The Summer We Died (2025) by Dillon Brown


Director: Dillon Brown
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher

Plot:
Trying to enjoy their summer together, a group of teenage friends determined not to let a psychotic killer going around town killing teenagers like them which puts them in contact with the deranged killer in the middle of their plans to keep their summer plans in check.

Review:

For the most part, this was a decent enough if overall problematic genre effort. One of its main attributes is the way this one goes about building up the lifestyle of the friend group and their lives together. The fact that so much of the first half here sets up the kind of group attitude they all have with the different interactions shown here involving the group at the skate park, dealing with their families, or going through the trouble of sneaking out to just hang out together. With this letting us get a chance to understand who the group is and how they came to be friends, everyone here comes off genuinely as a real collection of friends with the way they interact and talk with each other while there’s a serial killer storyline hanging around on the outskirts of it all. The few instances in which this comes about to be involved in the story offer up some decent touches of suspense and stalking, with the way it features their attempt at getting around to different places in town to knock off victims.

However, that would be fine if this didn't have a couple of crippling problems. The main issue here is that, for all the good this does at highlighting the friend group we’re following, it just highlights how unlikable and aggravating they actually are. A self-centered brat-pack of a group who are far more concerned with skating at the park, going to concerts, or just talking with each other doing nothing, their rebellious nature is at the expense of self-preservation and common sense which ends up making for a decided lack of interest in seeing them safe. It really doesn’t help that this is due to the other issue here as the killer feels more like a hindrance than anything, never getting a chance to see who they are or their handiwork often enough to care and getting just a few isolated moments to deal with it as the majority of this is more concerned with the friend group for the first hour until it brings this in until the end twist that puts everything together in a decent enough way of overcoming this.


Overview: **.5/5
An overall enjoyable coming-of-age feature without much in the way of being a slasher, this one comes off pretty well for what it is while maybe being somewhat let down by factors outside of its main appeal. Those who are curious about the presentation or subject matter will want to give it a shot while those who are more concerned with its negative factors will want to heed caution.

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