Final Summer

Final Summer looks and acts like an homage, this is clearly from the poster, plot, cast and soundtrack. If specifically to Friday, I couldn't really say, because one of the cheapest horror genre is campers the woods type.

So we have Friday, but also The Burning, Sleepaway Camp, Final Girls and so on, movies that act in a specific way, one that isn't replicated here. You see, nothing worked for Final Summer and you really can't blame it on the budget.

After movies like Blairwitch or Evil Dead, this kind of horror doesn't require a big budget, but inspiration and dedication.

The dialogue here is bad, the characters stereotypical and annoying, acting is quite sub par, killshots barely visible, no gore, no nudity, one very sad excuse for a twist and the absolute worst killer I've seen, being taken down many times by the others. Just, never finished. There is some sort of fighting choreography that looks silly and fake at the same type.

So yes, you can indeed notice the fact that the people involved in Final Summer really did their best, they had their heart in the right place, but even for a starter project, this fell flat. No impact.

Thus not recommandable, do skip it and try something else. Plenty of fish out there, leave this one be.

Cheers!

Taking place at Silverlake camp, it is about to close and be sold for development. The owner says she has had it in the family, and the first year there were a couple of deaths, and each year after there were 'accidents'. So she is selling as the camp isn't viable anymore. One of the camp counselors makes a Jason joke, so is this a homage or a parody movie? Regardless, it would have been greatly improved if all killings took place in the first 10 minutes of the film. The actors seem earnest in their roles, although most seem amateurs, and when face to face with the killer, they immediately decide to make the worst possible decision. Dumb and inept seems an appropriate description. Difficult to care who get killed. The most adult of the group is among the first killed. Very predictable and a waste of time.

On the final night of their employment in the sticks of Illinois, several camp counselors are assaulted by a masked man with an axe.

"Final Summer" (2023) is a proficiently-made Indie slasher in the tradition of the first two "Friday the 13th" flicks from over four decades earlier. The sylvan cinematography is great, there's an effective air of creepiness with a full moon and fog, plus the diverse actors are convincing. Unfortunately, the director/writer failed in one of the most important areas -- an interesting or, at least, entertaining script. It doesn't help that the females are subpar (and I'm not talkin' 'bout nudity or sleaze).

It's like he said, "Beautiful women? We don't need no stinkin' beautiful women." I can accept that, but at least make the story compelling with fleshed-out characters. The contemporaneous "Totally Killer" is a fine example of a modern slasher that's entertaining. "Silent Retreat" (2016) is a good sample of a no-budget production that's a watchable slasher with the requisite staples. "Crazy Lake" and "The Lake on Clinton Road" are two other relatively recent examples.

So "Final Summer" is an interesting study: It's got practically everything for an effective traditional slasher, but drops the ball with boring storytelling, uninteresting characters and subpar females.

The film runs 1 hours, 22 minutes, and was shot at Camp Robert Drake, which is just southeast of Oakwood in east-central Illinois, a dozen miles from the border of Indiana. The flashback scenes were done in Champaign, which is 25 miles west of there.

GRADE: D+

I agree with everything previous critiques said. The plot is the biggest failure here, running neck and neck with the visual quality of the film.

I did not understand how "everyone knew who was responsible" when there wasn't any real backstory on the camp yet, other than "accidents" that plagued the camp for years. Which makes no sense, because even in the 70s & 80s, a camp THAT notorious would've been closed down easily.

Add to that the visual quality I mentioned, I don't know what that was about. Is he trying to make the actors look younger with a failed soft focus technique? Is he trying to make it look like a movie from the early 90s (which would've been shot on film and not on video)? If so, color correcting it to look like an older movie and adding noise and a film effect overlay might've gone a lot further and wouldn't have been super expensive.

Instead, we have a movie that looks like the director just discovered this thing called depth of field, and manhandled the technique throughout the feature. Instead of being interesting or helping the movie look old, it only serves to distract.

It's too bad, too, because low budget doesn't guarantee a bad movie. Lack of imagination and poor filming choices sure will, though.

I know camp counselors in horror movies are supposed to be down right stupid, but this one goes to extremes. I would give a zero in intelligence to these characters and the person who wrote the story. Let me add, most are such cowards that pity for the next victim. Plenty of chances to help each other, heck, but why bother, it doesn't occur to any there is strengh in numbers. Then there is a thing called closing doors, a concept too advanced for these brainless people. You would think that some would have at some time in the past watched a summer camp horror movie. Super predictable ending. What a waste of time.