Hell of a Summer

by Mike McGranaghan

Summer camp horror movies are practically a genre unto themselves. From the Friday the 13th franchise to the Sleepaway Camp pictures to The Burning, camps have long been fertile ground for violent mayhem onscreen. Hell of a Summer was written and directed by actors Finn Wolfhard and Billy Byrk, who clearly have affection for this type of fright flick. Their comedic spin on the idea is better than most of the films that inspired it.

Jason (Fred Hechinger) is an aimless 24-year-old who chucks a promising job offer in favor of returning to Camp Pineway, this time as a counselor. He denies this is an attempt to avoid real-world responsibility, although it quite clearly is. When the camp’s owners prove MIA, Jason takes over the leadership role, supervising the other counselors. They include wannabe social media influencer Demi (Pardis Saremi), aspiring filmmaker Ari (Daniel Gravelle), and girl-crazy buds Chris and Bobby (Wolfhard and Byrk). Also present is Claire (Abby Quinn), the girl Jason’s secretly in love with. Chaos breaks out when several of the counselors are killed by a devil mask-wearing psychopath.

Aside from lightly spoofing the conventions of summer camp horror, the screenplay uses the idea of a serial killer to tell a story about Jason learning to stop being a man-child. Desperately trying to hold on to the last vestiges of childhood, he gets two reality checks. One is that none of the other counselors can relate to him. The other is that he’s forced to be the responsible leader in a situation where people are getting murdered left and right. (The slayings generally happen offscreen, so if you’re squeamish about blood and gore, you can still enjoy the movie.) Hechinger gives a hysterically funny performance as Jason, nailing his awkward interactions with the other characters and his utter terror at realizing everybody else is looking at him to take charge during a time of danger.

Hell of a Summer is populated with amusing supporting characters. They fit conventional guidelines – there’s a vegan, a goth girl, a theater geek, and so on – but the actors bring enough personality to make them more than mere stereotypes. All the cast members nail the witty dialogue that pokes fun at Gen Z obsessions and neuroses, too. Humor comes from the way the counselors flirt, bicker, and banter back and forth.

Another impressive quality of the movie is its clever plotting. I was certain I knew who the killer was, only to be proven wrong during the big reveal. The who/what/why of the murders is fresh, not to mention culturally relevant. Instead of going for a familiar Jason Voorhees-esque revenge motivation, the screenplay devises a less predictable explanation for the Camp Pineway bloodshed. It assembles the pieces carefully, building to a climax that’s surprising without feeling unearned.

Wolfhard and Byrk don’t try to be scary with their directorial debut. The film is primarily the comedy version of a long-standing horror concept. Nevertheless, they fill it with an obvious love for that concept. Packed with big laughs and a respect for the genre titles it pays homage to, Hell of a Summer is a hell of a lot of fun.

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