Movie Review: HELL OF A SUMMER

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 4th, 2025 / 03:04 AM

HELL OF A SUMMER movie poster | ©2025 Neon

Rating: R
Stars: Fred Hechinger, Abby Quinn, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Billy Bryk, Finn Wolfhard, Paradis Saremi, Rosebud Baker, Adam Pally, Matthew Finlan, Julia Doyle, Krista Nazaire, Julia Lalonde, Daniel Gravelle, Susan Coyne
Writers: Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard
Directors: Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard
Distributor: Neon
Release Date: April 4, 2025

Comparing HELL OF A SUMMER to SCREAM is a bit of a stretch. The characters in the new film aren’t fonts of horror movie lore. On the other hand, they are self-aware enough to mostly behave in a self-protective manner when danger threatens, and we eventually get some villain monologues.

The film is directed and written by Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard, both of whom have previous horror bona fides as actors (Wolfhard is one of the leads in the STRANGER THINGS series and in the IT and recent GHOSTBUSTERS films, one of which also featured Bryk, who was on the gunslingers vs. monsters WYNONNA EARP series).

HELL OF A SUMMER takes place at present-day Camp Pineway, a summer tradition so beloved by Jason (Fred Hechinger) that he’s been a counselor here ever since he stopped being a camper himself. Jason isn’t going to be stopped by little things like being twenty-four this year, or his mother’s (Susan Coyne) desperate wish that he’d just stop this nonsense and take that law office internship.

HELL OF A SUMMER parody movie poster of the 1981 film HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME |©2025 Neon

Jason is blissfully unaware that the couple who run Camp Pineway (Rosebud Baker and Adam Pally) have been brutally slaughtered the night before by someone wearing a devil mask.

However, when Jason finds the note purporting to be from the head counselors (actually penned by the killer), he takes it upon himself to say that he’s been left in charge until they return.

Jason’s fellow counselors include sensible Claire (Abby Quinn), handsome and braggadocious Mike (D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai), rich but decent Chris (filmmaker Wolfhard), Chris’s firm-minded girlfriend Shannon (Krista Nazaire), Chris’s jerk best friend Bobby (filmmaker Bryk), image-conscious vlogger Demi (Paradis Saremi), possibly psychic Noelle (Julia Lalonde), actor Ezra (Matthew Finlan), snarky Ari (Daniel Gravelle), and confused vegan Miley (Julia Doyle) – while insisting she only wants to date fellow vegans, she eats marshmallows (which contain gelatin). Could one of them be a homicidal maniac?

We don’t really suspect Jason, partly because we’re with him pretty much the whole time, and partly because Hechinger treads the line so well between genuine nice guy and extreme nerdiness.

Otherwise, HELL OF A SUMMER effectively keeps us guessing until it’s ready for revelations. The filmmakers blessedly let the characters immediately believe the evidence of their eyes, so there isn’t a big predictable lull while we wait for the survivors to get a clue. There are also some surprises in who lives and who dies.

HELL OF A SUMMER parody movie poster of the 1980 film PROM NIGHT |©2025 Neon

The dialogue doesn’t try too hard to be super-clever, and we can be sure we’re not going to get overly meta when nobody mentions that one of the group is named Jason in this specific circumstance.

The actors are all good, with a unified style that is more teen comedy than horror. The filmmakers have found a charmingly idiosyncratic location – the cabins are individuated and some are adorable – and use some visual genre punctuation without sliding into cliché.

For an R-rated slasher, it should be noted that the gore here is relatively restrained (that is, relative to other R-rated slashers – those who cannot abide blood are advised to stay away). There isn’t a lot of R-rated sexuality, either.

The overall tone is genial and deft. HELL OF A SUMMER may not bring back beloved summer memories, but it’s an agreeable outing for those who appreciate horror comedy that doesn’t slam us in the ribs.

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