Dark Summer (2015) User Reviews

Boring horror flick. Damn, i just yawned again.

[chrismackey1972 · 4/10 · 17 January 2015]

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.

pretty bad movie

[kevkellyaf · 4/10 · 11 January 2015]

Wasn't very scary. Moved very slow for such a short movie. The plot was really kind of all over the place. I gave it 4 out of 10 stats because it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but if you're looking for a horror movie that will scare you this probably isn't a good option. There were a ton of scenes that were really long and pointless and actually had no impact on the plot. It just confused me more than anything else. The bugs in the movie that kept showing up were also very confusing, it had nothing to do with anything. The movie was very silent as well, a lot of dead air. The dialogue was really bad, with expletives thrown in to fill up space. If you want to be confused, then this is the movie for you.

The amount of swearing required to accurately describe how bad this movie is would break the internet

[Matt9942 · 3/10 · 12 August 2015]

I love horror/thriller movies. It isn't an exaggeration to say 90% of what I watch falls into that category. The other 10% is porn.

It takes very little to make me happy when it comes to these smaller independent type movies. It isn't even so much the movie that I enjoy watching. It's the fun of looking for those hidden gems. Sure, it can suck watching a movie that's terrible, but it's worth the risk because you might find that movie that's so good your sack shrivels up like a prune.

So even if the movie is terrible, I still enjoy it because it's all a part of the hunt.

Dark Summer, however, was garbage. Boring, no plot, bad acting. Just crap. I didn't even know the names of the characters. There was no explanation of what was going on or why. There was just a super-dooper scary ghost with a super-dooper scary hoodie. Ooooooooooo....

It was about an hour in when my pupils constricted and my body put me in a coma. When I finally woke up 4 days later I discovered that I had eaten the fingers off my left hand. There is also a large blood stain on the crotch of my pants but I'm to afraid to check what's causing it.

Boring and way to slow

[panther_husky · 1/10 · 2 March 2015]

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.

Unfortunate

[cerus-04180 · 2/10 · 31 May 2016]

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.

A Bit Flat

[thelastblogontheleft · 2/10 · 21 December 2016]

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.

A Dark, Dark Day For Horror Films

[natashabowiepinky · 1/10 · 14 January 2015]

I had the choice of watching a Swedish documentary about sheep farming (with NO subtitles) or this 'gem'. I should have stuck with the woolly cattle.

I have never seen a film with so many suicidally slow build ups to... No pay-offs. This skinny nerd under house arrest has his two best friends (a Sexy White Chick and a jive talking' Black Dude, of course) visit him illegally during his incarceration. They smoke, she gives the jailbird some sweets... All against the terms of his release, obviously. Is he EVER caught? OF COURSE NOT. You'd think they'd have better supervision for a convicted criminal, than ONE parole officer who seems to be a complete nutcase.

Mind you, these are some other weird conditions he has to adhere to... apparently, he's not allowed to use social networks... but chatting on the phone is just fine and dandy. Also, why has he got an entire house to himself? Where are his parents? They MAY have been mentioned, but to be honest I wasn't paying enough attention to the coma inducing borefest to really care much.

So, anyway, he's Skyping a girl (That's allowed too... Go figure) when she blows her brains out. Oops. Afterwards, he starts seeing STRANGE things, such as SHADOWY MYSTERIOUS FIGURES and BLOOD IN HIS WHEATO LOOPS... As well as hearing OLD SONGS AT NIGHT. And the lyrics to A BING CROSBY song appearing on the computer... Hold me Mommy... I'm terrified. Still, at least he's getting plenty of exercise... there's at least a few minutes where he potters around aimlessly between each BONE CHILLING moment. These little excursions crank up the fear factor to near intolerable levels of course, and are not an excuse to pad out the already meager running time with a load of tedious crap. Why would you think that?!

