Summer Scars

Film Review by Matthew Arnoldi | 26 May 2009
Film title: Summer Scars
Director: Julian Richards
Starring: Kevin Haworth, Ciaran Joyce, Amy Harvey, Jonathan Jones
Release date: 6 June 2009
Certificate: 15

If you go down to the woods today, be sure to watch out for nasty surprises. Julian Richards’ semi-autobiographical award-winning horror tale has been aptly coined as Stand By Me meets Deliverance and Eden Lake as it charts the story of six 14-year-olds who bunk off school, steal a moped and head into the woods to drink beer, only to meet an adult stranger Peter (Haworth) who ingratiates himself with them. Bad move guys. There are some good plot devices; one teen is disabled and just one of the gang is a girl – it will affect the group dynamics and more importantly, their chances of survival. With a 73 minute running time, this is taut, dark, edge of your seat menace with a pivotal performance from Kevin Haworth which has echoes of Paddy Considine’s similarly riveting creation of a troubled adult in Shane Meadows’ Room for Romeo Brass. A salutary rites-of-passage tale with a bravely unorthodox ending.