Reviewed by Justin Bateman
Stars Kevin Howarth, Ciaran Joyce, Amy Harvey, Darren Evans, Jonathan Jones, Chris Conway, Ryan Conway
Produced by Sabina Sattar & Mike Tims
Written by Al Wilson & Julian Richards
Certification UK 15
Runtime 78 minutes
Directed by Julian Richards
Once upon a time, a group of teenagers going to the woods to misbehave was the prologue to a classic horror flick. To a certain extent it still is but the difference is that recently, in films such as Eden Lake and The Children, it has more often been the adults who are the victims. In Julian Richards’ Summer Scars, the kids are once more on the receiving end of a terrifying ordeal.
After stealing a moped (how British is that?!), six truanting children meet up at their camp in the local woods to spend the day doing anything other than attend school. But before long, their day takes a turn for the worse when two of them crash into Peter (Howarth) before running off. Peter soon appears at the camp, unhurt and seemingly keen to befriend the children. He gains their trust by playing games with them but without warning his mood changes, causing the children to fear for their safety. And rightly so, because Peter soon pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot anyone who leaves.
Old enough to realise they are in serious trouble but too young to feel they can do anything about it, the kids are caught in no-man’s land, both literally and metaphorically. Without resorting to clichéd scare tactics – the entire story plays out in daylight for a start – Julian Richards creates an unsettling atmosphere to rival any number of so-called ‘scary’ movies simply by having Peter manipulate the children’s paucity of emotional and life experience before eventually moving into altogether more sinister territory.
While Summer Scars lacks a bit dramatically, it is sufficiently believable to be interesting throughout. The characters are engaging, the dialogue realistic and at times funny, and the child actors fulfil their roles expertly. Meanwhile, Howarth is by turns avuncular and frothing-at-the-mouth crazy, but never over the top. Overall, it’s a decent, low-budget film which provides a cautionary tale to children everywhere – don’t talk to strangers.