SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

drpakmanrains As another reviewer stated, "Summer Scars" is nearly identical in theme and mood to "The Boys Club", a little known but far superior Canadian film from 1997 about a small group of rather tough acting adolescent boys who encounter a stranger, who at first seems very cool to them, earning their admiration, but in reality turns out to be extremely dangerous, and puts them in a situation where they realize they are in way over their heads. The problem with this film is that the stranger's motivation is never explained or fleshed out, so we are left to guess if he is just a psycho-drifter. The running time is less than 70 minutes, so while it moves along, there is not enough time spent on the increasing danger or the climax, which leaves the viewer with a letdown feeling. The performances are mostly good, and the script (often undecipherable due to heavy Welsh accents) is believable. Unfortunately, none of the kids are very likable, although a couple are decent. OK as a rental, but as a DVD to add to your collection, probably not. Rent "The Boys Club" first if you can't decide.

movieman_kev A group of rebellious kids find themselves in over their heads when one of their gang accidentally hits a man with the bike they stole. The man, Peter (Kevin Howarth, The Last Horror Film, Razor Blade Smile) at first seeming friendly to the gang, has more sinister motivations.I found myself engaged with the film up to a point and Howarth brings a fairly good performance, but the kids, as hooligans, aren't really that likable (not to say that the situation they find themselves in isn't tense, it is) But that coupled with an ending that seemed rushed and a tad bit anti-climatic made the film seem less then the sum of it's parts. Sadly this one is a well-intentioned misfire.My Grade: C- DVD Extras: Director's commentary; A 30 minute Making-of feature; Stills gallery; Original trailer for this film; and trailers for "Dante's Inferno", "Hell's Ground", "Pistoleros", & "the Living and the Gead"

dschmeding The basic premise of a gang of teenagers acting tough and being confronted with real life violence that is the main outline for "Summer Scars" could be interesting for a psychological thriller. We had the subject in movies like Eden Lake where it got carried over the top or in Stuck with the gangsta who shits his pants when having to put his tough words to work. "Summer scars" rather starts out like a modern version of "stand by me" with a group of youngsters going to the woods to have fun with a stolen moped and some beers. The gang is introduced with 5 guys and a girl having some bullying issues, one guy having a crush on the girl and 2 brothers of which 1 is paralyzed and carried into the woods without his wheelchair. 2 of them drive through the woods and hit a guy with their moped who soon meets the gang and introduces himself as Peter. He isn't angry about the hit-and-round and tries to make friends with the group but after some mindless fun his face starts to change. From here on this could have worked out to be a psychological chiller since Peter is unpredictable and unstable. At first he shows the gang tricks, then he plays mind games trying to turn them on each other. But he obviously has issues himself, wears a pellet gun and talks about the army, gets headaches and soon threatens the gang. All this just turns out leading absolutely nowhere... the mind-games are half-hearted, we never get to know why Peter acts so strange and back stories like the 2 brothers and the story behind the 1 getting into the accident that paralyzed him are picked up and dropped while you expect it to be implemented in Peters mind games with the kids. And pretty much everything works out like that... it all just seems an incoherent mess that ends in a silly way like "stand by me". I couldn't pull any message or experience out of all this which leaves this as a real low budget movie shot one a cheap one location somewhere in the woods. I think the actors did a good job but I will have forgotten about all this within a week because the story is just way to tame and bouncing around from left to right with barely any real tension building after Peter turns out to be a little psycho.

dekalog666 This new feature from Julian Richards the director of THE LAST HORROR MOVIE boasts another 'volcanic' performance by Kevin Howarth. It would spoil the fun of SUMMER SCARS to reveal what exactly happens, but this morality tale, which takes place entirely in a forest, is an unsettling film about abuse, mental, emotional and physical. This is a film that has resonance with a youth crime phenomenon in Britain. As knife crime dominates London and teen suicide dominates Wales, the best screen villains are now not serial killers or zombies but contemporary British youth (although In SUMMER SCARS the teens are more anti-hero than villain).The irony, of course, is that SUMMER SCARS works precisely because of this social context, and not despite it. It is beautifully shot and intensely acted, and it's queasy approach to youth culture gives it a fascinating attraction. We've had troubled youth movies in the past, everything from BULLY to MEAN CREEK, but this bold marriage of topicality and slick genre formatting is startling and defiantly un-Hollywood.