Hell of a Summer

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.

Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, the writers, directors and stars of “Hell of a Summer,” take a more conservative, and therefore more boring, approach to their horror homage.

The movie’s hella derivative, but still quite entertaining, with an appealing cast and memorable characters.

HELL OF A SUMMER feels like it’s tackling the masked-psycho genre from a distance... The tropes are present and accounted for, but little is done to either freshen them up or send them up.

It’s cute but unambitious, staying very safe by sticking to all the old tropes shared by so many of its predecessors.

If this is a film about nothing, then it succeeds. Excels at, even.

With dark satirical comedy and gnarly kills, Finn Wolfhard and Billy Byrk’s Hell of a Summer blazes through its ’80 slasher homage in deliciously entertaining fashion.