This Underrated 2025 Horror Comedy Has a Surprising 'Stranger Things' Connection

Nearly a decade ago, Finn Wolfhard had his breakout role as Mike Wheeler on Stranger Things.

Those Hawkins kids grow up so fast, the next thing you know, they’re adopting children or directing their own films.

Wolfhard went in the latter direction with Hell of a Summer, a horror comedy that had a brief theatrical debut earlier this year.

Although it would have been appropriate for the film to stream on Netflix, Hell of a Summer is now streaming on Hulu, and Watch With Us is sharing the three reasons you need to watch it.

The Cast Has an Intriguing Mixture of Personalities

Wolfhard and Billy Bryk cowrote and codirected Hell of a Summer after meeting on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife years ago. Naturally, they gave themselves roles in their first collaboration, but they also had the restraint to give the leading part to someone else. Instead, that honor falls to Fred Hechinger, who plays 24-year-old camp counselor Jason Hochberg. Jason’s a dork of the highest order, and most of the other counselors mock him for being so enthusiastic about the camp.

Bryk has one of the funniest secondary roles in the film as a sexually frustrated teenager named Bobby. The movie never lets Bobby forget that girls aren’t very attracted to him. Wolfhard has a less showy role as Chris, another counselor at the camp. Most of the cast members look and sound like they stepped out of the horror tropes of the ’70s and ’80s, but that’s one of the reasons why this film works so well. It’s a parody of Friday the 13th and every other horror movie involving a summer camp.

‘Hell of a Summer’ Is Genuinely Funny

The real surprise of Hell of a Summer is how funny it is. Bryk may have given himself most of the funny lines, but this film works because its ensemble knows how to get a laugh out of the bleakest scenes. Hell of a Summer isn’t meant to be taken too seriously; it’s just serious enough that it doesn’t lose the stakes of the story because of all of the laughter.

Hechinger also displays a lot of comedic chops as Jason. But the biggest humor moments in this film come during the various kills performed by the murderer. They’re brutally funny kills, and the film’s characters have a different response to each one.

This Feels Like a Starter Horror Film For New Fans

The downside of being so funny is that Hell of a Summer‘s humor completely overpowers the horror. Some of the kills are startling, but never really scary. If this film didn’t have an R-rating, it could have been about as family-friendly as it gets.

There’s too much blood, guts, profanity and sexually suggestive dialogue for this movie to get down to a PG-13 rating. But if there’s a budding horror fan in your family who can’t quite take the more serious genre movies, then Hell of a Summer is the best time to start.

Hell of a Summer is streaming on Hulu.