Gripping enough to have me watch the 8 episodes, but the finale just didn't live up to the build up.
One of the most annoying and frustrating parts of the series is to see people armed to the teeth, can hit every part of a zombie, but not their head, even when 2 foot away.
Wouldn't mind another season from this, but not sure where it can really go from here without treading on familiar ground again.
If you like zombies, you'll enjoy this, but don't expect to be blown away.
25 Reviews
Reality of frustration
ammodias11 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This was again a very real reaction type episode, people moaning about the fact so many survivors appeared at the same time ... Maybe because they like the main group had been told several times what the stadiums final supposed evacs were happening and had been making there way as well? Yes it was odd how so many people had weapons but alot of army folks died and dropped guns so not totally unrealistic! I enjoyed the chaos of people shooting their way around to reach the stadium it was real! Everyone moans (and I agree in some cases) about the inability to hit them in the head but in a panicked real life situation with kickback not game controllers it's not so easy so the chaos and failure was so real and that's the best part of this series the realness of a ridiculous story in dead people being alive. The lack of continuity is real as life isn't smooth is it?
The loot ?
kelekelesiu2 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
So where's the backstory of " Spears" and the loot?
Why did the military arrest him in the beginning as he was claiming that "they framed him " and how did they know about the money?
In episode 7 we see that Spears was taken again by military, how did they knew he's a fake soldier and why didn't he put up a fight like in the beginning?
My final question, WHERE'S THE LOOT !!!
Lance the Zombie magnet, maybe it's the eyeliner..
donttouchmeprimate26 July 2019
Yep, poor Lance can't catch a break! Zombies LOVE to chase this guy.
But on another note, Rose did something, something I can never EVER forgive her for, if you've seen it then you know what I mean. I hope she dies.
Man that was dark.
But on another note, Rose did something, something I can never EVER forgive her for, if you've seen it then you know what I mean. I hope she dies.
Man that was dark.
Its a thing to watch
eric-wissenbach5 October 2020
It actually a pretty good show with plot line and such. I wish they spent more time and money making the gun usage more realistic. Lots of people should be dead due to crossing barrels while firing and never a magazine changed the whole season.
Seriously though, worth the time to watch.
Seriously though, worth the time to watch.
A short review of Season 1 of "Black Summer" (2019)
ericrnolan16 April 2019
I don't understand how "Black Summer" can be as good as it is. It's produced by The Asylum, the makers of low budget, direct-to-video ripoff films like "Atlantic Rim" (2013) and "Triassic World" (2018). It's a prequel to the horror-comedy "Z Nation" (2014-2018) - a show that was so bad I couldn't make it through its first episode. Yet "Black Summer" is inexplicably a great, albeit imperfect, TV show. I'd rate it a 9 out 10.
I might be in the minority here; a lot of people are severely panning this show online. And I do recognize its weaknesses - there is very little detail in its plot or character development ... there is often even very little dialogue at all. And even I recognized some plot holes. (I'm typically a little slow on the uptake where these are concerned.)
But this bare-bones zombie story still manages to screen some likable characters, and then put them through a thrilling succession of hyper-kinetic chases and melees. I was on the edge of my seat, and I consequently didn't miss the methodical, detailed plotting of shows like "The Walking Dead." The season's finale is crowned by an extended, eye-level, real-time action set-piece that ought to be considered a classic in the zombie-horror subgenre. It was mind-blowing. I just can't dislike a horror property that genuinely scared me.
I could simply be out of step with everyone else; I often have different tastes in zombie fare. I love Zack Snyder's 2008 remake of "Dawn of the Dead," which this series reminds me of. And I also love similar overseas productions like Spain's "REC]" films (2007 - 2014) and Britain's "Dead Set" miniseries (2008), while those amazing entries are hardly known among my friends. I also cannot understand why many people who love George A. Romero's and Robert Kirkman's productions must always compare other films and TV shows unfavorably to them. We can love both. Why not?
Hey, if you don't want to make my word for it, here is what Stephen King tweeted: "No long, fraught discussions. No endless flashbacks, because there's no back story. No grouchy teens. Dialogue is spare. Much shot with a single handheld camera, very fluid."
I obviously recommend this.
I might be in the minority here; a lot of people are severely panning this show online. And I do recognize its weaknesses - there is very little detail in its plot or character development ... there is often even very little dialogue at all. And even I recognized some plot holes. (I'm typically a little slow on the uptake where these are concerned.)
