Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff talks with the cast of Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s Hell of a Summer.

Watch D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Abby Quinn, and Pardis Saremi pick which of their co-stars could actually survive a slasher movie scenario.

The trio also gets into some killer spoilers, marked for audience safety, at the end!

It’s tough making it to the end of a slasher movie, and Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s directorial debut, Hell of a Summer, doesn’t pull any classic punches. In fact, according to castmates D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Abby Quinn, and Pardis Saremi, this campsite horror has fresh new kills in store for its stacked young ensemble.
In the movie, 24-year-old Jason (Fred Hechinger) returns to his beloved Camp Pineway in a self-proclaimed mentor role to a group of counselors — Chris (Wolfhard), Bobby (Bryk), Demi (Saremi), Claire (Quinn), Mike (Woon-A-Tai), Ezra (Matthew Finlan), Ari (Daniel Gravelle), Miley (Julia Doyle), Noelle (Julia Lalonde), and Shannon (Krista Nazaire). While preparing for the campers arrival, however, the group discovers there’s a killer on the loose, threatening to pick them all off one by one.
While chatting with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Woon-A-Tai, Quinn, and Saremi talk about the real-life camp vibes they shared during production and play a slasher movie superlative game where they get candid about who would die first, who would sacrifice themselves for the greater good, and tons more! For the full game and killer Hell of a Summer spoilers (clearly marked, of course), check out the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below.
Filming ‘Hell of a Summer’ Was Like Going to Summer Camp

“It was like the best day of my life.”

PERRI NEMIROFF: The first question I had for you all is about the ensemble, because with a movie like this, it feels absolutely vital to have a pitch-perfect group of actors, and I feel like, in the finished product, I see that here. For each of you, do you remember the first moment on this set when you were able to stop, look around at everyone and go, “This is the right vibe. We are the perfect group for this movie?”
PARDIS SAREMI: I feel like the first night when we got to the house. We were talking about it earlier. Billy [Bryk] busted out a box that his sister had put together of bracelets and phone charms stuff, and we all sat around the dining table and made phone charms, and it was so cute. I was like, “This is going to be really cute and really fun.”
D’PHARAOH WOON-A-TAI: I think the [lake] scene, honestly. We were all having fun at the lake, and we were playing on the lake, all having fun. Some of us were jumping off the slides. We were all arguing who’s going to go on the slide first, who wants to just chill on the dock, not trying to get wet. That made me realize, “This is such a great group that we have,” because a lot of them, we weren’t even acting. We were just generally having fun at the lake that day. The campfire scene where we’re all just huddled together telling stories, that was a lot of fun, too. We really have all of us together in one room, and having all of us together, everybody’s on point, everybody’s acting. It was a beautiful experience.
ABBY QUINN: I would say there was a day, maybe like after the first week of filming, when we all were in the pool at the hotel and we were all playing Marco Polo for probably, like, five hours and eating pie. It was like the best day of my life. I literally think top five. Sometimes I just look back at pictures from that day, and I’m like, “That was the best.”
WOON-A-TAI: Yeah, that was a fun day.
QUINN: There was a slide, right? Am I making that up?
WOON-A-TAI: No, there was a slide. It was, like, yellow or some shit.
QUINN: Yes! It was so fun.
The fact that you made a camp movie and all these activities have such camp vibes, it makes all the sense in the world.

Image via Neon

Something I’ve been hearing a little bit about is the location you all filmed at, and I just love detail on sets, even if we don’t get to spend a lot of time seeing it in the actual movie. Whether it was something practical in that location or maybe a tiny piece of set dressing, is there any little detail in the camp set that you really dug?
WOON-A-TAI: The cabins! Honestly, the cabin. They were cute cabins. If I remember correctly, they were colorful a little bit, if I’m not mistaken. They were just so cute. I’ve never been to camp, so that was my first time on a real campground like that, exploring it and just picturing that your buddies would all chill in there together. They supposedly put tape on the door to make sure you guys don’t leave. I always just imagined that type of stuff. [Laughs] There was even talk of us going to sleep in the little thing. I don’t think any of us did it. We were completely fine being in a hotel, but you know.
QUINN: Yes, I remember that being an idea that we would all actually sleep in the cabins.
WOON-A-TAI: I don’t think we did it, though. Maybe some of us did, but I enjoyed my bed.
Which ‘Hell of a Summer’ Star Is Surviving a Slasher Movie?

Finn Wolfhard is most likely to save his castmates — if Fred and Billy do it first!

