Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp

Directed by:  Robert Hiltzik

USA, 1983

Horror, 88min

Oh they don’t make them like this any more... or do they? Well actually yes, they do and nothing much has happened since this infamous last minute shock, shocker hit the horror scene, and no. Not really, because this movie has a hidden agenda and an important commentary that is just as important today as it was back when this movie was released… a commentary on sexuality!

Basic recap goes like this: A family are out on the lake boating at what obviously is some kind of generic summer camp for kids. Some of the older kids, most likely counsellors are water-skiing, when the decent chap at the wheel during a weak moment gives in to the seductive chick who want’s to give the boat a spin. Guess what happens next, yeah, she takes the wheel and the boat runs out of control speeding right at the family of two kids and father who just happened to over turn their boat. The disaster is a fact; the father floats by lifeless, as does a bloody mangled child’s life vest.  This is the set up for Sleepaway Camp which takes it stomping safely down secure conventional path.

Years later two cousins, Angela [Felissa Rose] and Ricky [Jonathan Tiersten], are sent to camp Arawak by their insanely, over the top acted, Aunt Martha [Desiree Gould]. Ricky is cool and suave as he’s looking forward to spending summer with last years flame, Judy [Karen Fields], but seen as a year has passed she’s matured past him and laughs at his feeble attempts to get his fingers sticky. Angela is silent, shy and almost reclusive which within seconds rubs Judy and cabin counsellor Meg [Katherine Kamhi] the wrong way, making it their mission to make Angela’s summer as miserable as possible!

So with all that set up, let's get to the kills. I was somewhat surprised at the low death toll of this film, but at the same time, at least the first few kills where pretty decent when it comes to the effects department. Creepy paedophile camp chef Artie [Owen Hughes] tries to whip his dick out in front of Angela and ends up being shoved into a pot of boiling water. Oh, who can the killer be? Effect wise the blistering creep is rather effective and still looks cool… Make it last as the effects get shoddier and shoddier as the film goes – apart from a great water snake and a deadhead scene, and the suggestive shadow play of the killer shoving a hot hair curler up a female victims privates, which probably is a more effective way to pull off the effect as it would never stayed in the movie if it had been done with dodgy looking prosthetics. True to formula, every time someone offends, taunts or harasses Angela, that same person snuffs it in a freak accident! Oh, who can the killer be? Which is what we keep asking (or do we?) all the way up to the shocking reveal at the last moment of the film!

There’s a small subplot concerning the elderly camp manager Mel [Mike Kellin] and young counsellor Meg – which ends in another rather creepy paedophile outing. But this subplot leads to some serious child bashing and force-feeding a red herring onto the audience. Mel is convinced that Ricky is responsible for the killings, and the killings directly tie into what at first seems to be a stupid reaction to the camp murders – as in none, the ambulance leaves with “another corpse” and the campers just go back to life as normal – what we have here is the threat of going out of business, and some whacko killing off campers and staff is really bad business for a summer camp!

All in all, Sleepaway Camp is a fun and campy little piece of slasher fluff. Considering the time it was made and released, it checks all the right boxes as far as convention goes. But perhaps first and foremost Sleepaway Camp is most know for it’s shock ending! With the ending spoiled over and over again in so many various forums – it’s genre folklore and the “surprise” at the end is obviously something that everyone exposes as soon as the name Sleepaway Camp is mentioned… you would think that there’s all there is to it.

But wait! I can’t really understand why I’ve never EVER heard/or read about the gay love scene in Sleepaway Camp! Yes, if there’s one thing that makes this film stand out it has to be the two male lovers! This is where I move into spoilerville as I need to break certain things to explain this correctly.

So from now on, people shouldn’t looking at this film as the slasher with the transsexual killer, they should actually be looking at it as an important part of gay themed horror cinema!  One could choose to read it as Pro-Gay as it actually has two male men enjoying the company of each other, and the anti-hero character is transsexual! Exiting and provocative, right?

Or you could read it as a criticism against homosexuality! First off, the death of Angela’s father John [Dan Tursi]: he dies in the opening scene, the unfortunate victim of that tragic accident (which only happened because of sexual tension between the boy and girl!) where a boat smashes into the man and his two children. Make note that the man who shouts lines of dialogue from the beach may seem a random dude, but he returns later to tie it all together!

The subplot concerning Angela’s love interest – hormone fuelled Paul [Christopher Collet] who will do everything he can to get in her pants – or Judy’s, Hell, raging hormones wait for nobody  - may seem to be nothing but budding and fumbled teenage love leading up to the climax, but it goes deeper and it ties into the surreal shock ending in more than one way. The very first time that Paul manages to get Angela down on the beach and starts to unbutton her blouse to get to second base leads to a very surreal flashback! In this flashback Angela and her brother are seen standing in the doorway of a bedroom giggling at something that they find odd. Now you could easily have cut to a mom and dad kissing and the scene would have made perfect sense… but instead we get a scene of Angela’s father John in bed with the dude from the beach, daddy’s lover! So if we look at the traumatizing death of John, it’s blatantly obvious that this scarred Angela in such a way that she knows that homosexual love is punished by death! Her father was killed; for the sake of the argument let us say by the hand of God, due to his homosexuality. Angela has been forced to live life as a little girl, all due to the weird and wacky aunt wanting to have a little girl! So in some way you have to look at the killings in Sleepaway Camp in two different ways, one being the vengeance killings – Angela murders her oppressors as a metaphorical revenge on Aunt Martha. The final murder, perhaps the most uncalled for and horrendous of them all, is committed because Paul reveals Angela’s secret, and with the budding feelings for Paul returned, the punishment is served, all though unfortunately for Paul, it’s he who is punished for the unbeknownst homosexuality, (or the risk of homosexual activity), not Angela.