But this bare-bones zombie story still manages to screen some likable characters, and then put them through a thrilling succession of hyper-kinetic chases and melees. I was on the edge of my seat, and I consequently didn't miss the methodical, detailed plotting of shows like "The Walking Dead." The season's finale is crowned by an extended, eye-level, real-time action set-piece that ought to be considered a classic in the zombie-horror subgenre. It was mind-blowing. I just can't dislike a horror property that genuinely scared me.
I could simply be out of step with everyone else; I often have different tastes in zombie fare. I love Zack Snyder's 2008 remake of "Dawn of the Dead," which this series reminds me of. And I also love similar overseas productions like Spain's "REC]" films (2007 - 2014) and Britain's "Dead Set" miniseries (2008), while those amazing entries are hardly known among my friends. I also cannot understand why many people who love George A. Romero's and Robert Kirkman's productions must always compare other films and TV shows unfavorably to them. We can love both. Why not?
Hey, if you don't want to make my word for it, here is what Stephen King tweeted: "No long, fraught discussions. No endless flashbacks, because there's no back story. No grouchy teens. Dialogue is spare. Much shot with a single handheld camera, very fluid."
I obviously recommend this.
What's with the hate?
emperordalek28 May 2019
I honestly don't get all of the hate is coming down on this show from other reviewers. They seem to like their zombie shows to have scads of dialogue, endless amounts of backstory, and not that many genuine scares at all. This series, however, delivers the goods. Sure, it's not like other shows that take their time developing characters, but it's hard to say that the characters in this series don't get some development with time. Rose, for example, goes from a somewhat weepy housewife to the unquestioned leader of the pack. Also, the charactet of Sun doesn't speak a word of English , and yet she is given one of the most moving monologues in the entire series , one which you don't have to understand in order to get the depth of its emotion. Then there's Barbara, who gets a very haunting speech about the first time she saw a zombie and tried to figure out whether there was anything human left in there , which is exactly the same sort of philosophy that comes up in the early episodes of other zombie shows . Surely all that's worth getting some credit for.
Two of the other saving graces for the show is the use of fast zombies and an incredibly virulent infection a la 28 DAYS LATER that turns the recently departed into zombies even before their hearts have stopped beating ( and in one case arguably before it stops beating, but the show isn't perfect). Fast zombies have always been more frightening to me than the type that we get in THE WALKING DEAD. In fact, the characters in that show probably only get character development because they have so much free time running away from fast-moving former corpses. There's also something terrifying about the idea then if you accidentally kill someone, you'd better get busy and kill them immediately again because they will become an immediate threat. This conceit creates some of the best tension in the show, because it means that the inevitable human bad guys cannot be so easily dispatched as they are in THE WALKING DEAD.
Another great source of tension is the use of hand-held cameras and very quickly shot scenes. Admittedly, in some of the episodes, this works against the story a bit because it's a little too easy to get lost in all of the blurriness. That being said, it is a good visual representation of the chaos of the characters themselves are going through, and you rarely get that sort of thing in those previously mentioned Zombie series.
Mind you, as I said, the series is not perfect. There are few characters, such as Spears, who we would really like to learn more about. There are also some characters the carry the idiot ball so long and so hard that you have to wonder how they survived the initial outbreak at all (Lance, you're cute and all, but God, you are an idiot). And then there's the aforementioned conversion that happens almost instantaneously, before a character has even died. It would be nice if this virus were somewhat consistent.
That being said, this show did for me was another reviewer here said it did for him: it genuinely scared him. I can't remember the last time I watched a horror movie or television series that I had to take breaks from in order to come down from. I never had to do that with THE WALKING DEAD. So why are so many reviewers using that show as they were yardstick to measure this one, when they have really nothing in common except for the ravenous Undead?
Two of the other saving graces for the show is the use of fast zombies and an incredibly virulent infection a la 28 DAYS LATER that turns the recently departed into zombies even before their hearts have stopped beating ( and in one case arguably before it stops beating, but the show isn't perfect). Fast zombies have always been more frightening to me than the type that we get in THE WALKING DEAD. In fact, the characters in that show probably only get character development because they have so much free time running away from fast-moving former corpses. There's also something terrifying about the idea then if you accidentally kill someone, you'd better get busy and kill them immediately again because they will become an immediate threat. This conceit creates some of the best tension in the show, because it means that the inevitable human bad guys cannot be so easily dispatched as they are in THE WALKING DEAD.
Another great source of tension is the use of hand-held cameras and very quickly shot scenes. Admittedly, in some of the episodes, this works against the story a bit because it's a little too easy to get lost in all of the blurriness. That being said, it is a good visual representation of the chaos of the characters themselves are going through, and you rarely get that sort of thing in those previously mentioned Zombie series.