His politically correct posse are there to help and guide him... Through many a 'riveting' conversation, the same way talking to a cold caller about insurance would be. At one point, one says the guy's situation "Reminds him of that Shia LaBeouf movie." Lesson No 1: NEVER REMIND THE AUDIENCE OF A MUCH BETTER FILM THAN THE ONE THEY'RE WATCHING. And this is one occasion where I can honestly say I guessed early on the Black Dude would die at the hand of the Sexy White Chick now possessed by the spirit of the dead bitch. Nostradamus, eat your heart out.

If only my powers were so good that I could have skipped the entire er... 'experience'. The last shot is an interesting one... The sight of the feckless geek's disembodied leg, with tag still attached, left abandoned in a pool of blood as the vengeful spirit drags him away. Hey, if it was the only way to avoid sitting through this waste of my life... Then pass me the penknife... NOW. 1/10

Dark Film Couldn't See Anything

[aakudev · 1/10 · 15 January 2015]

This is movie comes with a lot of surprise "Why was it made, for whom"

Simply a story which starts from nowhere, nobody knows who is what, what is happening, why is it happening and so on. No proper screenplay, dialouges nothing. Acting was okay.

In all i could count only 4-5 characters in the film. I have seen movies where 2 or 3 people have kept the film alive and done that but its not about people here but at least a basic story has to be intelligent. I really was irritated that what they want to show to the viewers and literally watched it in fast forward and saved some time.

At last its, don't waste your time, there are way better movies to watch.

Far better then negative reviews of this movie.

[angelapakp · 6/10 · 12 July 2015]

I would have given a a higher rating if it hadn't been as slow as it was, but given that, it kept my attention and was worth waiting for. The acting was very good. Not the usual awkward moments you see in low budget films. No stupid cats jumping out of the closet, or music that ruins the moment by trying to make it seem even scarier. Some of the scenes caught me by surprise. Was it the best horror film I've ever seen? No, but I felt it was chilling and suspenseful. There was some gore, but not over the top so if a splatter-fest is your thing, this may not fill the bill. If you're more into psychological thrillers, this could do it for you. Be sure to watch through the credits to the end. All in all, a pretty entertaining horror film. Give it a watch!

Close up shots, camera panning, close up shots, camera panning - repeat for infinity.

[Finfrosk86 · 3/10 · 7 September 2015]

Oh my god what an annoying movie.

Close ups. Close ups. Close ups. Slow camera panning, close up camera panning. So much fudging close up camera panning. Jesus Christ almighty. This is one seriously annoyingly shot movie.

Dear director, or whoever decided to have all shots, (except three, as I can remember) being zoomed in close up shots: Having close up shots of the actors, the 'action', the walking, the talking, the everything, does not make it good or interesting. For some shots, OK, but for every single god damn shot? I hope you never make a movie again. Seriously, someone should have punched him square in the mouth and said: You are not a good director, stop it with the close ups!!

OK, on to the movie. There is a super skinny silent dude, a dopey eyed chick, and a.. black dude thats, well, he was alright. And there's Peter Stormare, he's kinda cool. There is some kind of plot, but damn it's slow. Slow and boring, and not interesting. There are some scenes that are supposed to be suspenseful and scary, but they are not. It is not scary at all. Not even slightly.

And did I mention the close ups? And the camera panning the walls and the ceiling and the floor and the grass and the actors, and the everything ever? And the close ups? And the close ups? Close ups. Close. Ups.

Movie is a waste of time. There is not fun here, at all.

Much better than I expected

[mmmK-Ultra · 8/10 · 24 January 2015]

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.

Good Original Story for a Straight-to-Streaming Movie

[hookyhornstein · 6/10 · 14 July 2015]

Realistic expectations are important. You can't expect a fine dining experience at a fast food place. You can't expect an overnight stay in a small town to be as stimulating as a week in Greece. And you can't expect a straight-to-streaming movie made by relative unknowns to crack your list of all-time favorite movies.

With the proper perspective, however, this movie isn't bad. In fact, I'd say it's better than most of the scores of straight-to-streaming movies I see each month.

