Hell of a Summer

Did You Know?

• The film was named second runner-up for the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival.
• Neon acquired the United States distribution rights in August 2024.
• The film was originally scheduled for release on April 18, 2025, before being moved to April 4, 2025.

Plot

Camp Pineway owners John and Kathy are relaxing lakeside one night when John is murdered by an acoustic guitar shoved into his mouth and Kathy has a knife inserted into her skull. The killer, wearing a devil mask, escapes. Eleven counselors arrive a day early to prepare for opening. Among them is 24-year-old Jason Hochberg, a frequent returner whose age draws repeated criticism.

Jason finds a note about an emergency involving John and Kathy and assumes temporary leadership, but struggles to connect with the other counselors, including his friend Claire, who has a crush on him. That night, social media influencer Demi is violently killed in her cabin. Jason finds her body and urges the group to flee, but they believe he is pranking them. When they check the cabin, the corpse is gone.

Noelle, an occult-obsessed counselor, insists the blood in the bed is Demi's. The group races to their cars, but the engines will not start. During the chaos, counselors Miley and Mike are apparently killed in the mess hall. The survivors barricade themselves in a cabin. After a random card draw, Ezra, Jason, and Ari search the mess hall, where they find Miley's severed head in the fridge.

They flee in terror and become separated. Ari is abducted and stabbed with a knife coated in peanut butter, triggering his life-threatening allergy; the killer drags his body away. Ezra returns to the group and is accidentally maced with bear spray.

Production

Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk met on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2019 and discovered a shared sense of humor. They decided to write a film together, settling on a slasher concept. Their first draft was a 70-page script inspired by their favorite teen comedies and horror films, particularly Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004). The project paused in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed after lockdowns ended.

Wolfhard, then 19, struggled to secure funding because investors cited his youth and inexperience. Eventually, 30West fully financed and executive produced the film. Hell of a Summer was announced in July 2022, with Wolfhard and Bryk co-directing and starring; it was Bryk's directorial debut. Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan's Aggregate Films produced alongside Jay Van Hoy.

Fred Hechinger also produced and joined the main cast with D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Abby Quinn, and Pardis Saremi. Wolfhard said they aimed to cast undiscovered talents. Principal photography took place in Ontario, Canada, from July to August 2022 over 19 days. Editing began in December 2022, and post-production was completed by February 2023.

Reception

In the United States and Canada, Hell of a Summer opened alongside A Minecraft Movie and was projected to gross about $1 million from 1,255 theaters. It earned $720,000 on its first day, including $215,000 from Thursday night previews, and debuted to $1.8 million, finishing eighth. PostTrak surveys in select cities gave the film an 87% positive score (average rating 4 out of 5), with 81% of respondents saying they would definitely recommend it. Valerie Complex of Deadline Hollywood praised Wolfhard and Bryk's direction, calling the film "a tribute to and a reinvention of the slasher genre" but noted that dim lighting caused some nighttime scenes to be poorly lit.

She concluded it "strikes the right balance of '80s horror nostalgia and fresh, modern creativity" despite occasional visual stumbles. Jourdain Searles of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film's biggest problem is that there is not much to say about it, comparing the experience to a freshman film class where students offer improvement notes, but added that making a film is an achievement that paves the way for more polished work. Peter Debruge of Variety noted homages to Friday the 13th and Scream, calling the film "hella derivative, but still quite entertaining."

Calum Marsh of The New York Times labelled it "surprisingly tame" and "boring." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a B−.