Summer Scars

In Summer Scars, some British kids skip school and wreak havoc about the town. Two of them steal a scooter from an old lady. Another of their friends carries his paraplegic brother into the woods with them. They hang out in the woods at a fort they’ve built and just have a good time during the summer. Two of them take off on the scooter and end up hitting a random guy in the woods.

The guy has lost his dog, and the kids decide they’ll help him track down his dog (named Jesus). The random guy’s name is Peter and he ends up pairing up with one of the kids named Paul (sense a theme here?). Two skater kids show up and start harassing the school-skipping kids. Peter whips out a gun and runs off the skaters, but the other kids are a little weirded-out by the gun. Peter gets a little creep-show on the kids and talks about them joining his “army.” Then Peter tells the kids to beat him up and when they get too rough, he starts handing out an ass-whoopin’. One of the kids tries to run away and Peter captures him; while capturing the one kid, another runs away. The hunt begins again.

The guy says the police will be here soon and continues to be creepy with things he does and says (including leading them in a random prayer from out of nowhere). Then he forces Paul to drop trou and show the girl the hair on his balls—I told you it was weird. Then he tries to get the girl to show him hers, by showing her his. The one kid that ran away shows back up with a gun he stole from his father and shoots Peter. The kids leave the guy in the woods (after the y remember to go back and pick up the paraplegic brother) and the movie ends.

This movie had potential to really be interesting if they would have put in some sort of plot twist or not let it fizzle at the end. I was really surprised when I saw the credits rolling. Then, during the credits, there’s a cell phone ringing and you see Peter’s bloody hand—but nothing happens. It completely fizzled, like they ran out of money and had to wrap up the film as tightly—and boring-ly (is that a word?)—as possible. The film was shot well (with the exception of the scooter-riding scenes) and had good tension, music, and acting. But it simply didn’t go anywhere, which is unfortunate. Kind of an anti-climactic let-down. True story or not, if it’s not actually interesting, why make a movie about it?