On March 29, 2025, The Argus attended an exclusive virtual college press roundtable with Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk to discuss their newest film, “Hell of a Summer” (2025). As part of the film’s press junket this event brought together student journalists from universities nationwide to engage in conversations with the filmmakers on their approach to visual storytelling and their experience in creating “Hell of a Summer.”
Produced by NEON—an independent film distribution company known for blockbusters “Anora” (2024) and “Parasite” (2019), among others—“Hell of a Summer” is set to release in theaters on April 4, 2025, with Wolfhard and Bryk assuming multiple roles, including writing, directing, and acting in the film.
As part of the Wesleyan Film Series, the University hosted an advanced screening of “Hell of a Summer” on March 27, 2025. NEON campus ambassador Sam Birtwistle ’28 helped arrange the event and provided enthusiastic students with t-shirts and movie posters. The exclusive screening filled the theater with students eager to catch a sneak peak of the unreleased film.
“Hell of a Summer” did not disappoint! In this comedic horror, the audience follows Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger), a 24-year-old camp counselor who is ridiculed by his fellow teenage co-workers—and even his mother—for wanting to come back to Camp Pineway. As orientation for the summer camp counselors unfolds, the camp directors, John and Kathy (Adam Pally and Rosebud Baker), leave a note saying they will be late and promoting Jason to take up leadership. To Jason’s disappointment, the other counselors ignore Jason’s orientation activities and instead engage in partying.
This craze continues until…. Jason finds Demi (Pardis Saremi) brutally murdered in her cabin. Without phones and isolated in the wilderness, the counselors must survive and stop this masked killer on campgrounds before it’s too late and everyone is killed.
Even though the movie depicts gruesome kills in a slasher horror style, “Hell of a Summer” maintains its satirical tone by providing comedic relief throughout the film among the counselors. In particular, the story, which features a remarkably young ensemble, resonates with younger audiences with its fresh energy and authentic relevance. During the roundtable, Wolfhard and Bryk, who are 22 and 25 respectively, discussed their desire to craft a rite-of-passage story that all generations could connect with.
“Finn and I, we bonded over a love of coming-of-age teen ensemble movies,” Bryk shared. “We really wanted to make a movie that felt like our version of that.”
In addition to providing numerous universities with advanced screenings of their film, Wolfhard and Bryk have been touring and promoting their film across the country, focusing mainly on college campuses.
“I love screening at colleges for younger people because I was 19 and had just dropped out of college when we wrote this movie,” Bryk said. “There is something special about being young and trying to make a movie that you hope resonates with young people.”
In conjunction with the contemporary artistic approach from Wolfhard and Bryk, “Hell of a Summer” also evokes a timeless energy that is reminiscent of the ’80s horror subgenre. A summer camp provided the ideal setting to evoke a universal sense of nostalgia, which drove many of their storytelling decisions.
“Summer camps feel stuck in time,” Bryk explained. “It’s a mash of all these eras coming together, and it forms some weird stuck-in-time parallel universe feeling.”
It’s also worth mentioning that “Hell of a Summer” marks Bryk’s directorial debut and Wolfhard’s first feature, after directing his short film “Night Shifts” (2020) at age 17. Before the new film, Wolfhard and Bryk had notable experiences working together on many occasions, including in Jesse Eisenberg’s “When You Finish Saving the World” (2022). When asked about the adjustment from acting to directing, they explained that their acting background yielded many advantages.
“When it came to the transition from acting to directing, the easy part was being able to understand actors and being able to communicate with actors in a way that I think made them feel seen, heard, and comfortable on set,” Wolfhard said.
The Argus had the chance to ask Wolfhard and Bryk the final question in the group interview. Given Wesleyan’s acclaimed film studies program and hosting of student-run film production groups, we sought the young, accomplished filmmakers’ guidance for anyone aspiring to follow in their footsteps.
“No one wants two 20-somethings to make a movie, no matter what show you’re from or if you’ve done anything,” Wolfhard explained. “ [The] advice I would give is just don’t be afraid of people saying no and rejecting you because that’s just what the process is…I think a lot of it is putting yourself out there and working up your own self-confidence to hustle a little bit.”
Building upon Wolfhard’s sentiment, Bryk passionately encouraged all young artists to take risks and put themselves out there creatively.
“Fuck it, just go make your movie,” Bryk said. “Worst case scenario you make something you’re not stoked about and then the next thing you make is better. That’s all you really can do.”
Maggie Smith can be reached at ms*****@******an.edu.
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