Hell of a Summer

At first, the offer of Hell of a Summer is very recognizable. An unknown and unseen killer slowly picks off a bunch of kids at a summer camp while their friends obliviously go about activities nearby. There are campfires, tall tales, tiny cabins, lame ice breakers, and awkward hook-ups. There's the initial moment when they discover the first body and freak out, unsure how to protect themselves. Panic drives them to accuse one of their friends of being the killer, despite a lack of clues and the audience's knowledge of their innocence. But the killing continues.

...once the plot gets moving, the characters flatten out, and no tension ever materializes. They stay distinct largely through diverting into bits at every opportunity, which gets tiresome after a spell. The movie knows it needs a shot in the arm, so we leave Jason's side more and more as the story progresses. He's still the central figure, but Chris and Bobby begin taking up more space, weaponizing their bottomless chemistry. The antagonistic relationship between Chris' hookup Shannon and Bobby highlights it even more. The trio's rapport completely overshadows what should be Jason's heartwarming relationship with Claire, whose crush on him goes unnoticed. The actors are doing a great job, but the script calls for them to be awkwardly adorable, and they are. Which is then effortlessly and inadvertently drowned out by everyone else's outsized performance.

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.