Mind you, as I said, the series is not perfect. There are few characters, such as Spears, who we would really like to learn more about. There are also some characters the carry the idiot ball so long and so hard that you have to wonder how they survived the initial outbreak at all (Lance, you're cute and all, but God, you are an idiot). And then there's the aforementioned conversion that happens almost instantaneously, before a character has even died. It would be nice if this virus were somewhat consistent.
That being said, this show did for me was another reviewer here said it did for him: it genuinely scared him. I can't remember the last time I watched a horror movie or television series that I had to take breaks from in order to come down from. I never had to do that with THE WALKING DEAD. So why are so many reviewers using that show as they were yardstick to measure this one, when they have really nothing in common except for the ravenous Undead?
So bad it's hilarious to watch...
paraord17 April 2019
What started as a grim, believable story in the early episodes has devolved into stupefying chaos. Rose and Sun firing thousands of rounds w/out changing mags, everyone firing from behind or between each other w/no one ever injured. Some zombies take hundreds of hits with no effect, others go down with one hit. The ending was so preposterous I thought Rose was hallucinating, but no...
Entertainment Rating 10
dncorp11 April 2019
A blonde haired white woman, a black man in an outdated U.S. Army Uniform, and a Korean girl walk into a bar.
The bar tender says...........
This series needs to continue, as unlike all the other Zombie Apocalypse TV Series that really are getting lame and repetitive.
Or maybe not, if they do not have more new material. Rating 8.
The bar tender says...........
This series needs to continue, as unlike all the other Zombie Apocalypse TV Series that really are getting lame and repetitive.
Or maybe not, if they do not have more new material. Rating 8.
No continuity and poor decision making
lukas_mittelman18 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
They established earlier the limited nature of assault weapons in the raid episode. They went through that entire crazy scenario just to equip themselves. Then, like a well trained platoon, there is suddenly loads of survivors with automatic weaponry, moving in formation. They kill zombies as they come but suddenly they panic and lose formation when one person gets infected.
They killed Velez because he had a sprained ankle???
Somehow once they reach the stadium, there is no outer protections and open doorways throughout, but it's still somehow secure.
I'm all for suspension of disbelief but bud, you gotta try a little harder than that to make it all make a little sense.
Overall, there's no continuity with poor survivor decision making and what seems like an ending the writers gave up on and said "screw it".
Hell, how well....
athallica18 April 2019
Oooooooohhhhhh, epiphany, I got it!
In a very, very subtle way in this one they wanted to make the undead to be the good ones we like and the living the bad ones we hate.
Hell, did they well! I felt sorry for almost every zombie who was taken down.
Grrrrreat idea!
Em, .... no? Oh.
Grrrrreat idea!
Em, .... no? Oh.
Weird
arvidson825 April 2019
20 minutes of shootin' tootin' and dust explosions. At the same time, everyone appears armed outside the stadium. Everyone has a gun and no one knows how to use it.
We've been through this before. AIM FOR THE HEAD!!!!
Also, a broken lock seems to keep out everyone looking for a safe haven because no one is inside the stadium except for some old creeper and what's-her-name's daughter.
Trash.
We've been through this before. AIM FOR THE HEAD!!!!
Also, a broken lock seems to keep out everyone looking for a safe haven because no one is inside the stadium except for some old creeper and what's-her-name's daughter.
Trash.
The Final Destination
ZegMaarJus29 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This Episode begins with Rose, Spears, Sun, Lance, William and Carmen, they almost reached the stadium. Carmen pukes black blood. Carmen turned into a zombie. Rose helped William to stand up again. Zombies are attacking the survivors. Rose shot William to death, because otherwise he could have been eaten by zombies. Rose, Spears and Sun enter the stadium. Rose got reunited with her daughter Anna at the stadium. Nice Final Episode of Black Summer Season 1, a great last Episode of this First Season. Rose, Spears and Sun have reached the stadium, but they lost the rest of the group. Can they form a new group in Season 2?
The most ridiculous episode of all serie
ToboHC16 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
A part from the crazy amount of other survivors that emerge all at the same time of the protagonist group from out of nowhere, they are all armed whit automatic weapons and stuff, and they can't kill a damn zombie!!! Shooting at them like a burst of 20 bullet and the zombie still walking around and killing another people....please don't make season 2.
Season One Review
southdavid23 April 2019
Netflix's Zombie drama, produced by "The Asylum" has a promising start, but fades badly and despite just eight episodes probably isn't worth your time.
