'Stranger Things' star Finn Wolfhard, co-writes, co-directs film 'Hell of a Summer'

Finn Wolfhard effectively has spent his teen years into his early adulthood in the upside-down world of “Stranger Things,” the monster Netflix series that shepherded the world into streaming. The show wrapped filming at the end of 2024, with the final season set to debut later this year.

Wolfhard, now 22, is well aware that fans and journalists will be asking him about “Stranger Things” for many years to come.

“I’m legitimately at peace with it,” said Wolfhard in a Zoom call promoting a film he co-directed, co-produced and co-starred in called “Hell of a Summer,” out in theaters now. “Last year, I was thinking as we were shooting the last season, ‘I don’t care if I’m going to be that kid.‘”

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Wolfhard is best known as Mike Wheeler, the moral compass and reliable group leader in “Stranger Things” and boyfriend of Eleven, played by breakout star Millie Bobby Brown.

He hopes to carve out a career akin to Ron Howard, who managed to get past his Opie and Richie Cunningham days of decades yore to become a successful, highly respected director. “If I can attain even a fraction of the success of Ron Howard,” he said, “that’d be an amazing place to be.”

Wolfhard has begun his journey behind the camera with “Hell of a Summer,” a collaboration with his friend Billy Bryk. They met as teens in 2019 on the set of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and began writing the script for this slasher comedy set at a summer camp.

“This movie came to be for our shared love of comedies, especially teen ensemble comedies,” Wolfhard said. “We had both written slashers as shorts. I had grown up loving slashers. It felt like a perfect thing for us to write together.”

“Hell of a Summer” is set in current times but many of the scenes could have been carved out of a film from the 1980s with its character tropes and John Carpenter-esque musical soundtrack. The setup is simple: counselors are inexplicably dying in gruesome fashion at an isolated sleepaway camp the weekend before campers arrive. The owners are nowhere to be found so lead character Jason (Fred Hechinger) takes it upon himself to temporarily take charge. Characters start wondering: Who is causing this mayhem?

Hechinger’s Jason is nothing like the seminal hockey-mask-wearing psychopath Jason in the 1980 slasher film “Friday the 13th.” Rather, this version is a sweet but aimless 24-year-old who has yet to figure out his lot in life and keeps going back to summer camp because it harbors the best memories of his life to date.

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Credit: Neon

Credit: Neon

Despite his earnest awkwardness, Jason manages to become a hero in the movie, a juncture point where he can move forward and grow up. But his actions are aligned to his personality. He doesn’t suddenly become Tom Cruise.

“All the characters in the movie can’t help but be themselves,” Hechinger said. “The ways they are heroic are still connected to their specific eccentricities. Sometimes in horror movies, once the killing starts, everyone snaps into being a classic movie hero but in our experiences in life, that’s not the case. Your neuroses and hang-ups remain even when issues arise. It was important Jason continues to be himself. His heroism comes from all of his uniqueness.”

Wolfhard ― who portrays a sweet, well-meaning gender studies major in the film not far off from his Mike Wheeler character ― said he has met plenty of adults who cannot let go of their childhood: “We talked about ‘Disney adults,’ which I can identify with. The people who are trying to get back to their inner child. A healthy amount of that is good, but Jason takes it a little too far.”

Credit: NEON

Bryk, who plays the comically self-centered Bobby, said he hopes “Hell of a Summer” appeals to multiple generations who have watched no shortage of “Scream”-style films.

“Our goal is to tear down the idea there is a massive generational gap,” he said. “There are so many themes in this movie that are timeless and universal. I love watching coming-of-age movies from the past like ‘The Graduate’ I can still relate to, even if the world couldn’t be any more different. We wanted to give people some fun scares, some laughs and a lot of heart.”