Summer Scars

Plot

Six youths ditch school for the woods where some hot rodding on a stolen moped changes the fate of their day. They crash into Peter, a dishevelled drifter, who is delighted to have a group of teens to hang out with. First he gains their trust by joining in their games but then his behaviour changes. Peter uses what he has learned about the kids against them, bullying the alpha boys, belittling the weaker ones and saving his worst for the only girl in the group. Realising too late they are being held hostage the kids are forced to embrace the dark side of human nature in order to survive the ordeal.

Cast

Release

The film had a limited UK theatrical release in 2009 by the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in their screening season for New British Cinema. In 2008, Summer Scars was released on DVD in North America by TLA Releasing on their Danger After Dark label. In 2009, the film was released on DVD in the UK by Soda Pictures. Other DVD distributors include MIG Film GmbH (German speaking Europe), MCF Megacom (Former Yugoslavia), Wide Pictures (Spain), Sahamongkol Film International (Thailand) and Viswas (India)

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 70% of ten surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.6/10. The sites consensus reads: "This low budget British psycho-thriller packs plenty of atmospheric tension and suspense into its slender running time." Summer Scars has been linked with other, roughly contemporaneous, films that deal with concerns over "Broken Britain" and a fear of "hoodies", including Harry Brown, Eden Lake, The Disappeared, Outlaw, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael and Heartless.

Kurt Dahlke of DVD Talk rated it 4/5 stars and called it "lean, mean, disturbing and deftly crafted". Josh Winning of Total Film rated it 3/5 stars and called it a "bare-boned tween nightmare" that is a combination of Stand by Me and Eden Lake. Nigel Floyd of Time Out London rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "An inexperienced cast dont always make the most of a slippery, unsettling script". Andrew Pulver of The Guardian rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "Theres not much to recommend in this putative hoodie horror from Julian Richards, which takes the inverse position to Eden Lake."

Awards