Though the series focuses on a bunch of characters, if it has a centre it's Jamie King's character Rose, who is attempting to cross the unnamed city to get to the stadium where her daughter has been evacuated to "safety". With the rabid infected frantically killing whoever they come across, and several human groups having gone (seemingly immediately) full murder cult crossing the city is a dangerous proposition.
I'm going to split the review into stages here, because I felt differently at different points. Firstly, after the first two episodes. Here I felt the show was promising. We're a few weeks into the burgeoning crisis, with the military still having some form of control. I liked how the series differentiated itself from "The Walking Dead" by using the fast manic infected, rather than the shambling shuffling version. This has, of course, been done before in something like "28 Days Later" but it distinguish itself further by having characters "turn" at the moment of death rather than reawaken at some point in the future. This can make for an interesting dynamic as the odds can very quickly turn in the infecteds favour. The show is also different by having named "chapters" and jumping around the intertwining characters various narratives before pulling them together. If the show was better written throughout, this could have been an excellent storytelling tool, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Secondly, episodes three to five. Things are starting to get a little shaky now, mostly around how much I believe in the "world building" of the show. The fourth episode has to be one of the most infuriating episodes of any series I've ever seen. The character of Lance is so useless, so incapable that there's no way he would have survived the six weeks or so, that I believe we are into this crisis. His refusal to lock, block or even in some cases shut doors whilst being chased is staggeringly dumb, as is his refusal to arm himself until the last possible moment. Other aspects of the show, like the infected inability to break through a glass window when the plot requires, starts to become questionable. The feral schoolkids too, murdering and booby trapping the school, seem way too far along if we are only six weeks into this crisis. There's still food in the super markets, why they're luring people to their doom isn't explained
Finally, Six to Eight. Here it starts to become a bit baffling. Our rag tag bunch of survivors move from mistrust and in fighting to become a stealthy infiltration team and conduct a heist worthy of "Ocean's Eleven". There is no bonding, or planning shown, so much so I thought we'd missed an episode and went and checked . Rose flirts with mental instability, or perhaps PTSD very briefly and then we reach the repetitive and banal conclusion. In which hundreds of people are shot, or are bit and none of it matters, as if the somehow the spectacle of it is supposed to be enough. (Although the ending that I assumed we were heading towards from the beginning is avoided).
"Black Summer" is a promising idea in a filled market that is ultimately let down by sub-standard writing and too much repetition. Hopefully, if there is a second season, it will be more constant in this.
Though the series focuses on a bunch of characters, if it has a centre it's Jamie King's character Rose, who is attempting to cross the unnamed city to get to the stadium where her daughter has been evacuated to "safety". With the rabid infected frantically killing whoever they come across, and several human groups having gone (seemingly immediately) full murder cult crossing the city is a dangerous proposition.
I'm going to split the review into stages here, because I felt differently at different points. Firstly, after the first two episodes. Here I felt the show was promising. We're a few weeks into the burgeoning crisis, with the military still having some form of control. I liked how the series differentiated itself from "The Walking Dead" by using the fast manic infected, rather than the shambling shuffling version. This has, of course, been done before in something like "28 Days Later" but it distinguish itself further by having characters "turn" at the moment of death rather than reawaken at some point in the future. This can make for an interesting dynamic as the odds can very quickly turn in the infecteds favour. The show is also different by having named "chapters" and jumping around the intertwining characters various narratives before pulling them together. If the show was better written throughout, this could have been an excellent storytelling tool, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Secondly, episodes three to five. Things are starting to get a little shaky now, mostly around how much I believe in the "world building" of the show. The fourth episode has to be one of the most infuriating episodes of any series I've ever seen. The character of Lance is so useless, so incapable that there's no way he would have survived the six weeks or so, that I believe we are into this crisis. His refusal to lock, block or even in some cases shut doors whilst being chased is staggeringly dumb, as is his refusal to arm himself until the last possible moment. Other aspects of the show, like the infected inability to break through a glass window when the plot requires, starts to become questionable. The feral schoolkids too, murdering and booby trapping the school, seem way too far along if we are only six weeks into this crisis. There's still food in the super markets, why they're luring people to their doom isn't explained
Finally, Six to Eight. Here it starts to become a bit baffling. Our rag tag bunch of survivors move from mistrust and in fighting to become a stealthy infiltration team and conduct a heist worthy of "Ocean's Eleven". There is no bonding, or planning shown, so much so I thought we'd missed an episode and went and checked . Rose flirts with mental instability, or perhaps PTSD very briefly and then we reach the repetitive and banal conclusion. In which hundreds of people are shot, or are bit and none of it matters, as if the somehow the spectacle of it is supposed to be enough. (Although the ending that I assumed we were heading towards from the beginning is avoided).
