(Spoilers) One of the several derivations of this movie is clearly the superior "The Boys Club" (Canada,1997), in which three somewhat younger boys, about 14, encounter in the woods a wounded man who manipulates them in brutal fashion similar to Summer Scars through lies and flattery. In the process of derivation, however, the director of "Summer Scars" has lost the original's tightness of story -- in fact there is almost no plot development and little character development. (At one point, one hopes the director is creating a character in crippled Ben whom we can cheer for, but inexplicably, he wastes the opportunity, choosing instead to plod ahead with his predictable agenda of mild sensationalism.) Thirdly he has neglected to cast, or could not afford, child actors with adequate experience, which results, among other things, in the greater part of the dialog among the children being indecipherable. On the DVD, this is complicated by the fact that there are no subtitles. The viewer might wonder if there are no subtitles because no one can figure out in fact what was actually being said.
In the case of derivative movies, one would hope to introduce improvements over the original, not defects.
In the case of derivative movies, one would hope to introduce improvements over the original, not defects.