‘Hell of a Summer’ Movie Review (TIFF 2023)

Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF

Written by: Gracie Lowes

Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk made their directorial debut on September 10 when their film ‘Hell of a Summer’ premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

The comedy-horror follows 24-year-old Jason Hochberg as he returns to Camp Pineway for yet another summer as a counsellor.

Hopeful that he’ll have an amazing summer and be offered a permanent job after the owners ask him to come back and help at the camp for another year.

Once the entire council team arrives early at the camp for training, they’re greeted by a suspicious note from the owners saying they’ve gone out and won’t be back until the following day.

With the space to themselves, the young leaders decide to enjoy their last night of freedom and spend the night parting and flirting instead of Jason’s hopes of doing childlike camp activities.

But their last night of fun quickly turns into what could be their literal last night when a masked killer begins to hunt the staff down one by one.

The group of unlikely friends… and Jason are thrown into a night of terror and second-guessing each other in hopes of making it in until the morning.

Along with the duo both writing and directing the film, Wolfhard and Bryk star alongside Fred Hechinger, Daniel Gravelle, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Pardis Saremi, Krista Nazaire, Matthew Finlan, Abby Quinn, Julia Lalonde, Adam Pally, Rosebud Baker and Susan Coyne.

‘Hell of a Summer’ has so many different aspects from touching moments and campfire jokes to brutal killings, this was a great directorial debut for Wolfhard and Bryk.

The detail in the slasher scenes and how certain characters died was planned to a tee by the pair. I enjoyed how they still found ways to make it personal to whoever they decided to kill off for example (without giving away any deaths) a lash curler, peanut butter, and even a burger.

All strange ways to go but the thought and direction behind how the film and its many killing sequences played out were impressive.

With this film being a comedy-horror, actors have to be able to switch their emotions and deliver lines in a quick turnaround time, and this cast did it perfectly.

This entire ensemble was able to work with each other to create a believable camp environment throughout the film while also all sticking to their character's unique personalities.

Fred Hechinger's delivery of cheesy jokes that switch to what his character tried to turn into heartfelt moments with his fellow councillors left the audience laughing time and time again all while feeling a bit bad for the awkward yet loveable character.

Overall, I’d give ‘Hell of a Summer’ a 2 out of 5 stars.

While I do think it was a great directorial debut by both Wolfhard and Bryk I just couldn’t get into the film as a whole. The plot was predictable (as most comedy slasher films are) but it also felt slow at points where the plot was almost paused to fit in more jokes.

Despite this not being my favourite film I am excited to see Wolfhard and Bryk grow as directors and see what they have in store for their futures.

If you enjoyed the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise and ‘Friday the 13th’, I would definitely recommend watching ‘Hell of a Summer.’