Already in love with the 1987 Mark Harmon-starrer of the same name, I was eager to find out if the powers that be would bestow upon me two awesome films about the dreaded wasteland that is education in June and July. Directed by Ben Trandem, Lance Hendrickson, Steven Rhoden, Troy McCall and Mike Nelson, the 21st-century SUMMER SCHOOL (now out on DVD from Osiris Entertainment after previous self-distribution) is an anthology of the horror-informed nightmares suffered by its main character Charles (Simon Wallace), and thankfully, it’s quite good for its low budget, showcasing a wealth of creativity and talent on the part of its filmmakers.
The premise is totally fun and intriguing, especially considering the lack of good anthologies today. Charles runs his own fanboy website on which he reviews flicks, specifically horror. He is fresh off a weekend binge of nonstop viewing when his summer-school session begins, and he’s suffering from a severe lack of sleep. As he konks out at his desk waiting for the rest of the class to arrive, his day takes a surreal, sinister turn. The films from Charles’ marathon have a strange effect on him and manifest themselves in his dreams—each with a different story and cameos from his classmates, teacher and other assorted school employees who are sometimes allies, and other times enemies to be feared.
SUMMER SCHOOL does a good job of playing with expectations and perception, leaving the viewer never quite sure whether they’re in a dream or reality. The early scenes set up the main characters who will appear in different variations throughout: Charles, his deviant slacker friends Dennis (Hendrickson) and Steve (Tony Czech), his crush Lindsey (Amy Cocchiarella), teacher Mrs. Wickham (Jennifer Prettyman) and Officer Hector Klein (Ty Richardson). Our first descent into terror is “Cult,” which is more or less OK. Its strength lies in its establishing the dynamics of the roles and relationships, quickly acquainting you with their personalities and quirks so that when they’re twisted and broken in subsequent sections, it has the desired effect. These include the rambling, comedic conversations between Dennis and Steve and the back-and-forth flirtation of Charles and Lindsey.
One of SUMMER SCHOOL’S problems is the unevenness of these two aspects. Dennis and Steve’s stoner-esque, silly dialogue hits the perfect note early in the film, but then at times also strives too hard for Judd Apatow-style “witty yet natural banter” schtick. When it doesn’t stick, it’s mostly because Hendrickson and Czech seem too forced while trying to be free-flowing with their words. The horror aspect of “Cult” is pretty brief and arrives at the very end, after a playful chase through the school between Charles and Lindsey, with a twist that isn’t all that great and serves mostly as kind of a mild introduction to the rest of the film.
Next up, however, are SUMMER SCHOOL’s two best segments, “Monsters” and “Nazi.” Both showcase very fine low-budget FX work, with the former a fun creature feature while the latter is pretty nasty and hard-hitting. The “Monsters” suit is especially well-done, and this section showcases some of the movie’s best work—especially when several shots of an actor in the sole creature costume were digitally and seamlessly combined to make it seem like there are several monsters in the shot at once. As the titular Nazi in his section, Richardson does an excellent job as the brutal villain massacring the students.
There’s a short lull after “Nazi” as “Vampires,” the dullest of the stories, proceeds. While the lighting and one particular staking shot are highlights, overall it’s fairly boring, thin and clichéd, especially the bloodsuckers themselves, who look like mall Goths pretending they’re creatures of the night. The dialogue here also contains some of the movie’s lamer punchlines. “Hillbilly” gets our protagonist out of the school and into the wilderness for a familiar but entertaining take on the backwoods-terror subgenre. It also includes a nice fake-out ending, and who doesn’t love getting caught by one of those?
“Slasher” comes at the tail end and ushers in the conclusion, finishing off SUMMER SCHOOL pretty strongly and allowing lead actor Wallace to truly show his stuff. The very end brings a devious smirk, while the final aerial shot cements the idea that these filmmakers will not be held back by budget limitations. Their evident ambitions are what make SUMMER SCHOOL stand out.
The DVD package is pretty ambitious too; the menu is the best I’ve seen in some time, and the disc is bursting at the seams with special features. The feature comes with a trio of audio commentaries, by the cast, the crew and members of Random Creatureface, the team who produced SUMMER SCHOOL. The latter is the most intriguing of the three tracks, featuring the most detailed exploration of the production. The other two are fairly interesting, with decent anecdotes on each, but overall could be skipped without missing much.
The deleted-scenes section features footage for unfinished nightmares omitted from the movie, and the concepts behind them are more intriguing than these actual clips. Another trimmed bit is an extended version of some key comedic dialogue between Steve and Dennis, which is actually funnier and works better in this form. The behind-the-scenes featurette leaves a lot to be desired, as it’s mainly a brief montage of on-set video set to music. The best supplement is an assortment of short films by SUMMER SCHOOL’s individual directors, which demonstrate the same style and “thinking big” mindset as the feature and are all worth checking out.
SUMMER SCHOOL is good, not great, and together with its DVD extras hints that its creators will only get better and fix the missteps of this feature in upcoming projects. What the movie succeeds at more than anything else is getting one excited about what these guys will do next, and I’d love to see what they can accomplish with the experience they gained here and a hopefully bigger budget.
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