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Amazing Fantasy Fest 2024: Slasher Days of Summer Review
Image Credit: Adventures First Productions
Loading...Slasher Days of Summer Review
Alyssa Grace Adams– Alexis
Paul McGinnis– Kevin
Sarah Jeanne– Mira
Eugene Bofill– The Woodsman
Chad Ridgely– Detective Groves
Shanda Gardner– Billie
Chris Cosgrave– The Park Ranger
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Kristen Skeet
Screenplay by Tyler Cheman and Kristen Skeet
Produced by Adventures First Productions
Runtime– 90 minutes
Slasher Days of Summer Official Facebook Page
Slasher Days of Summer, directed by Kristen Skeet, is a new indie horror-comedy that recently had its world premiere at the first annual Amazing Fantasy Fest in Buffalo, New York. The movie, co-written by Skeet and Tyler Cheman, played before a sold out crowd on the first night of the festival. As an event, seeing Slasher Days of Summer with that sold out crowd was a fun experience. The actual movie, though, as a movie, separated from that event experience, can best be described as a mixed bag. Horror- comedies are typically difficult to pull off because the moviemakers have to find the exact right balance between the horror elements and the comedy elements and that balance has to be seen throughout the movie. When Slasher Days of Summer is being a comedy, it’s actually quite funny and energetic, but when it’s a horror movie, it’s sloppy, not very engaging, and often mean-spirited. For a horror-comedy, that’s not a recipe for success.
Slasher Days of Summer stars Alyssa Grace Adams as Alexis, a somewhat troubled young woman set to work at the recently reopened Camp Sack-In, which is run by Billie (Shonda Gardner). Alongside Kevin (Paul McGinnis) and Mira (Sarah Jeanne) and several other people, some of them wacky (like the cook, who also seems to function as a plumber as well), Alexis does her best to get the camp property in shape for any potential kids that might decide to show up. There’s a rival camp not that far away, led by the smug Ruth (Roselyn Kasmire), that is looking to put Camp Sack-In completely out of business. Will that happen? Not if Billie has anything to say about it. While all of that is going on, a pile of human bones is found at a nearby construction site. These bones somehow possess a jacked lumber yard worker who quickly transforms into a maniacal hooded killer called The Woodsman (Eugene Bofill). As soon as The Woodsman manifests, he starts killing everyone in his path.
So then some stuff happens, the bodies start piling up, the local cops start investigating the various murder scenes (the lead cop is Detective Groves, played by the great Chad Ridgely), and Alexis starts to become worried about all of the carnage that seems to be getting closer and closer to Camp Sack-In. Just what the heck is happening? Will Alexis and her fellow camp counselors be able to survive The Woodsman? Will the cops figure out anything at all? And will the mystery surrounding Alexis and what she may or may not know about what’s really going on reveal itself and be useful at all in defeating The Woodsman?
When Slasher Days of Summer begins, we see The Woodsman attack a group of young people camping in the woods. I’m assuming that this opening sequence is in the movie to help set up the backstory involving the camp, the camp’s big secret, and essentially how the evil spirit that takes over The Woodsman came to be. It’s kind of moody but still light enough to where you don’t think you’re watching a “traditional” slasher movie. The assembled young people are interesting, but you know that something bad is probably going to happen to them because why wouldn’t it? The only question is if any of them are going to survive the coming onslaught. I won’t say, but you won’t be surprised by what happens. Why couldn’t the information in this part of the movie be told later on by someone else? I’m guessing it’s because the movie wants The Woodsman to kill more people. Because that’s all The Woodsman does, kill more and more people.
