Summer Scars
Year: 2008
Director: Julian Richards
Studio: TLA Releasing / Danger After Dark
Stars: Kevin Howarth, Ciaran Joyce, Amy Harvey
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 67 Mins
"Summer Scars" is the latest film from the director of “The Last Horror Movie”, Julian Richards. Before it’s DVD release, the film has played in festivals, such as the Philadelphia International Film Festival, Austin Fantastic Film Festival, and the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival.
The film is a true story that takes a look at the destruction of innocents, when fears can overcome one person. The film is about a group of teens that blow off school to play and hide in the woods. The group soon crosses path with a mysterious person. This person then begins to plays tortuous mind games with the group, as he preys on their adolescent curiosity and immaturity. In order for the group to get out of this situation, they must embrace the darkness and begin to turn the tables on these mindgames and begin to play some of their own.
"Summer Scars" feels like a retread of Rob Riener’s Stand By Me than an original suspenseful film. Director Julian Richards’ direction felt very dull at times. The reason for that was the pace of this film. This film moves at a slow and dull pace, which makes the film’s story very uninteresting. Maybe it has to do with its sixty-seven minute running time and the fact that the film had three editors. But still, he really doesn’t do anything to move the action along, which includes the final half of the film that makes the film unsuspenseful. Richards’ direction wasn’t a total failure, as he did a good job getting his cast of young actors to act, as it was the only bright spot in this film. They did a good job developing a chemistry with each other, as the performances felt realistic and they did their best to try and save it’s film from the directing and the film’s flawed screenplay.
Al Wilson’s screenplay was flawed, as it’s the film’s weakest point. The film’s story felt very boring and uninteresting. Another problem with the film was the fact that the film’s villain wasn’t developed very well. It felt like that he was just inserted right there instead of discovering why he lives in the woods and reasons for his erratic behavior. I didn’t feel frightened of this character because he wasn’t developed well to make a fearful connection to the character. But at least he developed the kids very well. Wilson does that, by spending time with the kids and the bond that each of the kids had with each other. The only problem that I had with the development of these kids was the fact that I didn’t get to know what happened to them afterwards, because if this film is a true story than the writer should have examined what happened afterwards, either with another fifteen minutes of story development or let the viewer know what happened to them, as it really didn’t bring any closure to the story and left me wondering what the aftermath was.
"Summer Scars is unsuspenseful film that has a lot of flaws and no real sense of closure to the story of the characters.
Review Rating: 2 Stars
DVD Extras:
Director’s Commentary
Making of Featurette
Original Theatrical Trailer
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Sorry to hear it is not that good.
Excellent review.
Damn that's disappointing. Great review though.