Hell of a Summer season, the teenager slasher comedy directed by Billy Bryk and Stranger Issues star Finn Wolfhard, is about to premiere on streaming subsequent month. The horror characteristic will probably be added to Hulu’s movie library on August 29 alongside different horror titles like The Monkey, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2013’s Evil Lifeless, and Thanksgiving.
In 2023, the movie made an impression after premiering on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition, and a 12 months later, indie movie studio NEON acquired it for its eventual launch. After a quick theatrical run, and per NEON’s regular contracts, the movie has now discovered a method into the streaming universe. Reception has been combined, and at the moment it sits at 52% on the critics’ rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with the viewers rating registering a barely greater ranking of 53%.
The horror comedy follows a bunch of camp counselors who arrive someday earlier than the camp formally opens for summer season. Per the subgenre tropes, the homeowners are viciously killed by a masked murderer, and the brand new arrivals are fully oblivious to the presence of the mysterious determine. Jason, one of many counselors, leads the group as they struggle to determine why the masked killer is killing them one after the other. The Rotten Tomatoes synopsis reads as follows:
Hell of a Summer season follows 24-year-old camp counselor Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger), who arrives at Camp Pineway considering his greatest drawback is that he feels out of contact along with his teenage co-workers. What he does not know is {that a} masked killer is lurking on the campgrounds, brutally choosing counselors off one after the other.
Slashing Into Gen Z With a Recent Comedy Tone
Hell of a Summer season is way from an ideal film, but it surely’s unattainable to not acknowledge Bryk and Wolfhard’s intentions. Their inventive pursuit is probably far more vital than the ultimate product. Bryk and Wolfhard didn’t develop up within the ’80s, and so they’re not the audience of each nostalgia-driven horror slasher. Nonetheless, they managed to seize the essence of the movies they needed to pay homage to. And extra importantly, they entered the dangerous territory of horror comedies. Their movie just isn’t a triumph, but it surely’s an admirable feat by way of connecting two worlds that stand far aside. The generational hole is bridged by the movie’s refreshing tone and the way it seems to be again at its influences.
However once more, Hell of a Summer season is a movie made by fashionable filmmakers for contemporary audiences. It simply leans on a recognizable setting that ’80s horror followers will immediately really feel aware of. The ending winks at Technology Z’s obsession with likes, shares, and recognition, and that is the place it might be extra divisive than its predecessors. In any case, it is nice to see that a few of the tropes of the golden period of slasher movies can nonetheless encourage younger filmmakers to inform their very own tales underneath these narrative frames. Hell of a Summer season could also be a foolish film, but it surely’s humorous sufficient to carry collectively horror followers, even when they’re a long time aside in age.