Set in the late 1980s, Camp Stillwater’s dark, ancient mythology awakens, and what was supposed to be a summer of fun soon turns into one of unforgettable scares and evil at every turn. And though Freeform’s highly anticipated new series Dead of Summer has a high body count, do not confuse it as a series with a masked serial killer on the loose.
“It’s essentially a supernatural thriller,” Mark Indelicato tells us in an exclusive interview. “I think that that’s one of the biggest things that can be misconstrued about it being called a horror series. It’s not a slasher, it’s not gory in that regard. It’s very much psychological. The camp in and of itself functions as this living being and in a lot of many different ways kind of haunts each counselor.”
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The counselors being haunted are no strangers to Camp Stillwater having been campers themselves years prior. They all return after the camp had been shut down for a long period. Five years later, they’re all seeing each other for the first time.
“He’s coming back now as a counselor,” Indelicato says of his character Blair Ramos. “He has already forged pretty solid relationships with everyone of the counselors that you’ll meet except for Amy (Elizabeth Lail) who’s new. That’s also quite interesting to see the ways in which dynamics originated and the ways in which they’ve evolved. His best friend is Cricket (Amber Coney) who he went to high school with and he’s your quintessential gay best friend but he’s also quite loyal.”
For Indelicato, reteaming with the House that Mickey built, meant an opportunity for the LGBTQ community to be represented once again.
“From my own experience with ABC and Disney doing Ugly Betty, they were quite invested in portraying my character Justin in this positive light and bringing young LGTBQ characters to the forefront of representation. Dead of Summer is no exception to that. We’re doing a lot of really great things with representation and being as inclusive as possible with all different walks of life.”
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Viewers will get to know much more of these characters from all different walks of life throughout the season.
“Each episode revolves around one character in a more general sense,” Indelicato explains. “So you get to know what brought them to Camp Stillwater, the baggage that they carry with them in arriving here.”
Seeing these counselors’ baggage and past haunting them in the present is something that will be fun for viewers to watch. In addition to that, Mark shares why you will want to tune in.
“[Dead of Summer] is a departure for ABC/Freeform,” he says. “They’re starting a new chapter in what they’re putting out there. The show is quite scary and thrilling but at the same time, the performances are incredible. The subject matter is a bit more mature.”
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“It goes a bit deeper into this character study of different kinds of people with different circumstances and different pasts and how those pasts seed into the relationships that they foster at camp. Viewers will be able to identify with one or all of the counselors and the camp director in some way.”
And while those who tune in start to identify with the characters, trying to identify who the big bad is, however, will not come as easy.
“Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis (LOST, Once Upon a Time) are very well versed in this mythological genre of mystery and thrills. What you see in the pilot, you kind of make some conclusions of who you think the villain is or who you think is behind the crazy things happening at Camp Stillwater, but be sure that you have no idea.”
Dead of Summer premieres tonight, June 28, at 9pm on Freeform.
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