Image via Neon

I love playing this game. I haven’t played it in a little while. It’s a slasher movie superlative game. I’ve got a list of descriptions of things that often happen in horror movies, and I want you to tell me which actor in the Hell of a Summer ensemble best suits this description. The first one on my list today is, who is the most likely to not even realize that they’re in a horror movie, go and investigate a strange noise, and basically be the first one to go?
WOON-A-TAI: Me! Me, honestly. I would be dumb enough to think I’m not even in a horror movie. I would untie my shoelace, trip over a fucking branch. You know what I mean? [Laughs] Like, that would be me right there. Like in Cabin in the Woods, the little fucking shit with the horns on the wall? I would be too focused on that, wondering if there’s a killer behind me.
SAREMI: I’ll support that without throwing you under. I’ll say [your character] Mike!
WOON-A-TAI: Yeah, give me some credit. Give me some shine!
Here’s a more flattering one for you. Who is the most likely to sacrifice themselves for the others?
SAREMI: Maybe Billy.
WOON-A-TAI: I would actually say Billy, too. Or Fred [Hechinger]. Fred is such a good guy.
SAREMI: Fred!
QUINN: Fred, Billy, and Finn [Wolfhard]. Fred would do it immediately.
WOON-A-TAI: Yes. Billy, you’d probably have to push him a little bit, but he would go.
SAREMI: Finn would do it because Fred and Billy do it.

Image via Neon

Alright, here’s the next one. Who is the most likely to be the first to figure everything out and give the group the best chance of surviving?
SAREMI: Matthew [Finlan]?
WOON-A-TAI: Matthew. 100%, Matthew.
SAREMI: Abby.
WOON-A-TAI: Abby, too. Yes! I would see that, too. Yes. You know in Cabin in the Woods where that stoner guy’s, like, seeing shit all the time? You guys would be the stoner guys. I can totally see that.
QUINN: I’m flattered. I don’t even identify that way, but that’s great.

High honors right there. Who would be the most likely to be the last one left standing?
WOON-A-TAI: Oh, damn.
SAREMI: We said Krista [Nazaire].
WOON-A-TAI: We did say Krista.
SAREMI: Or Julia Doyle.
QUINN: Doyle. She would be at the Jazz Fest. You remember?
SAREMI: She would just leave. [Laughs] She’d be like, “I’m going to go do something better.”
That’s the smartest move in the group there. I’ll bring it all full circle with this one. Who is the most likely to be the one that everybody thinks is dead, but is actually alive and comes back at the last possible second to save the day?
WOON-A-TAI: Whoa!

Related

Finn Wolfhard Talks ‘Hell of a Summer’s Gore & Making His Directorial Debut at TIFF 2023

Co-director Billy Bryk and stars Abby Quinn and Fred Hechinger join to talk about balancing horror with humor and their favorite scenes to film.

D’Pharaoh, this is a layup! This is where you’re like, “I’m not the first one to go, and I come back and save the day!”
WOON-A-TAI: Right. Because I’ll probably be sleeping if that was the case. If I was the one left, it would not be for my logic. It would be because I was probably sleeping through all those murders, and I just happened to wake up. I don’t know. What do you guys think?
SAREMI: Maybe Daniel [Gravelle].
WOON-A-TAI: Daniel, yes. I could see Daniel doing that. He’s very smart guy. Smart guy.
QUINN: Who was the heaviest sleeper? Because I think you’re right on the money with that. Whoever’s sleeping the longest would just sleep through.
SAREMI: That might have been me. [Laughs]
QUINN: Maybe Pardis!
[Editor’s Note: The rest of this interview contains MAJOR spoilers for Hell of a Summer]
The Kills in ‘Hell of a Summer’ Are Unlike Other Horror Movies

“I just wanted to have fun with it and come up with my own idea.”

Image via Neon

D’Pharaoh, Pardis, you get the highest honors in a slasher movie. You’re the killers! When you found out that your characters were the killers, did you look at any past slasher movie killers for inspiration, and if so, who did you look at?

WOON-A-TAI: Can I just say quickly, the fact that you just said the whole spoiler alert and come back to it, I’m that kid watching it. I’ve never been on the opposite end, being like, “Oh, I know the spoilers!” You know what I mean? I’m like, “Ah, bitch, I’ve gotta pause this shit now,” you know what I mean? [Laughs] But I just want to clarify, that was so cool, a cool moment for me.
With me specifically, these kills are so different, especially that kill with Daniel in the peanut butter scene. I couldn’t really connect anything else, in my opinion, or at least that I’ve seen, that was similar to the deaths that we’ve experienced. I wanted to be behind the mask as much as I could, and sometimes there would be a stunt guy doing it, but I wanted to be behind it as much as I could. But to answer your question, no. I think I just wanted to have fun with it and come up with my own idea, and play our dance we created with it. I just wanted to build my own image of this killer.
SAREMI: I didn’t watch anything. I think for my references, I wanted to make sure I was channeling more mean girl energy than anything else. I wanted to be, like, so self-absorbed, just like she’s in her own world. She does not give a shit about anybody. That felt like the most authentic portrayal to me, more so than playing into the horror. Just being this, like, obscenely selfish person that’s so into her own thing, and that’s fun in itself.
Hell of a Summer is in theaters now.

Get Tickets