The actors were watchable, the direction was excellent and the story was just a little more interesting than that of the average teen psycho horror tripe.

It's like Disturbia. Or perhaps I should say you might be led to believe it should be like Disturbia, but completely different. One way is how it starts out. If you'll recall, in Disturbia we got to see the accident that killed the protagonist's father and the incident that set him off. In Dark Summer we pick up a story that already seems to be in progress and we discover the back-story in pieces so that initially we won't have any sympathy or understanding for our protagonist. The emotional connection comes later.

The pacing is leisurely and the atmosphere is dark. On the surface it's about a young man is under house-arrest so the movie gives you a sense of his boredom and isolation.

The script, however, is taut. There are only five characters. Actually more like four and half or four and an asterisk.

Without giving away any surprises, let me just say two commendable things about the story: the relationship between the protagonist and his obsession gets interesting; and fifteen minutes into most movies I can usually tell you how it's going to end, but this one surprised me. I thought for sure the mystery would have one particular solution. It didn't.

I really liked Stella Maeve's Abby character and Peter Stormare's Stokes character was just enigmatic enough to be interesting. The Mona Wilson character was, I assume, intentionally ambiguous and Keir Gilchrist played a plausibly sympathetic but not too sympathetic antihero.

The only character that really disappointed me was Kevin, played by Maestro Harrell. He played it well, but outside of one intelligent repartee with the protagonist, you almost wonder what he was there for other than to be the obligatory token black friend. Having accomplished so much and with such attention to detail, you'd think the scriptwriters and film makers would've tried a little harder to make this character more than just a cliché. But here again, you can't expect too much from a straight-to-streaming teen psycho horror movie.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. I think most viewers will be too, unless they're expecting to be blown away.

Slightly better than I expected, but not much

[rlaine · 4/10 · 1 February 2016]

I like slow movies, especially slow horror movies. The old school kind of horrors. Some of the newer ones have actually been quite good (It Follows for example), so I went for this open minded. Well, it really was slow. Even tho there are some intense moments, there are also a lot of slowly lingering scenes so I recommend not watching this when you are tired, I was close to dosing off a few times.

Soundtrack and the sound editing were good. FX were pretty good too. The slow style was somewhat good too, but the overall touch how everything was done didn't quite deliver. This movie lacks style that makes movies like It Follows exceptional. Cinematography was OK, and with more effort into color grading it might've been very good looking movie. Now it falls a bit short.

Acting was OK. Surprisingly Peter Stormare does the worst role here. He kind of has the part that is often played by has-been actors that have been dug up from 80s movies after making years of bad TV series. I don't think Stormare is quite there yet, but he truly sucks here. No one else really shines either, but are passable. Acting was a bit uneven, shuttling between pretentious, natural and "artistic".

Easily forgettable and can't really say I enjoyed it that much.

Movie does not deserve a 4 star rating!!!

[MovieMama625 · 17 March 2015]

Wow! Just wow.... How in the world did this movie ever make it out of someone's horrible, drug-induced imagination into a film? First of all, I couldn't even begin to allow myself to understand or comprehend what this "movie" was supposed to be about, thanks to the AWFUL soundtrack that was so distracting, annoying, and what may be: the most terrible piece OF CRAP that was ever to be produced! The music producer to this garbage should be fired & never be allowed to cause further torment, headaches & ear damage to poor, unsuspecting viewers. It's painfully obvious the score was trying to imitate a Trent Reznor style, but doesn't even begin to come close to being SO FAR AWAY from it! The soundtrack definitely ruins what positive aspects there may be to the film, it's THAT BAD!! As for the actual movie itself- Maybe it's OK, if you're heavily sedated on some kind of mind-altering drug! The whole pretense of the film MIGHT have been decent, MIGHT have been almost watch-able, if it weren't for the shaky camera, sub-par, terrible acting of one of the most important characters in a horror film- the ghost! How she landed the role-is beyond me, as she is completely unconvincing and actually brings a cheesy, amateur, homemade feel to the already poorly directed film. There really is nothing worth giving a a good review about this movie. The actors are forgettable, the make-up/visuals are not even worth mentioning, and the soundtrack....I don't even want to go there again! If the writer to this story had different direction, it could have been a somewhat decent flick, but unfortunately, this was a COMPLETE FAIL-all the way around!!! Don't waste your time & if you do; have plenty of Advil & Xanax handy for the headache & frustration you'll get.

