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| The killer on the loose! |
FINAL SUMMER (2023). Written, directed and produced by John Isberg.
A young boy is somehow accidentally killed on the last day of summer camp, and counselor Lexi (Jenna Kohn), whose younger brother was run over years ago, feels responsible (as well she should). Not much later a man wearing a skull mask and carrying an ax, begins murdering the other counselors at Camp Silver Lake. Could it be the strange Warren Copper (Robert Gerard Anderson), the camp handyman, whose grandson was killed? A variety of young men and women try to survive while the maniac stalks them and the suspense mounts ...
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| Jenna Kohn as Lexi |
As
Friday the 13th clones go,
Final Summer is by no means terrible. The acting is generally good, there are some genuinely tense sequences, and the flick boasts some excellent, moody cinematography (also by director John Isberg). Isberg's screenplay, however, lets the movie -- and movie-goer -- down, as he tries to be
too clever, perhaps in hopes of coming out with a sequel. There are too many illogical and confusing moments and anti-climaxes, and I don't know what the hell the killer's motivation was when the ultimate architect behind the murders is revealed (a homage to the original
Friday). It is also never explained why the likable Peter (well-played by Wyatt Taber) is captured instead of killed, aside from the fact that the audience may be rooting for him. The ending is way too dragged out. One assumes nobody uses a cell phone because the film takes place in 1991, before their widespread use. While there is plenty of violence, gore geeks will be disappointed that the movie is never bloody disgusting. Thom Mathews, who briefly plays Sheriff Parmer, was Tommy Jarvis in
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
Verdict: Slasher flick just misses. **1/2.
Loved the original Friday the 13th series, and this seems very reminiscent, so maybe will give it a try. Those 80s slasher movies were the best, though, and so well satirized in the 90s Scream films. No one has done anything innovative the the genre lately, have they?
ReplyDelete-C
I don't know if you could call it innovative, but so many recent horror/slasher flicks are, to me at least, overly sadistic. People are not just killed in clever ways but truly tortured for agonizing moments, and so utterly graphic to boot. I have resisted seeing something like "Thanksgiving" -- normally something that would be right up my alley -- because descriptions of certain "kills" just sound too stomach-churning.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this flick is definite a Friday the 13th clone, but it doesn't rely on super-graphic gore. Just needed a much better screenplay.