HELL OF A SUMMER

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens with two camp managers, John and Kathy (Adam Pally and Rosebud Baker), sitting by a campfire and playing songs. Kathy steps away for a few minutes, and comes back to find that John has been killed by having the guitar handle jammed down his throat. Kathy tries to run and escape, but she gets a knife through her head before she can drive away. The culprit sits in the car behind her, wearing a mask.

The next day, Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger) is being dropped off by his mom Maggie (Susan Coyne) at Camp Pineway, a place where Jason has been going to camp for years and is now “camp leader” at 24. Maggie thinks that Jason should be serious about getting a “real” job, but Jason insists that the job is real and that it’s something he wants to do since he was hired by John and Kathy for the position.

Jason waits as the other counselors arrive. There’s the popular “hot” couple, Demi (Pardis Saremi) and Mike (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), best friends Chris (Finn Wolfhard) and Bobby (Billy Bryk), theater kid Ezra (Matthew Finlan), socially awkward Ari (Daniel Gravelle), vegan Miley (Julia Doyle), pagan girl Noelle (Julia Lalonde), Chris’s crush Shannon (Krista Nazaire), and Jason’s longtime friend Claire (Abby Quinn). Bobby is desperate to get laid, despite him being too afraid to put himself out there. Claire also thinks that Jason should think about a future beyond Pineway.

The counselors spend the afternoon goofing off, getting high and drunk, and Bobby makes failed attempts to get attention. Jason also shows Claire how to improve her archery skills. When the night comes, the masked killer from earlier goes into Demi’s room and appears to beat her to death. Not long after, Miley sneaks into the kitchen to eat a burger, when she is attacked by the killer as well. Mike is found and attacked too.

Jason later goes into Demi’s bunk to find her blood-stained body. He runs back to the other counselors but they think he is just being overdramatic. They follow him to the bunk, where Demi’s body is gone, but Noelle confirms that the blood on the bed belongs to Demi. The counselors start to freak out and draw cards to find out where the missing counselors are. Jason, Ezra, and Ari go out and go to the kitchen, where they find Miley’s severed head in the fridge. Ezra and Ari run away, while Jason runs back to the cabin to be with Claire.

Noelle conducts a seance using a ouija board to try and communicate with the spirits of the deceased. Bobby is offended because he thinks the killer is specifically targeting “hot” counselors and is mad that Mike was picked over him. Ezra runs in and gets maced by a paranoid Bobby, while Ari gets caught by the killer and has his peanut allergy used against him when the killer dips the knife in peanut butter. Meanwhile, Ezra convinces the other counselors, except for Claire, that Jason must be the killer since he’s a weird older guy who still goes to summer camp. They tie Jason up and try to go find help.

Noelle gets found by the killer and is stabbed and bludgeoned to death. It turns out there are two killers, and they happen to be DEMI AND MIKE. Their motive is just wanting to become famous, and they are annoyed that Jason is going to take the heat for the murders, but they think they can turn the narrative around by being a hot couple that survived a murder spree. They simply resolve to kill the rest of the counselors first.

Claire brains Bobby with a fire extinguisher and frees Jason so they can escape. While they run through the woods, they find the bodies of John and Kathy. Jason wants to try and help the other counselors, even though Claire says they are assholes who accused him of being the killer, but Jason thinks he has to really step up as “camp leader”.

Demi and Mike reveal themselves to be alive, pretending they were hiding from the killer. Chris, Shannon, and Ezra are hanging out when one of the killers comes out to kill Ezra with an axe to the head onstage. Bobby tries to find Chris, but he ran back inside to save Shannon. She ends up going back alone to try and save Chris. Meanwhile, Jason is knocked out and captured by Demi, who rants to him about her whole spiel and motive for becoming a killer.

Bobby and Claire quickly find out that Mike is the other killer. Claire runs to save Jason while Bobby has to deal with Mike. After a brief fight, Bobby swipes Mike’s pocket knife and stabs him in the neck with it while the cabin starts to go up in flames. Claire finds Jason and Demi while aiming a bow and arrow at Demi, who has a knife at Jason’s throat. He reminds Demi of her earlier training by disguising it as motivational words (“Push forward, let go”), and she shoots an arrow into Demi’s eye. Claire frees Jason, and Demi tries one last attack until Claire kicks the arrow deeper into Demi’s head, finally killing her.

As the sun begins to rise, Jason helps Bobby patch up a minor stab wound he sustained, while Chris and Shannon (who agree to take things slow) join him. Jason and Claire sit by the lake, where Jason says he is ready to move on from Camp Pineway. The two of them then share their first kiss.

Jason Hochberg is 24 years old and starting another year at Camp Pineway, this time as an assigned leader of the counselors. The other counselors - which include Jason's friend Claire, plus Demi, Mike, Chris, Bobby, Shannon, Ezra, Ari, Miley, and Noelle - arrive and do not take Jason seriously. Meanwhile, a serial killer is stalking the grounds after already killing managers John and Kathy.

Demi is the first victim, while Miley gets her head chopped off, and Mike also disappears. After finding Miley's head, Ezra convinces the others that Jason must be the killer, being an older guy who suddenly snapped. The others, except Claire, believe him and tie Jason up. After Noelle and Ari are killed, it is revealed that Demi and Mike were the killers all along, having orchestrated the murders for the sole purpose of becoming famous. They think that pinning the murders on Jason and coming out as the hot couple that survived a serial killer will make them more famous.

Claire helps Jason get free before Ezra is killed off. Demi and Mike are found out, and Demi captures Jason after he goes back to help the others. Bobby fights Mike and kills him while Claire saves Jason by firing an arrow at Demi's head.

Jason decides to move on from Camp Pineway and start a relationship with Claire, while Chris, Bobby, and Shannon also survive, and Chris and Shannon get into a relationship