When you hear the phrase “gateway horror,” what comes to mind? The phrase is frequently thrown around when discussing modern cinema, serving as a perhaps gentle way of saying something doesn’t cut all that deep but could lead to discovering other better genre films that do. Typically used to describe the audience’s journey, it ought to also be used to discuss filmmakers who are figuring out their own path into a genre.
In “Hell of a Summer,” the lightly humorous yet oddly undercooked feature debut of co-writers, -directors and -stars Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”) and Billy Bryk, every element feels like it’s a gateway to what could be a solid enough film. Alas, despite it trying to take parts of better horror films (including its John Carpenter-esque score), it never arrives there in one piece. The familiar premise, which involves a group of young counselors being picked off one by one at the remote Camp Pineway by a masked killer, is defined not by a dynamic dance of death, but by a prevailing lifelessness to its execution. 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 initial throwing involves a belabored setup where we get to know a collection of cliché characters who, while intentionally broad archetypes that the cast does the most they can with, all already feel rather stiff. At the center of this is Fred Hechinger (“Thelma,” “The White Lotus“) as Jason, the oldest of the group who keeps coming back to the camp despite the exasperations of his mother and the confusion of the rest of the counselors. He’s a boy scout who is all about the rules and making sure the camp is run well while the owners are mysteriously absent. When the killing starts, he’s also the first to be blamed by his fellow counselors with only his underwritten sort of love interest Claire (Abby Quinn) standing up for him. Unfortunately, the film then scatters its characters about, squandering any comedic tension and not even getting any scares out of it.
Some of this comes down to timing, but it’s also just the general way the film is constructed. From the way it’s filmed, with much of the action either being obscured or feeling like it was just not shot at all, to the way supposedly significant revelations get unceremoniously dropped in, it’s a horror film that goes through the motions only to forget to have any real fun in the doing so. It keeps using the same moderately playful comedic transitions between shots and leans heavily on the charms of the cast, but it quickly runs out of steam. It’s both too standard to call it a satire or spoof of the genre while remaining broadly silly in a way that undercuts any real stakes. Where films like the recent “In a Violent Nature” turn the slasher both inside out and on its head, “Hell of a Summer” is content to lightly riff on genre beats we’ve already seen a thousand times.
That it also telegraphs every big moment to death makes it impossible to get swept up in said silliness when you can see the strings being so manipulated. It will occasionally stumble into a gag here or there that elicits a chuckle, but for long stretches it mostly just wanders about with no direction to it. This includes when the entire film grinds to a halt and leaves the characters stuck in a cabin. When they whip out a Ouija board and attempt to get a message, the only thing you expect to come through is the spirits saying, “Please, go outside.” That they eventually do makes things slightly more energetic, though only in fits and starts.
As the film then drags to a close, with some more sincere emotional notes falling flat, there is just a sense of disappointment at what could have been. Both Wolfhard and Bryk, who is one humorous standout of many in the upcoming “Friendship,” have a clear love for the genre, though this doesn’t translate into a successful horror film they can call their own. It’s all too down the middle and safe, lacking the confidence to take the bigger swings it needs to. Like Jason, a dorky man-child afraid to take the leap into adulthood who just wants to stay at camp, the closing takeaway to the whole affair is the film itself has a lot of growing up of its own to do.