Movies makes no sense

[dickson-dante · 1/10 · 5 July 2017]

this movie makes no sense. A guy obsessing over a girl that he didn't know like him as well. Kills her self to possess his best female friend to be with him. First off why did she kill her self in the first place if she wanted to be with someone she knew liked her because she had him arrested for stalking? The whole movie is pointless

Eighty minutes of my life I wont get back.

[ComputerDaveUK · 1/10 · 10 September 2015]

The main character is unlikeable (is that a word?) and manages to elicit NO sympathy from the viewer.

The film itself is a standard teen emo horror with average effects and a suburban location and delivers just what you expect when you expect it.

You will already have seen this film with different characters a few times before.

The best part of the movie was the simmering sexual tension between the Geek and the Girl.

End of line.

Another dull teen horror flick

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 21 October 2015]

DARK SUMMER is the newest addition to a never-ending wave of dark and dreary teen horror films which go for a dour, downbeat look throughout. This is a particularly bizarre entry in the genre, an odd mix of stalker thriller with ghost story, and none of it is particularly engaging. One of the main problems with the thing is the obtuse nature of the direction, which doesn't exactly make it clear just what's going on.

The main character, Daniel, is a creepy stalker currently under house arrest for stalking a pretty young girl. The plot thickens when it transpires that she actively encouraged his attentions, and resorted to magic spells to get him to love her. It gets even muddier from there, with some brief snippets of gore (including a bit inspired by SAW), some CGI ghost stuff, and lots of mumbled dialogue and characters wandering around and acting generally insipid. A tired-looking Peter Stormare (FARGO) is the only recognisable cast member.

Lack pace

[Saiph90 · 5/10 · 20 October 2015]

The major problem is when you have a movie centred practically around one actor, he or she must have enough charisma and interest to keep you hooked, unfortunately Keir Gilchrist just does not carry it off. He is not helped by some really over down close ups, nearly every scene is pan, close up. The whole film lacks pace and tension and your interest wanders off, at one point I was thinking he needs a decent meal in him as he looked painfully thin. I was also thinking how come there is no parental supervision for a young lad under house arrest. A bit slow, one or two frights, redeeming point the haunting 'When' by Elysian Fields as a background track.

the subatomic structure of actors

[qiexia · 2/10 · 8 October 2017]

There is only one thing to say about this film - nearly every shot was filmed from one inch away. Close, close, close, close, close , over and over again. To show us a three-inch object, the director must first show us one inch, then scroll. Multiple retakes were needed when the camera bumped the actors' heads when filming.

It doesn't matter what this movie was about, what genre it is, what was in the script, or how well the actors did. It is simply unwatchable.

no horror after all

[trashgang · 6/10 · 16 July 2015]

Hated by some horror geeks, loved by others, it's such a strange flick. Is it really a horror, well, in some ways it does but it's more about supernatural things going on or what's going on in one's mind. So don't think you will see a gory flick or will have jump scenes. What you will get is following the sick person for over 35 minutes. What he can do and what he can't do but towards the end it do offer some scenes that can offer some horror.

Some shots are done in an arty way, have a look to the girl being shot in the pool, done in a really arty way.

I still don't know what to think about it, for me it wasn't that bad after all but once summer is over I will have forgotten this flick...

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Dark summer indeed!