Now, does The Woodsman kill people in interesting ways? Are there elaborate set pieces, involving some mix of suspense and gooey special effects? Not really. There’s the occasional decapitation or blood geyser that’s sort of spectacular, but for the most part The Woodsman just mows through people with some version of an axe blow to the neck or body. The Woodsman’s victims rarely put up much of a fight, and after about the tenth on screen murder it gets boring. There are a few moments where The Woodsman breaks someone’s neck, which somehow comes off as more depressing than the axe to the body or throat slashing. It just seems like the movie wants The Woodsman to rack up as big of a body count as possible. There’s no sense of fun or diabolical horror movie whimsy to any of it. It just becomes a slog.
Eugene Bofill, who plays The Woodsman, has a dynamic screen presence. He’s a big, musclebound dude, and you can tell just by looking at his face that he has mischief in his actor DNA. Why is he playing The Woodsman as a silent killer, especially when you can see his face, in this movie? There are a few moments where The Woodsman breaks the fourth wall, looking directly into the camera, and it’s hilarious. The movie needed more of that from Bofill. That kind of thing would have meshed better with the rest of the cast. Had The Woodsman wore a mask that hid his face, the silent killer approach would have been easier to accept. Maybe.
When the movie is in full on “let’s get Camp Sack-In ready to go” mode, it’s just so much better. There’s life to the proceedings, and everyone seems to be having fun (and, as a result, the audience has fun). Paul McGinnis is a goddamn riot as Kevin. He has terrific chemistry with Adams, Jeanne, and Gardner, and he knows how to play Kevin both tweaked and almost normal at the same time. McGinnis also has two stand out, laugh out loud scenes, one involving dancing for a female cop that has the hots for him, and one where he hides from The Woodsman in a closet. The payoff for the closet scene is just so unexpected and goddamn funny.
Alyssa Grace Adams does a nice enough job as Alexis. She movies easily back and forth between being happy and positive about life and being terrified by what’s happening. She also does a good job showing the inner conflict that Alexis has regarding what she really knows. I do wish the movie made her a bit more proactive when The Woodsman is hot on her trail.
Shanda Gardner is very funny as the wacked out camp owner Billie. She’s focused on what she needs to do and is worried about Ruth’s rival camp stealing Camp Sack-In’s thunder. As the story progresses and the body count starts to rise, you get worried about when, exactly, Billie is going to get killed. Because why wouldn’t she get killed? What happens to Billie is demoralizing.
Chris Cosgrave, who is also the movie’s cinematographer, is very funny as a deranged park ranger. Enthusiastic and bizarre, the movie could have used more of the sort of energy that Cosgrave brings to the ranger. I think you’ll be surprised by how much he’s actually in the movie. I know I was. And Chad Ridgely is excellent as the clueless lead cop, Detective Groves. Be on the lookout for the antics of Detective Groves until the very end of the movie. You will wish there was more of that kind of energy throughout the movie.
There are several other good performances (I apologize for not knowing their characters names). The two inept patrol cops could be their own movie. The Camp Sack-In cook/janitor is hilarious. You will remember both the poor pizza guy and the computer repairman. And the store clerk is quite memorable (the movie should have done more with how her accent doesn’t fit in with anyone else in the movie).
I know that it’s commonly understood that the best slasher movies are the ones where the audience cares about the characters before they’re eventually dispatched, and I assume that is what the makers of Slasher Days of Summer were trying to go for, or at least hoped that that would be the feeling created by the movie’s many fine comedic performances. It will hurt when those people that you like and laugh with and at are killed, upping the emotional stakes. The problem with that strategy is, with a horror-comedy, you’re not supposed to take any of it seriously. The whole thing, in the end, is supposed to be a big joke. Again, the movie needs to create a viable balance between the comedy and the horror. Slasher Days of Summer doesn’t establish that balance. The movie veers abruptly between wonderful comedy and horrific murders that become more and more dispiriting, and the result is a movie that doesn’t work. It just doesn’t.
What could have worked? A more focused story. Fewer on screen murders. Better, funnier murders that fit with the comedy. A more consistent feeling of ridiculousness throughout the movie. You should leave the movie with a sense of fun instead of a feeling of melancholy. You should want to like what you’ve just watched. You shouldn’t leave the movie with a sense of dread. It’s supposed to be a horror-comedy. The movie also needs better sound.
