Dark Summer (2015) Movie Review

Director: Paul Solet

Writer: Mike Nguyen Le (Screenplay)

Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Stella Maeve, Maestro Harrell, Gracie Gillam, Peter Stormare

Plot: A 17-year-old is on house arrest for the summer while his mother is away on business. A horrifying incident occurs leaving an ominous presence in the house.

Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Dark Summer starts as Daniel (Gilchrist) finds himself under house arrest, with no internet allowed after an incident involving a school friend Mona (Gillam). His friends Abby (Maeve) and Kevin (Harrell) do still visit him secretly, offering him the technology he needs to get through the day.

As Daniel spends his time alone, he starts getting an uneasy feeling around him, like he is being watch, believing Mona has returned from the grave to get revenge on Daniel.

Thoughts on Dark Summer

Dark Summer is a horror mystery that follows a teenager under house arrest. Who starts to believe he is being haunted by the spirit of the classmate who killed herself on front of him. This will get to mix Rear Window, while the story refers to Disturbia, with a haunted house movie. As the teenager can’t runaway or he will face prison time. This creates the trapped feeling, as well as taking away a chance to research. With the internet being taken away, with only the limited time of the visitors being able to help him.

The film relies on the nightmares in at night and it will leave you with a shocking ending. The performances are solid enough to make the horror work, though the urgency never feels strong enough to be coming out in the performance. This will end up being a solid enough horror, gets everything right and keeps us waiting for the shock ending.

Final Thoughts – Dark Summer is everything needed for a simple shocking horror.