Dark Summer (2015) Reviews

• Boring and way to slow

  panther_husky2015-03-02

  For the first 38 minutes all you get to enjoy is the camera following the character around the house as he senses something. It is like watching something in slow motion and you will understand what I mean when you watch the film. The characters seem dull and there doesn't seem to be anything in the film to make you sit there and enjoy it. I couldn't even watch through to the ending and stopped it feeling annoyed at spending time watching this film. I ended up returning to the film as I felt it wouldn't be fair to write a review watching only half of the film. Well, still boring and walked away feeling even more annoyed. Really, you want a good ghost story, forget this one. Not worth the time.

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• A Bit Flat

  thelastblogontheleft2016-12-21

  Keir Gilchrist, who I typically love (he was great in It Follows and United States of Tara, where I was first introduced to him), plays Daniel in this supernatural horror/thriller, a bit of a hacker who is under house arrest for cyberstalking his classmate and love interest, Mona (played by Grace Phipps). Things start to get spooky after he watches her commit suicide and his friends Abby (Stella Maeve) and Kevin (Maestro Harrell) are worried about his safety — and his sanity — as he spirals into a pretty dangerous mental state and fears for his own life. Honestly… meh. This movie didn't offer much. It occasionally had some interesting atmosphere but ultimately it was just boring. I thought the premise — Daniel being stuck in his home while one might normally run the hell away — was interesting initially, but the scares were just too cheesy and predictable to really have any serious effect. I may have audibly yawned when it's revealed early on that his friend Abby has this unrequited love for him. It winds up being crucial to the storyline in the surprise ending, but it was just predictable. His either complete obliviousness to the painfully obvious or inability to voice his emotions just fits right into the whole stereotype of the teenager who is textbook smart (able to hack into computers, etc) but emotionally stunted. I thought the dream that Daniel had of him and Abby in the pool was cool, and sort of fit into the atmosphere that I WISH this movie had. It was like a weird offspring of hazy, dreamlike indie movie and cheap teen thriller. There were a couple good, creepy moments — his phone going blank and playing "When" by Elysian Fields, for example — but largely the scares fell flat, especially any time they showed Mona. I would have much rather she be kept more vague and shadowy, or not physically appearing at all. But then suddenly we descend inexplicably into the world of witchcraft and spells and while there's a decent surprise ending, it was too far gone for me at that point. Even Peter Stormare couldn't save this one with his painfully stereotypical parole officer role. Booo.

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• Unfortunate

  cerus-041802016-05-31

  To start off, lately I've started to watch lower rated movies to find the hidden gems that may be out there. This experience led me to Dark Summer. While the concept of the movie is intriguing, the movie itself fell short. The acting was not the greatest, however also not the worst. Possibly with a better script we could have seen some breathtaking shots from them unfortunately that's just not so. The camera work involves too many close ups, most of which are unnecessary, but is otherwise decently done. For a horror/thriller the movie is just not there.

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• Much better than I expected

  mmmK-Ultra2015-01-24

  This movie was well made, entertaining, had a lot of twists and was really unexpected. Much, much better than the 4.3 it currently sits at. The acting was good, the story was good and production values are high. I hope to see more by the team that made this happen. The soundtrack and audio production is particularly strong. The visual effects are well made, especially because they don't seem to involve too much digital CGI. This movie was a nice break from the 'insidious'/'sinister'/'paranormal activity' style movies that have taken over the horror/thriller genre. Because film crews often post extremely positive reviews (like this) on IMDb, I want to make it clear that I am not involved in the production of this movie in any way, nor is anyone I know.

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• Boring horror flick. Damn, i just yawned again.

  chrismackey19722015-01-17

  First of all, did Daniel have no parental supervision at all? This movie spanned a few days, and not a single adult was in that household except for Peter Stormare - the probation officer. The acting was pretty good, especially for a low budget film with people I've never heard of. Though I have seen Peter Stormare in quite a few things like Prison Break. "Tell him, John Abrussie says goodbye!" hehe I have to say, there weren't any scares. But the end was an unexpected twist I gave this a 4-star rating. Even though it had good acting, it was boring. When only the last 2 mins or so of the movie are memorable, it's not going to get a high rating from me. 4 stars might be a little high. Watch it and decide for yourself. I can't recommend it.

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