Hello! If you are unaware, Freeform (formerly ABC Family) has released a new horror series called Dead of Summer. I was told by two people that it was supposed to be good and my sister was going to record it anyway, so I decided to watch it. AND I COMPLETELY LOVED IT. This is the first horror TV series that I have watched and it was pretty dang good. As an opening episode I would give this a 95% on my scale. It was deliciously creepy and I definitely recommend you check this out.
That is the end of the non-spoilery section, so if you haven’t seen this show, you should leave or you will get spoiled for the events of this premiere episode. If you have seen this episode, keep reading and we can discuss it!
** SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS EPISODE, DO NOT READ ANY OTHER PART OF THIS REVIEW**
Characters:
Amy Hughes: She’s the new girl to the camp who has a tragic backstory and she is the main focus of this episode. Her best friend who was supposed to come to camp with her died. Demonic spirits seem to be latching onto her pain and are terrorizing her.
Joel Goodson: He is super friendly and is always video taping everyone. He is just an all around good guy who is freaked out because he’s been seeing the demonic spirits. He does seem to be developing a crush on the camp director, Deb.
Alex Powell: He is very friendly and he is definitely flirting with Amy throughout most of the episode. He is kind enough that when she says no, he will still be friends with her. He is one of the only people at camp who is genuinely nice to her.
Carolina Diaz: She is the only girl who seems to be trying to be friends with Amy. She has issues with Jessie because they stopped talking after camp and Jessie won’t talk to her now.
Blair Ramos: He is gay. He is as queer as they come and he flirts with any guy he sees. It is actually pretty comical because it is usually at completely inappropriate times.
Jessie Tyler: Right now, I don’t like her. She is very territorial and possessive. She’s the jealous type. She is very flirty, a bit obnoxious, and the popular girl. As of right now, I can’t stand her.
Drew Reeves: He is the mystery. He is actually transgender, as it is revealed that Drew wears female underclothes. He doesn’t talk to anyone. We don’t really know him at all. More things relating to Drew will come to light as the series progresses, I suppose.
Garrett Sykes: He is the deputy we see throughout most of the episode. He really wants to find out what is going on at the camp. He used to go there himself. He is really caring and wants to figure out what the hell is scaring Amy. He was one of my favorite characters.
Blotter: He is a character who seems to be a bit of a comedian. We don’t see much of him this episode, nothing super significant, so hopefully we will get to know him better with the next episode.
Deb Carpenter: she is the camp director and owner. She may have some interest in Joel and her wanting to get the camp up and running may possibly contain a sinister motive. I don’t trust her at all.
Plot:
In this first episode, we follow Amy Hughes, a girl who is one of 8 camp counselors at Camp Stillwater, a camp that was shut down a few years before. Throughout this episode, we get flashbacks from when Amy moved to a new school and ended up becoming friends with the most popular girl in school who starts out being your typical mean girl, but we see how they grow to be very close until one night when the police show up at a party they are at, her best friend, Margot, panics and climbs out of the window. She does miscalculate how far up the window is and despite Amy’s efforts to pull her back inside, she ends up falling through Amy’s grasp and falling onto the pavement. She is dead.
In the present day world, strange things are happening when Amy is counselor. The gardener warns her to leave camp. He appears to be threatening her. And then he ends up dead. A deer shows up in the forest gutted, killed. A body rises to the surface in the lake. Amy befriends a deputy and they investigate the gardener’s house and find a hidden room full of satanic items, including bones, human bones. While they are inside, it is set on fire and they both barely make it out alive.
Also, periodically throughout this episode, we see spirits that appear demonic in nature.
At one point, Amy ends up having this full on break down and it appears she is being attacked by one of these spirits, but only she can see this spirit when she is with one of the other counselors, Alex, who is interested in her and tried to kiss her. She tells the deputy everything about Margot.
One of the counselors, Joel, videotapes everything and sees these spirits hanging around Amy and throughout the camp. He sees the owner, a suspicious lady that I do not trust for a second, doing things pretty suspiciously in her home.
Throughout this episode, we see the various interactions between the characters and learn more about them. They all (except for Amy) know each other because they used to camp there. We get to know the characters throughout the episode, like who is flirty and friendly, who is the jealous kind, who flirts with anything that breathes, and there is also diversity with one gay character and one transgender character. There is one character named Drew who never talks, always has their hair in their eyes, and dresses like a guy, so naturally everyone thinks Drew is a guy. It is revealed towards the end of the episode that Drew is actually transgender and wears female underclothes.
The episode ends with everyone jumping into the lake and us finding out that Braces is Jessie and Townie is Deputy Sykes and they had a thing going on back when they went to camp together and apparently they still have chemistry. Deb, the owner, also opens the box she dug up earlier in the episode and when Joel is outside her window video taping, she violently closes the curtains. Whatever is in that box cannot be good…There is blood seen in the lake and when the kids are watching Joel’s video, they stop it to help get the camp ready for opening and the paused image shows a man, a spirit, standing on the pier.
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this episode. It was a fabulous start to a show, though I was a bit confused at first just with all the flashbacks until towards the end everything started making sense. I don’t really have a favorite character right now, but based on acting performance, I am really enjoying Amy’s character. All of the spirits were deliciously creepy. I really loved the writing. Nothing seemed cliched or cheesy. I loved how this show made me jump and as much as the elements and events of the story did creep me out, I did not feel the need to hide my face or stop watching. This is definitely the main reason this episode got a 95% from me and I am looking forward to episode 2!
What was your favorite part of this episode? Comment down below. I would love to know. The part where she broke down and explained everything to the deputy really touched my heart and made me sad, so that was probably my favorite part. And that is going to be it for this review today. Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you next time.
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