Dark Summer | Rotten Tomatoes

Dark Summer

Released Jan 9, 2015

1 hr. 22 min.

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

List

29%

24 Reviews

Tomatometer

16%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Alone under house arrest, a teenager (Keir Gilchrist) experiences a terrifying brush with the supernatural.

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Audience Member

Slow... And boring.... A total waste of time.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not horrible but not a masterpiece. There are a few traces of "Pulse" with the sort of tech driven horror plot. I liked the concept but was a bit clumsy in execution. Worth a watch, but it's more thriller than horror to me (there are a few horror elements in it but they are sparse).

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not amazing but a good show if you are looking for a light scare.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best actors in Hollywood need to get that big role before their career can take off. No matter how good they are, until they find that role, they won't be a household name and are forced to take whatever roles they can get. Even megastars, like Chris Pratt got his start on a low rated CW drama, and did B-movies for a decade before he was cast as Star Lord, this is the position Keir Gilchrist finds himself in now. Gilchrist is an exceptional young actor, who always gives his best, but without that big role on his resume, he's forced to take jobs like this one. Dark Summer follows Daniel, (Gilchrist) a 17 year old who has recently been sentenced to house arrest for stalking a girl from his school. To make matters worse, his parents are away for the summer and Daniel is all alone. As boredom ware away at him mind, Daniel starts to see things and wonders if he's being punished for his crimes by some supernatural entity, or if he's just going insane from boredom. For much of this movie, the actor is bored, and if the actor is bored, what do you think the audience is feeling? Daniel's days are filled with monotonous discussions with friends, who sneak over, and of course investigations that turn up nothing. As for his nights, they are filled with a lot of jump scares and loud noises that again ultimately turn up nothing, as Dark Summer is just one of those films where nothing happens until the last twenty minutes, and by then, who really cares anymore? The bottom line, even a great actor couldn't save this film, it's your typical supernatural horror film, filled with a lot of jump scares, good looking people, and a whole lot of nothing else until the very end.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

charles s

There was a lot more to this movie than I was expecting, especially from the panning here that I can't wrap my mind around, Don't let the teen meladrama and probably overuse of strange indie shots put you off, they all serve the finale. Movie was well acted and the plot was fantastic, Definitely would recommend checking out this little thriller.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I don't understand the poor reviews. The acting was better than most horror movies. It is worth watching yourself to see if you like it. It is one of the few horror movies that doesn't have characters doing blatantly dumb things that get themselves killed. I don't yell at the characters! The characters seem pretty realistic too, and the lead actress is a cutie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

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Paul Solet

Director

Keir Gilchrist

Daniel

Peter Stormare

Stokes

Stella Maeve

Abby

Maestro Harrell

Kevin

Grace Phipps

Mona

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Wendy Ide

Times (UK)

This is the kind of film that relies heavily on sledgehammer sound design and creepy imagery in the absence of a persuasive story.

Rated: 1/5

Mar 20, 2015

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It is an efficiently crafted, small-scale film with an interesting premise, although it sometimes feels like an atmospheric short that has been stretched out.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 19, 2015

Full Review

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Offers fairly meagre chills. Still, the script has a few inventive (if not necessarily credible) moves up its sleeve.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 17, 2015

Full Review

Ben Nicholson

CineVue

Potential is where Dark Summer ultimately ends; there was much that could have been, instead it's a throwaway teen horror replete with jump scares and convention, but lacking much else.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 4, 2019

Full Review

Molly Henery

The Blogging Banshee

It was a unique idea and I feel like if I read it as a book, I would have enjoyed it more. Unfortunately it wasn't executed well in movie form. It was just generally boring and not even remotely scary at any point in time.

Rated: 4/10

Nov 2, 2018

Full Review

Scott Weinberg

TheHorrorShow

A crisp 80-minute horror movie that may take a few scenes to get rolling, but also showcases some very interesting ideas and a great lead performance.

Aug 23, 2015

Full Review

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Synopsis

Alone under house arrest, a teenager (Keir Gilchrist) experiences a terrifying brush with the supernatural.

Director: Paul Solet
Executive Producer: Jamie Carmichael, Kevin Iwashina
Screenwriter: Mike Le
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Preferred Films & TV
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 9, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 5, 2016

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