‘Final Summer’ VOD Review
Stars: Jenna Kohn, Thom Mathews, Carl Bailey, Bishop Stevens, Myles Valentine, Seth Boyer, Jace Jamison, Jessica Kadish, Charlee Amacher, Rico Whitehead, Farbota Lynn, Gabriel SolisKimmy Schofield | Written and Directed by John Isberg
Writer/Director John Isberg opens Final Summer in traditional fashion, as summer camp attendees are told about a murderous legend over a campfire. As a counsellor reappropriates the story of Warren Copper for an instructional tale about forest fires, the joking dies down when a real murderer strikes.
Five years later, a tragedy has occurred at Camp Silverlake. Traumatised by the events, Lexi (Jenna Kohn) is left blaming herself for what happened. This incident has left the camp’s owner with no choice but to sell her family’s legacy, asking the counsellors to get the place ready for the oncoming developers. Those plans are discarded when a masked killer appears, intent on committing a killing spree.
What Isberg has crafted wishes to be a throwback to camp-set slashers such as Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp, yet Final Summer is a weak homage. Much like the many horror movie references, the impression given is that the filmmakers are paying lip service without doing anything to set this tale apart. This is best exemplified in the scenes of counsellors having fun before all hell breaks loose. Much of their fun involves the most tiresome fake scares which quickly grow old, and unfortunately highlights how the film is lacking in tension and scares.
Characterization is very lacking, leaving it on the performer’s shoulders to breathe life into their roles to make up for the script. They can only do so much when saddled with interchangeable dialogue and asked to move repeatedly between buildings with the grace of a game of Musical Chairs. It is also glaring how, despite being set in 1991, there appears to be no attempt to make this feel of the era.
The most disappointing aspect is the element which should be an easy win for slashers; the kills. Much of the sub-genre’s fun comes from the inventive ways of offing people, from Black Christmas utilising a glass sculpture, to a memorable sequence in The Burning using shears. The kills in Final Summer are unfortunately lacking in creativity, with many being bafflingly obscured.
Credit where it is due, depicting the killer as an actual person who stumbles and gets knocked back is an interesting choice. Unfortunately, when the killer enacts such unremarkable kills, one is left instead wishing for a hulking figure with unbelievable strength. As the final act delivers revelations which come out of nowhere, and even falls flat with the final quip, this feels like a shallow way of paying homage to the subgenre.
** 2/5
Final Summer is on UK digital now from Miracle Media Limited.