I liked parts of Slasher Days of Summer. The comedy is spot on and well done, and there are several very funny performances (Paul McGinnis is a force of nature in it). But the horror part of the movie is seriously lacking and borderline terrible. The end result is a mess. If Slasher Days of Summer ends up playing at a film festival near you, by all means check it out. Maybe you will enjoy it and “get it” more than I did. Maybe. I can’t recommend the movie, though. For me, there’s just too much wrong with it. And that’s not cool at all.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: 56
Explosions: One.
Nudity?: Briefly.
Doobage: Unsettling opening titles. Two women talking shit in the woods. Tree spray painting. A story about an abandoned children’s camp. Urinating in the woods. Axe to the throat. Off screen decapitation. Decapitated human head in a fire. Multiple off screen throat slashings. A really lame promotional video. Toilet cleaning. A stuffed raccoon. Lackadaisical cops. A lumber yard. The nastiest looking yellow food in movie history. Snake handling. Snakebite to the face. Attempted nature walk. A concerning phone call. Old bones. Axe to the forehead. Cake to the face. Axe to the neck. Axe to the back of the head. Attempted cake eating. Death by round table rolling. A funny soundtrack joke. A chase through the woods. Tree branch to the eye with bloody eye removal. Dead body dragging. A gigantic plastic knife. Sleep cooking. Dead body finding. Barfing. Hatchet throwing. A gold course. Food stealing. Computer sabotage. A dilapidated house. More dead body finding. A bear. Lots of weapons. Router fixing. A sauna death. Knife through the head. Really loud music. Axe throwing. Serious neck breaking. Axe to the chest. Frying pan to the face. Drill through the head. An explosion in the woods. Elbow to the balls. Strangulation. Hatchet to the neck. Multiple dead cops. Arm removal. Severed arm throwing. The promise of more mayhem.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: A black and white flashback where a guy is beaten to death. Young people camping in the woods and then getting killed. A “Peeing Next to Julian” T-shirt. Paul McGinnis wearing a sweatband. Kaelin Lamberson. Attempted donut eating. A very small dick joke. Food covered finger licking. Funny public provocative dancing. Bill Kennedy. Chris Cosgrave playing a wacked out park ranger named Stu. Bill Kennedy talking directly to the camera to tell the audience that only you can prevent forest fires. Talk of being cancelled for serving the wrong food. A slasher killer named “The Woodsman.” A goofy pizza delivery guy. Morning nature. Cops that can’t stop taking selfies. Cops trying to find a way not to investigate several murders. A Jurassic Park homage. Paper bags of stuff from Party City in the background. Flagrantly unsafe use of firearms. Cops that kill people “by accident.” Guy struck by lightning. Shotgun hooey. Paul McGinnis stabbing a guy. A “terror alert.” A very funny scene involving Paul McGinnis in a closet. More shotgun hooey. Chad Ridgely trying to use a shotgun. Lots of dead bodies.
Best lines: “She’s a chick, not a demon.” “By the way, the eighties called, they want their fliers back.” “What in tarnation, water ski! Snap out of it!” “That better not have been my donut.” Mother! Fucker!” “I wish I could poke out my ears so I don’t have to listen to this.” “We should have saved this for Burt. He loves cake.” “It’s me. It’s just me.” “Yeah, we have no idea what the hell happened to these two.” “Air conditioning?” “You look like the goddamn Terminator in that!” “Clever girl.” “So, you’re Charlie? That’s right.” “Tell me, Mira, when does a bear shit in the woods?” “What was the first horror movie ever made? I don’t care.” “Who wants tater tots?” “I don’t think an animal did that.” “We need to stay calm. Stay calm? He has a knife in his chest!” “That is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” “I would hate to be trapped in here with that psycho.” “Oh, what the shit?”