"Black Summer" is a promising idea in a filled market that is ultimately let down by sub-standard writing and too much repetition. Hopefully, if there is a second season, it will be more constant in this.
holy crapness this is awful
paulwattriley13 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Ok episode 8. At the city, where has all the people come from. Lots of random shooting, then lets run past a zed thats eating someone.
Guns have infinite ammunition. Shouldnt every one not be going in the same direction? Whats the random running all about? The bombing is it bombs or flash grenades as. It has not purpose just a load of random crap to add tension.
So they can just walk right into the stadium, appears deserted, dude appears with gun then immediately the daughter appears WOW
Any future writers and directors out there this is how not to write and direct a TV show or film. People need to start thinking, yes we want tension and drama but we want and need realism. This show is like a computer game were the main characters can run through carnage unscathed doing the impossible with infinite ammo making stupid decisions. This show had promise but then them the makers started taking the meth.
Guns have infinite ammunition. Shouldnt every one not be going in the same direction? Whats the random running all about? The bombing is it bombs or flash grenades as. It has not purpose just a load of random crap to add tension.
So they can just walk right into the stadium, appears deserted, dude appears with gun then immediately the daughter appears WOW
Any future writers and directors out there this is how not to write and direct a TV show or film. People need to start thinking, yes we want tension and drama but we want and need realism. This show is like a computer game were the main characters can run through carnage unscathed doing the impossible with infinite ammo making stupid decisions. This show had promise but then them the makers started taking the meth.
Deserves at least one more season
eberkerbatur11 May 2019
Overall a good zombie series is definitely not bored, is not as good as there are so many ways to get there(TWD) but but I think it's better than FTWD, or it can come to a good level if it lasts 1-2 more season.
Because I think the story will be a little better as it will be a little more nomadic and more exciting instead of being colonized immediately.People who play zombies are playing a little amateur at the moment they need to choose a lot better,they should think more over some scenes because the big scene of conflict was ridiculous.
This is the most important event in zombie series that is realistic when it can be rea.So if you can't, you don't need big scenes.
Because I think the story will be a little better as it will be a little more nomadic and more exciting instead of being colonized immediately.People who play zombies are playing a little amateur at the moment they need to choose a lot better,they should think more over some scenes because the big scene of conflict was ridiculous.
This is the most important event in zombie series that is realistic when it can be rea.So if you can't, you don't need big scenes.
20 minutes of pointless shooting
connerlegand-9477013 April 2019
I know people like to see zombies in a zombie show and don't like all the talking but come on you can't gave a while epsiode of just pointless shooting zombies and like no dialogue and the fact they couldn't even make it 40 minutes is embarrassing.
Full season 1 review is this if you like shakey camera work that will give you a headache and a poor script with average actors then this is the show for you.
Full season 1 review is this if you like shakey camera work that will give you a headache and a poor script with average actors then this is the show for you.
Reflecting back
qboyreplica8 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
We find out that guns or people are not as rare as we thought. Lance starts to run again. Spears does and doesn't know how to shoot. And even though everyone knows about the stadium and is converging on it all at once, it looks like no one had ever been there...until we see two people...guess who. So dumb.
Series starts out promising...
blscofield6 June 2019
Lol lol lol lol lol
Scar3826 December 2020
This episode was hilarious, first of all I didn't see any of them reload any of their weapons, then Lance did his best Benny Hill impression again.
I like Jamie King she is a very talented actress but surely she can do better than this.
Terrible season finale.
NinjaAnt27 May 2020
The series was up and down at the best of times but this finale was junk. Half the length and they forget to shoot the scenes containing any acting or dialogue.
Seriously this episode is more like the action scenes from another episode. It's got action but absolutely nothing else.
Seriously this episode is more like the action scenes from another episode. It's got action but absolutely nothing else.
Waste of Time
allanluiz-luiz26 June 2021
Unlimited bullets!!
stubeck-6131329 April 2020
This series got steadily worse culminating in this awful episode. Anyone saying this is scary doesn't know horror or the Zombie genre. However the one extremely annoying thing about this series is the endless amounts of bullets they fire without having the ability to reload as they have ZERO spare magazines!!! I know its leave your brains at the door kind of fare but come on guys a gun doesn't have thousands of bullets in it!!
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