[n-kefala · 2/10 · 23 July 2015]

The same old story and in this horror film. A haunted house, spirits and someone who is running for his life in the limited square meters of a house. I don't understand why they keep doing movies that are so similar and why Ι continue to watch them? There is something addictive in these movies that's why. The sound of a creaking door, a scream, the strange voices, the thin line between logic and paranormal, to name a few. The only thing that I actually liked was the finale. Not an unexpected one but good. In a nutshell, if you like this kind of movies and you don't have much of expectations, this is the right choice for you.

Must See

[TonyC4444 · 7/10 · 10 January 2015]

Dark Summer was pretty entertaining. They acting was pretty good, particularly from Stella Maeve. She did an excellent job and was very believable. I see a bright future ahead for her.

This movie was pretty dark, but it's not going to scare the crap out of you. You'll be able to sleep later that night. It's not going to change your life or make you introspective about anything. But if the baseline for a movie is to be entertaining and justify the money you paid for it, then in my case it was a 7 bucks well spent. The story line moved along at a decent pace, there weren't any glaring plot holes from what I can remember and it was overall a fun watch. I'm usually pretty good at seeing the twist before it hits, this one has a double twist and I didn't see either.

In short, it's worth the watch. 7 out of 10 with a bullet.

Slow Unfolding, Made Sense, Then Plot Hole

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 30 December 2015]

A young hacker, Daniel (Keir Gilchrist), gets put on house arrest for cyber stalking. The girl he stalked, Mona Wislon (Grace Phipps), takes her own life right before his eyes then the stalker becomes the stalked.

Initially I thought the movie was an incredibly lame idea. A girl takes her own life just because some twitterpated teen was stalking her. Was he that malicious in his stalking? As the movie unfolded we got to know a little more about the suicide girl and the reason for her last hurrah.

Although it got better the movie was still flawed. Some scenes dragged on too long without adding any benefit and there was too much music with lack of dialog. It was very Ang Lee--almost as if we were supposed to understand the mood through the musical score and facial expressions. It got to the point where I wondered if the film was on a word budget. There were far too many scenes of the scrawny, bare-chested hacker, with no action and no speaking. I completely understand that mood can be set with music alone but there is a way to do it.

There were some jump scares and crazy poltergeist stuff. I actually had no problems with that as it fell in line with the flow of the movie and they were done well enough.

As I mentioned, the movie does get better. In fact, things begin to make sense until they throw in a loop which actually just creates a plot hole. Don't you hate that? The movie could've wrapped up just fine, made sense, and be a decent movie but the writers outsmarted themselves and left a gaping hole in the plot. What a bummer.

So... sad!

[omnimog · 5/10 · 6 September 2015]

Well, that was a mixed ride. From a decent horror concept, Dark Summer had some excellent sound design, really good cinematography and a perfect soundtrack of songs from Elysian Field On the other hand, the script was nothing more than mediocre. The directing was pretty poor, casting and acting in itself really awful.

Dark Summer could just as well have ended up very good, if all those moments had been addressed. Instead, it ended up as somewhat of an annoyance to me personally. In the end, the rating of 5 does not really mean that I found it bland. Sooner the opposite. Some elements were closer to strong 8s, other closer to 2s. It's a pity, really.

SMALL SPOILER

And yeah, Stormare was good, as always. Just very, very wrongly cast, as his presence in itself says that his seemingly insignificant character really plays a somewhat larger part.

Dark Summer

[a_baron · 3/10 · 30 September 2015]

Daniel is 17 years old and a self-recognised creep. After hacking into a girl's on-line accounts she commits suicide in front of his eyes. This would be enough to freak anybody out, but it also lands him under house arrest, alone while his parents are away. The conditions include no on-line activity, period. And of course this edict is immediately ignored. He has a couple of friends who hook up with him, but the dead girl, Mona Wilson, returns to haunt him big time.

Any suggestion this haunting is all in his head is dispelled by the exorcism the three hold in which supernatural happenings are on the menu. Now what? The two others investigate the apartment where Mona committed suicide, while Daniel stays put and does some research. This film ends very badly, and very suddenly, which is a pity because it promised a lot more, even though it was made with a small cast and an even smaller budget.