Why is “Hell of a Summer” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “horror violence, language throughout, and some sexual references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing and flirting scenes, a swimming scene with people wearing swimsuits, several people being murdered using an axe and meat cleavers with blood and gore shown, a person’s severed head in a refrigerator, a person with a guitar neck stabbed into his neck, an arrow being shot into a person’s eye, many arguments, and at least 90 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A 24-year-old man (Fred Hechinger) reports to his summer camp after being asked by the managers to help prepare for a counselor training weekend, but when he arrives, he realizes that something is amiss and fights to convince the other counselors that they need to be afraid. Also with Finn Wolfhard, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Billy Bryk, Abby Quinn, Pardis Saremi, Rosebud Baker, Matthew Finlan, Julia Doyle, Krista Nazaire, Julia Lalonde, Daniel Gravelle and Susan Coyne. Directed by Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard. [Running Time: 1:28]

Hell of a Summer SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A young man and a young woman kiss. A young man and a young woman kiss and the young woman reprimands the young man, saying, “Keep it in your pants.” A young man and a young woman kiss tenderly.
► A young woman walks through water and a young man jumps up from under the surface and grabs her playfully. A young man and a young woman flirt and hold hands. A young man and a young woman flirt in several scenes.
► People talk about a young man performing oral sex on a young woman. Two young men talk about other counselors and older campers in hopes of having sex with them. A young woman talks about a recent breakup. A young woman and a young man sit in a spot in the woods that is referred to as “make-out point,” they talk awkwardly about it, and do not kiss.
► A woman wears a low-cut short dress that reveals cleavage, bare shoulders and legs to the thighs in several scenes. A young woman wears a low-cut camisole that reveals cleavage. Young men and young women wear swimsuits and we see the young women’s cleavage, bare abdomens, legs and the young men’s chests, abdomens and backs.

Hell of a Summer VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A young man is gagged and tied into a chair as a person wearing a devil’s mask holds a knife to his throat; the masked person dips the knife into a jar of peanut butter and walks toward the restrained young man as he screams and thrashes trying to get away (we see the body later with swollen and discolored facial features and blood on his mouth). A man is shown dead on the ground with the neck of a guitar jammed into his throat and blood all around him and on his clothing; a woman screams and runs when she sees him and is stabbed through the back of the head when she gets into her car to get away; we hear a squish and see the bloody blade when she slumps forward. A young woman picks up a hamburger to bite into it and says, “I hate you,” and she is startled when a person wearing a devil’s mask enters and hits her with a cleaver (blood pools on the floor). A young woman is alone in a cabin and a masked person stabs her in the back (we see blood in her mouth), then raises a mask over the body and slams it down a couple of times (we hear thuds and see blood). A young man’s leg is snapped by a masked attacker and he is slammed in the head with an axe (blood gushes from the wound and we see the body in a puddle of blood later). A man is tied into a chair and held with a knife to his throat; a young woman enters the room and fires an arrow into the attacker’s eye (we see the arrow sticking out of the person’s eye with blood streaming); the arrow is slammed farther into the eye when the wounded person sits up.
► Three people search a dark camp for two other people and find blood streaming from a refrigerator; when they open the door, we see a young woman’s severed head on a shelf and they scream and run away. Bodies are shown in various states and with blood on them in a pile in the dark woods. A young woman sits at a dressing table and we see blood splatter on a mirror and the wall as we hear a few thuds (from a man chopping wood outside); we later see her lying on a bed covered with blood. A man and a woman are found dead with blood on their heads and their clothing. A young man is sprayed in the face with bear spray and we see his eyes swollen later as he yells that he cannot see.
► Two young men fight in a cabin, a burning log is thrown across a room and drapes catch fire, and one young man punches the other in the face repeatedly; the young man being punched stabs the attacker in the neck (blood spurts) and the attacker stabs him in the shoulder. A young woman hits a young man in the head with a fire extinguisher knocking him unconscious. A young man is tied into a chair and a young woman yells at him about people being killed. Several people accuse a man of being a killer and tie him up; they then threaten to torture him for information.
► A young man screams and runs through a dark camp after seeing a young woman dead and covered in blood in her cabin; he yells at other people telling them that she is dead and they need to leave, and the others are nonplussed. People run through a dark camp screaming and discover that their cars will not run (flat tires and dead batteries) and that they have no way to leave; one person yells, “We’re gonna die.” A young man prepares to jump a bonfire on a bike and several others watch and try to cheer him on; he does not do it. A young woman practices with a bow and arrow and asks for help from a man.
► A woman hits a man on the hand with a mosquito swatter that zaps him and he yells from the pain a couple of times. A young woman walks through water and a young man jumps up from under the surface and grabs her playfully. A person wearing a devil’s mask is shown in several scenes. Several people sit around a Ouija board and one asks questions, seemingly to spirits of the dead.
► A man jokes with a young woman that is vegan about cooking her Tofu burger and whether she would like it bloody (she is not amused). A young woman and a young man argue about the young man’s nut allergy and he storms away. A man and his mother argue about his working at a summer camp instead of taking an internship at a law firm. Young women and young men complain when a man collects their phones.

Hell of a Summer LANGUAGE 10

 – About 90 F-words, 7 sexual references, 11 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (dumb, show off, sad and broken, sucker, schizophrenic, stupid, disgusting, insane, fool, ectomorph, nobody, demented, pathetic, despicable, scary, psycho, chicks, insufferable, reckless, idiot, evil, crazy, babe), exclamations (whoa, effed up, shut-up, relax, IDEK), 1 religious profanity (GD), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, Christ, Jesus, thank God, Holy [scatological term deleted], oh my [F-word deleted] God). | profanity glossary |

Hell of a Summer SUBSTANCE USE

 – Several young men and young women smoke a drug and drink beer at a party. A woman holds a bottle of beer, a woman says that she is going to get some more beer and we see several bottles in a refrigerator, and a man reviews the rules of a camp including “No drinking, no smoking.” A young man vapes.

Hell of a Summer DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Fame, celebrity, murder, summer camp, planning for your future, nut allergies, ghosts, Ouija boards, scary stories, traumatic events, breakups, revenge.

Hell of a Summer MESSAGE

 – People seeking celebrity can be driven to do wicked things.