Best buds Billy Burke and Finn Wolfhard have teamed up for the camp counselor slashing horror comedy Hell of a Summer. Hell of a Summer treads familiar water in the horror comedy genre. There’s a wacky cast of camp counselors, each with a unique trait. We have a goth girl, a goofy, loveable older counselor who hasn’t grown up, and late teen hormones galore.

All this adds up to a decent if forgettable movie. This type of movie, the slasher at a summer camp, is always fun. There’s something nostalgic and charming about these films that reminds me of the not-so-great but still beloved slasher films from the 80s. The biggest problem with Hell of a Summer is that it’s just another one of those and not a particularly great one.

Fred Hechinger leads the cast and does a fine enough job keeping the film grounded. He plays Jason, a 24-year-old who loves nothing more than his summers at Camp Pineway. A camp he’s been going to for close to a decade. There is a small thread in this film about growing up and growing out of certain things. I wouldn’t say it’s the main thesis of the film, but it definitely exists in the character of Jason as he has clearly become too old to still be spending his summers at a camp from his youth.

Jason is a bit of a red herring as he seems to be the most likely candidate for the murder that soon ends up terrorizing the counselors on their first night at camp. He’s clearly the most socially awkward of the bunch, and he’s even named Jason. A not-so-subtle nod to the Friday the 13th series. While this red herring hits early, it’s pretty clear to both the audience and some of the wiser counselors that Jason is far too meek to be a hatchet-wielding killer.

As the story unfolds, we get a few good kills, a decent number of laughs, and some funny musings on Gen Z culture. There’s the vegan who won’t even talk to someone because of their zodiac sign and a virtue signaling peanut allergy ridden boy telling everyone to mind their privilege. These broadly pointed jokes are enough to get a laugh, but not enough to make Hell of a Summer feel like an update to the well-tread genre.

At its best, Hell of a Summer could be a new summer slasher for the next generation. But it just never hits that level of quality or camp. It’s a fine enough movie, technically speaking. Finn and Billy have created a great proof of concept that they are competent directors, and I can see the two working together in the future on some bigger projects. I saw some people online complaining about the lighting, that some scenes were too dark. This wasn’t something I immediately noticed, but some scenes could have been a bit brighter.

The biggest problem with Hell of a Summer is that there really aren’t many problems. It’s a tight 90-minute slasher flick that moves at a decent pace with enough laughs and kills to be entertaining. It just doesn’t do anything unique for the genre. It also isn’t great enough to make us want to spend any more time with these characters or this setting. It’s a fine movie to see once and then totally forget about.

There aren’t any major changes that should be done to the film and the cast all does excellent with their roles. It’s especially fun to Fred Hechinger play a lovable goofy dope after his despicable characters in Gladiator 2 and Nickel Boys. Finn and Billy also star and they do fine enough as two friends on the precipice of adult hood. Similar to all the characters they have been playing in the last five years.

Hell of a Summer isn’t going to go on to break any records or even become a cult classic. It doesn’t have enough laughs to keep audiences thinking about the film after the credits. And it isn’t gory or campy enough to gain a loyal following. It’s a fine film from two guys who have a tremendous amount of talent and they are getting to spread their wings and continue to make new things in the industry.

I like everything Hell of a Summer is doing, but I don’t love anything it’s doing. What I do love is the future of these two actors and directors’ careers. They’ve clearly shown they have the competency at 25 and 22, respectively, to handle running a film. This film initially wrapped and was released in 2023, so these two were late teens and early twenties when they made it. It’s astounding they were able to pull off writing and directing a movie that fits neatly in the horror genre and is better than most would be able to pull off for a debut. These two have a bright future ahead of them, even if their first Summer wasn’t a homerun.