025
4 min read

Billy Bryk; Finn Wolfhard (2023)

Bland directional debut.

Hell of a Summer is the feature directorial and writing debut of Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard. And it's not very good. You have to have some serious talent and bright ideas to pull off a slasher in the current year, but also a slasher satire. Both have been thrown in a sleeping bag and bashed against a tree until it's nothing but a redish pulp more times than I can count. The most recent trend within the slasher comedy genre has been to mash a classic film with a slasher. Groundhog Day (1993) but a slasher. It's A Wonderful Life (1946) but a slasher. Back to the Future (1984) but a slasher. Then, general mocking of the slasher genre has been done with the likes of Dale and Tucker vs Evil (2010) and masterfully done with Cabin in the Woods (2011). Straight slashers have been revived with the likes of Thanksgiving (2023), X (2022) and more experimentally, although it didn't connect with me, In a Violent Nature (2024). And I'll do you the courtesy of not listing out every slasher from the '80s to '90s. So what does Hell of a Summer do that's interesting, inventive, comedic, satirical or fresh? Well, nothing. And that's my biggest problem.

Hell of a Summer, courtesy of Neon — *Hell of a Summer (2023), courtesy of Neon.*

We start with the most basic of premises: a killer is on the loose at a summer camp. Off the bat, the opening kill is very bland. That should be the one that sets the tone. Gets you in a state of fear, intrigue or amps you up for what's about to come. But both killings happen off-screen, with us seeing the aftermath or a blood splatter on the wall. Then we're met with one of the most cookie-cutter, basic Halloween, TikTok vitality attempting, looking ass serial killer. A black costume with a devil mask. Oh my god, people in the 1800s would've been terrified. After the opening stinger, we meet Jason, subtle, played by Fred Hechinger, who is an underachiever who is excited to return to camp as a 24-year-old. With his mother grilling him about returning to camp as a worker. Which, maybe it’s an Aussie thing and I never did Scouts, but I don’t get the disapproval of having someone going to summer camp as an adult to work. They need adults to look after kids, just let the dude work. Other than this apparent pathetic loser, all our characters are rather one-dimensional. Like a children's cartoon, everyone has one core attribute or sometimes barely anything to make them stand out. We have Demi the influencer type (Pardis Saremi), Mike the tough loud mouth (D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), a vegan (Julia Doyle), a spiritual goth chick (Julia Lalonde), Chris (Finn Wolfhard) and his love interest, Shannon (Krista Nazaire), are both as bland as a rice cake and Bobby (Billy Bryk). I thought he was the strangest addition because it felt like his character was butting heads with Jason as the main character. So everyone else has little to no arc other than that they manage to fight back a little bit when in danger. Or save someone else. But Jason goes from a try-hard, wanna be liked by everyone lovable goofball to the camp's saviour. And Billy goes from a try-hard, wanna be liked by everyone horn dog, to one of the camp's saviours. Yet they weren’t a duo that were outcasts, so they grew together. In fact, Billy doesn’t even really know who Jason is and actively hates him. So, having essentially two leads overcoming similar character flaws just made both seem redundant.

Spoilers for the ending and why this was very forgettable. If you’ve ever seen a horror movie, you know the rules. If you don’t see someone die on screen, more than likely, they’re still alive. So, as soon as the first counsellor's death happens off-screen and then the body disappears, it’s no surprise to anyone that Demi is the killer. But then you have a Jimmy Neutron brain blast and realise, “Oh wait, Mike is also missing. And we haven’t seen them get killed yet.” And you pat yourself on the back for being right. Narratively, Hell of a Summer doesn’t do anything we haven’t already seen before. While watching, I was just checking off points on a checklist for a mainstream slasher in the current year. Such as: attempts at comedic deaths or weak, uninspired kills, characters with a weak relationship and DON’T have sex because Gen Z hate sex scenes, social media/ famous obsessed characters, young teens that don’t take situations seriously and comment with witty one-liners. There was no point at which I felt tension for any of the characters. I never at any point felt sad or upset when a character died. Which people would argue that cannon fodder characters are fine for slasher movies. But you don’t feel anything when they die, negating the tension that should be felt in a horror movie.

It also doesn’t help that the night before watching this, I finally watched Sleepaway Camp (1983). Which, itself, isn’t a good movie but I’ll remember more about that movie than this. Even the kills are very basic but the practical effects worked well enough. Especially the twist ending. The ending for Hell of a Summer is nothing I haven’t seen before. A character with a childlike wonder, learning to let go of the past, and growing up. Again, if you’ve seen a movie before, as soon as you see this character you can see their arc coming instantly.

Not much more to say about this. It’s forgettable, blandly shot, with non-impressive kills and a predictable outcome. It’s the safest bet for newcomers to create a horror movie but it’s a risky play to do a milked sub-genre like the slasher. And you have to be even more clever if you want to pull off something new within the sub-sub-genre of a satirical slasher. Hell of a Summer, more like, hell nah don't watch this.