Hell of a Summer

“Hell of a Summer” made me laugh and kept me thoroughly engaged. It’s no classic, but it’s still oddly charming and fun, and points to good things ahead for filmmakers Bryk and Wolfhard.

"Hell of a Summer" is a clever tribute to summer camp movies.

Bryk and Wolfhard may like these kids too much to let them die or be imperiled in memorable ways, but they don’t like them enough to develop their personalities beyond tic-y, schticky gags.

There are no establishing shots, no gradual build of suspense. But then, there are also no jokes, and the methods used to kill these characters pack no ironic punch.

Even as it strives to be a “Friday the 13th” meets “Wet Hot American Summer” romp, it lacks the punch of either of these respective genre classics. Instead, for all it throws at you, it’s neither consistently funny nor scary enough to leave a mark.

The cast keeps the energy up throughout, the goofy but resolute Hechinger most of all, and it never fails to amuse that each of the characters only cares about the murders so far as they reflect their own self-image.

Hell of a Summer is a trifle – neither a disaster nor a breakthrough movie. It is refreshing that it doesn’t annoyingly wink at the audience because it would’ve been unbearable if it had.

Though it remains an entirely empty-headed affair at the end of the day, there’s some fun to be had with the absurdist idiosyncrasy

The picture is actually closer in tone to “Meatballs,” which isn’t a welcome development for a genre production.

Finn Wolfhard and Billy Byrk's horror comedy has it's moments and there is definite promise for these two as filmmakers, but the film didn't grasp me like I wanted it to.