‘Hell of a Summer’ Trailer Reaction: A Summer Camp Slasher with Plenty of Laughs and Gore
Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk produced, wrote, and directed Hell of a Summer.
Neon is the most interesting independent distributor in the modern film industry thanks to its dedication to finding unique voices and impactful stories. Their track record with horror is particularly pristine. Just last year Neon released Immaculate, Cuckoo, Handling the Undead, and Longlegs. Neon’s 2024 output was amazing, and they already have a superb lineup of horror ready to go for 2025. The latest addition to their slate of must-see horror for this year is Hell of a Summer. Check out the first trailer below.
Hell of a Summer stars Fred Hechinger (who played Simon in the Fear Street trilogy) as a 24-year-old camp counselor who is really feeling the age gap between himself and the rest of the counselors. To make an awkward situation worse, there’s a masked killer picking off counselors one by one.
Judging by the trailer, it looks like there will be a big “whodunit” element to the story, which is perfect for a retro-style slasher-comedy like this. The original Friday the 13th from 1980 left the killer’s identity a mystery until the end, as did Sleepaway Camp (1983). So, Hell of a Summer definitely feels like it’s taking cues from the summer camp slashers of that era, which is great!
The movie also appears like it will emulate some of the over-the-top gore seen in slashers from the 1980s. The “dreadfully gory” quote shown over an image of a blood-covered body gives us gorehounds something to get excited about! We shouldn’t expect Terrifier levels of gore, but maybe something more in line with comedic levels of blood and guts.
Also, the overall tone seems light and fun. Hell of a Summer is co-written and co-directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, two friends who can get pretty goofy whenever they’re together. If you’ve heard their Lackluster Video podcast, then you can probably imagine how their writing sessions might have sounded when putting the script together for Hell of a Summer. And if the writers are having fun, then there’s a good chance the audience will have fun too.
Hell of a Summer is the feature-film directorial debut for both Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, and they couldn’t have made a better choice of genre. The formula for a summer camp slasher movie is immediately recognizable by nearly all audiences, so that allows Wolfhard and Bryk to play around with the formula and infuse it with their own brand of comedy and horror. What comes through in the trailer is wit, snark, and some strong comedic performances. It all feels like it will lead to another horror hit from Neon when Hell of a Summer releases in theaters on April 18th, 2025.
