Talk to any horror fan over the last ten years, and invariably the conversation would turn to the need for a slasher resurgence. But now, with every ‘90s horror franchise getting the legacyquel treatment, it feels safe to say that the genre is back in a big way. Hopefully, that will also translate into increased awareness for the smaller and international slashers that find their way into festivals every year. You know, films like Bartosz M. Kowalski’s 13 Days Till Summer, which had its international premiere at Fantastic Fest this past week.
Ever since their mother left, siblings Paulina (Katarzyna Gałązka) and Antek (Teodor Koziar) have been struggling to hold onto some semblance of normalcy. Antek in particular has had a rough go of it – he’s the target of bullies at school, and returns home every night to an empty room and a dismissive sister. When Antek stumbles across a body in the woods, he becomes obsessed with the notion that it is the return of a local serial killer, even daring himself to return to the crime scene to walk through the empty house.
Paulina, for her part, leans on her friends, inviting everyone over to her father’s place for a small gathering. Their smart home is seemingly a fortress, and their party begins with the normal assortment of drugs and alcohol. But when the panels on the smart home begin to short out, Paulina and company discover they are not alone in the house – there is someone wearing an upside-down mask, and this mysterious person has violence on their mind. If they are to make it out alive, Paulina and Antek will need to put aside their hurt and figure out a way to survive.
The first kill of any slasher is more than just a set piece. It’s a statement. It sets the stage for the kind of film that follows – which characters are safer than others, and how long the camera will linger on their lifeless forms. This last piece is particularly important for 13 Days Till Summer. While the film seemingly skips over its opening murder – cutting in an instant from the terrified face of an unhoused man to that lifeless face the following morning – this edit subtly guides points to the idea that this is a movie more obsessed with the dead than the dying. That’s a strange distinction for a slasher to make, but one that is integral to how the story develops.
But let’s take a step back. Any slasher must be evaluated on its success as a slasher first – how well it goes through the paces of stalking and killing its characters. This is part of what makes the film go. 13 Days Till Summer is smart in its use of technology, trapping its characters inside a smart home that’s no longer under their control and watching them struggle to navigate the space. For some films, that gimmick would be the entire focus, but Kowalski and his fellow screenwriters keep the technology elements in the background. It’s another obstacle for the characters to overcome, but technology is not the sole focus, which makes it more effective.
Like all good slashers, 13 Days Till Summer also features a cast you care about. It should hurt when characters die in a horror movie, and it does here. Paulina’s group of friends might be lost in their own teenage fears and desires, but they’re not bad people, and when things get violent, each of them does their best to look after their friends. Deaths are varied – the killer shows themselves to be weapon agnostic, switching between knives, arrows, and tasers to hunt their victims, and the utilitarian nature of the kills adds another uncomfortable wrinkle to the movie. The upside-down mask implies a theme, but the violence is surprisingly dispassionate, and that makes what happens to the group somehow both less explicit and harder to shake.
But perhaps what makes the film shine brightest is its modest runtime. 13 Days Till Summer clocks in at a downright breezy 80 minutes, and, surprise, surprise, there is not an ounce of fat on the film. The characters are introduced; red herrings emerge; the survivors dwindle. There’s no good reason on God’s green earth why a slasher should run a second over 90 minutes, and 13 Days Till Summer has the confidence in its material not to pad the runtime with unnecessary side plots. Everything you need to know is there on the screen – it is not often that film critics praise editors for their work, but kudos to Jakub Kopec for keeping the pace as brisk as possible.
As for what the film is ultimately trying to convey – well, suffice to say that some slashers serve as comfort food, and some do not. It would be a spoiler to describe where 13 Days Till Summer ends up, though seasoned horror fans – and Fantastic Fest veterans in particular – will see the cards on the table long before the film makes them obvious. If we return to the notion that Kowalski’s film is less interested in the dying than the dead, we can understand why the director and his crew have chosen the particular path they have. 13 Days Till Summer enters a small film canon of specific feel-bad movies, but one that lingers as an important lens for understanding the world we are asked to inhabit.
Those looking for a fun slasher will not be disappointed by 13 Days Till Summer, but it is a film that is best consumed by people who value discomfort over convention in their horror. If genre is jazz – a familiar set of tunes given weight through reinterpretation, not reinvention – then this Polish film is pure dissonance. It's also effective as hell. It’s a welcome reminder of how a simple set of tropes can offer the framework for an endless number of variations. [4.0/5.0]
