Between any genre, I've almost found every horror movie I have ever watched is somewhat admirable. No matter how frustratingly horrible or laughably poor - I've always found that these films all have their unique charm - even ones I've come to unfortunately dislike such as Final Summer. Perhaps the best thing about Final Summer are the charming attempts to call tribute to Friday the 13th, and it's fun kills, however I found the film's character work to be quite poor, and became frustrated with the film's technical elements as it became worse and worse to look at.

 

Final Summer is your average slasher flick, but there's a B-movie element that may click with some niche audiences. However, much of that schlock charm is hampered by the film's poor photography. Mostly taking place at night in Camp Silver Lake, all the night exteriors are poorly lit and very unpleasant to look at. This was perhaps the factor that made Final Summer just so much more unbearable as an experience.

 

The acting isn't great, but I never really ask for something to blow me away with these regarding performances. It does seem like this cast is having a fun time, though. I do, however, wish there was more logical and grounded writing. This cast would be so much more fun to watch if the film's character work wasn't so shallow and nonsensical. Sometimes characters do things without rhyme or reason, there are certain character reveals that seem super contrived, and the main character just doesn't really have all that much going for her. Honestly, the final girl was a bit of a bore, and there's really nothing given to us from the film that gives us any genuine reason to be invested in her.

 

Sure there's heart in Final Summer, however, it's Friday the 13th tribute and love for schlock horror just falls short with just so much behind this film having minimal effort put into it. No characters to latch onto and not to mention some pretty ugly camerawork presented, it's just super hard to recommend, though I'm certain this film will eventually find the audience it's looking for.