Summer Scars (2007)

A group of teens are faced with a life-changing experience when they meet a deranged drifter.

Director:

Julian Richards

Writers:

Julian Richards (idea), Al Wilson

Stars:

Kevin Howarth, Ciaran Joyce, Amy Harvey

7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Howarth	...	Peter
Ciaran Joyce	...	Bingo
Amy Harvey	...	Leanne
Jonathan Jones	...	Paul
Darren Evans	...	Jonesy
Christopher Conway	...	Ben (as Chris Conway)
Ryan Conway	...	Mugsey
Ben Hanson	...	Dean
Chole Parfitt	...	Scott
Patricia Marsh	...	Moped Lady
Noreen Weekley	...	Shopping Lady
Alex Dando	...	Kid on Bus
Kate Williams	...	Kid on Bus
Michael Taylor	...	Kid on Bus
Christie Saunders	...	Kid on Bus

Storyline

Half a dozen lower-class Welsh kids in their mid- to late-teens ditch school to go joyriding in the woods. There, they befriend a lone enigmatic man who while at first, seems friendly, starts showing signs of hostility. Manipulating and bullying the children.

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Plot Keywords:

woods | bullying | wrongful imprisonment | teenage boy | suspense | 

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Taglines:

Their innocence is their downfall

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 June 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

A nyár sebei

Filming Locations:

South Wales, Wales, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Prolific Films, Forget About It Films, Arts Council of Wales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min 73 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Pretty disappointing

The basic premise of a gang of teenagers acting tough and being confronted with real life violence that is the main outline for "Summer Scars" could be interesting for a psychological thriller. We had the subject in movies like Eden Lake where it got carried over the top or in Stuck with the gangsta who shits his pants when having to put his tough words to work. "Summer scars" rather starts out like a modern version of "stand by me" with a group of youngsters going to the woods to have fun with a stolen moped and some beers. The gang is introduced with 5 guys and a girl having some bullying issues, one guy having a crush on the girl and 2 brothers of which 1 is paralyzed and carried into the woods without his wheelchair. 2 of them drive through the woods and hit a guy with their moped who soon meets the gang and introduces himself as Peter. He isn't angry about the hit-and-round and tries to make friends with the group but after some mindless fun his face starts to change. From here on this could have worked out to be a psychological chiller since Peter is unpredictable and unstable. At first he shows the gang tricks, then he plays mind games trying to turn them on each other. But he obviously has issues himself, wears a pellet gun and talks about the army, gets headaches and soon threatens the gang. All this just turns out leading absolutely nowhere... the mind-games are half-hearted, we never get to know why Peter acts so strange and back stories like the 2 brothers and the story behind the 1 getting into the accident that paralyzed him are picked up and dropped while you expect it to be implemented in Peters mind games with the kids. And pretty much everything works out like that... it all just seems an incoherent mess that ends in a silly way like "stand by me". I couldn't pull any message or experience out of all this which leaves this as a real low budget movie shot one a cheap one location somewhere in the woods. I think the actors did a good job but I will have forgotten about all this within a week because the story is just way to tame and bouncing around from left to right with barely any real tension building after Peter turns out to be a little psycho.