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‘Dead of Summer’ Promises Plenty Of Spooky Drama and Hidden Horrors [Spoilers]

By Charlinda Robinson
Published on: 05:34 PST, Jun 28, 2016

Summer camp usually evokes memories of swimming, camping, and bonding with newfound friends. Camp is usually a great experience for kids, but Camp Stillwater looks like one camp to avoid at all costs. The camp has been abandoned for years until new owner Deborah Carpenter (Elizabeth Mitchell), throws her heart, soul, and life savings into bringing the camp back to life.

Mitchell’s character, Deb, loved coming to the camp as a child, and she isn’t the only one excited to be returning. Six former campers join her in their new roles as camp counselors on Dead of Summer. Alex (Ronen Rubinstein), Jessie (Paulina Singer), Cricket (Amber Coney), Joel (Eli Goree), Blair (Mark Indelicato), and Blotter (Zachary Gordon) are hoping to experience the freedom that being back at camp can bring, especially now that they are older. Amy (Elizabeth Lail), is not part of the old group, and she sees Camp Stillwater with fresh eyes as she tries to fit in with the tight-knit crew. She is the first to get the feeling that not everything is what it seems in this supposedly idyllic summer camp.

To get an idea of what’s in store for these characters, the NY Times reported that before Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (with Ian Goldberg) created Dead of Summer for Freeform, they worked on the hit series Lost. With that in mind, viewers should get ready for plenty of character backstories and flashbacks, horrifying visions, and general creepiness that Dead of Summer provides in abundance.

The Dead of Summer storyline may make it sound like the typical summer camp slash-fest, and there will definitely be deaths, but TV Line shared that the thriller, which is set during the summer of 1989, focuses more on the paranormal aspects.

“The blood and gore is really secondary to the supernatural aspects,” explained executive producer Eddy Kitsis. “We look at the camp like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. It’s not stabby-stabby all the time.”

As for choosing the late 1980s in particular for Dead of Summer, there was a good reason for that as well. There was no email, no cell phones, and no quick and easy way to contact the outside world to chat with family and friends.

“The reason we chose the late ’80s is because the ’90s started to bring in the world we live in today,” Kitsis explains. “The ’80s was saying goodbye to the world that used to be. We loved that crossroads feeling, because that’s what it’s like to be 18 and dealing with your identity. There are definitely specifically ’80s references to the culture. We’re going to be dealing with some things that happened in the ’80s, as well as shout-outs to our favorite bands and movies.”

Viewers will most likely recognize a few of the Dead of Summer cast members, especially Elizabeth Mitchell and Elizabeth Lail, who both previously worked with the show’s creators on Once Upon a Time. Mitchell also had a recurring role on Lost as Juliet Burke. As for Lail’s role, Horowitz told Hollywood Life that when she was playing Anna on Once Upon a Time, they were blown away by her talent, and they wrote the character of Amy with her in mind. Also making an appearance on Dead of Summer is horror movie regular, Tony Todd, and as the other characters catch startling glimpses of him eerily playing a piano, it becomes apparent that he may have something to do with the deadly mystery that surrounds the camp.

Will you be checking out this new series? Leave your comments, thoughts, and opinions about the show below. Dead of Summer premieres on Tuesday, June 28 at 9 p.m. ET on Freeform.

[Image via Dead of Summer/Facebook]

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