But this also opens an opportunity to read the film as pro-gay, where the oppressed and repressed homosexuality finally gets a chance to take its revenge on the “normal” society. Where Angela has been forced into an alternative sexuality, she now no longer has a sexual identity – if we can talk about a teenage transgender person in those terms – and for that she finally get’s to release all that confusion, frustration and anger, taking it out on the Male person who trigger’s all that repressed rage and emotion! In other words, don't oppress sexuality, hetro or homo, because even if you are a God it will come back to kill you! 

Most likely Robert Hiltzik had none of this in mind at all when he scripted Sleepaway Camp, but it’s food for thought and as I’m from now on going to refer to Sleepaway Camp as the Gay Dad film first and the one with the transsexual killer second, because that’s the way the importance of those two scenes should be sorted not in any other way. From now on, Sleepaway Camp goes from generic slasher to important gender role thought-provoker, intentional or not.

From Beyond

From Beyond

Directed by: Stuart Gordon

USA, 1986

Horror, 86 min

Distributed by: Second Sight Films

Every movie reviewer has his or her genesis story. The initial films they started a repetitive viewing of, their portal into obsessive fandom. The first time I was swept up by the magic of Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond was back in the late eighties, when my mate Fredrik - through a quick exchange of a couple of hundred kronor - obtained a bunch of VHS dupes from this guy at or school who had an infamous Xeroxed list of genre films he’d sell bootleg copies of. The school genre fare pusher man one could call him. One of those tapes was Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond, and a continious dedication to the works of Gordon was firmly rooted from that moment on.

The story of From Beyond is classic horror fare, the exploration of the unknown. Crawford Tillinghast [Jeffrey Combs], Dr. Katherine McMichaels [Barbara Crampton] and Bubba Brownlee [Ken Foree] find themselves confronting creatures from another realm when they conduct experiments on the late Dr. Edward Pretorius machine that stimulates the pineal gland with its high resonance. From the other realm the creatures start slipping into ours, and pretty soon the late Dr. Pretorius [Ted Sorel] himself steps out of the pulsating lights unleashing an entourage of slimy creatures and hideously gory moments in his path.

So let’s talk From Beyond and ask the questions if it has stood the test of time? Well hell yeah, it’s still a great movie and I’d even go as far as naming it the best of the Stuart Gordon Lovecraft adaptations.  Lacking the dark comedic elements of Re-Animator, From Beyond delivers a more sinister and darker tone, which suits Lovecraft stories much better than the comedic horror of Re-Animator. (Which still is a blast of a film too.)

Starting off with an initial attack that definitely sets the Lovecraftian tone – as nothing is really shown, merely indicated and suggested through dialogue where Tillinghast tells of the monster that ate Dr. Pretorius head – the movie moves effectively into its post credit sequence narrative. With Combs Crawford Tillinghast character established and the mysterious Dr. Edward Pretorius seen briefly, it’s time to add the second lead character Dr. Katherine McMichaels. Frequent Gordon “heroine” Barbara Crampton is gorgeous as McMichaels, but perhaps even more important to the story is that she is introduced as the sceptic of the piece. Tillinghast is merely dismissed as insane and guilty of murdering Dr. Pretorius, the story he tells - of entities from another realm - is frowned upon as the ramblings of a mad man and he's facing being life behind bars following his evaluation at Miskatonic Hospital. It's when sceptic Dr. McMichaels passion for science and hard facts gets the better of her, making her want to take Tillinghast back to the mansion to check up on his story that the movie starts to change the characters. The Miskatonic Hospital is also where a small subplot with Dr. Bloch [wife of Stuart Gordon, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon] is introduced. The film returns to the location for it's third act and also some of the movies great gore sequences. She’s something of a nemesis to Dr. McMichaels and finds her methods of conduct to be highly controversial and unethical. Dr. Bloch is more of an old-school electroshock therapy kinda gal.

With the plan of taking Tillinghast, back to the mansion on the hill there’s the chance that they either discover that he is a murderer or that there might be some truth to his story.  Private investigator Bubba [Foree] tags along for security, and turns out to be more of a comic relief than anything else. BLinded by possibilities it only takes moments before her scientific curiosity draws Dr McMichaels towards the machine and the gateway to other realms. The enthrallment of possibly standing on the threshold of the greatest medical discovery of all time, lures McMichaels in and even knowing that there could be serious consequences, she hits the switches and brings forth the creatures from the beyond. It’s her greed that motivates her, the same greed that transforms her character from sceptic to believer, from passive to aggressive and also the same greed that leads her right into insanity.

It stands clear at the end of the movie that From Beyond really is an underrated piece of eighties gold. It simply oozes the traits that made Lovecraft’s novels such a thrill. Sparse on explanatory mumbo jumbo, plenty of slimy ancient ones drastic transformations of character roles, and the ever dormant insanity which where all a fundamental characteristics of Lovecraft’s works.

As for the characters in the movie, they are fantastic. The transitions from polarized sides of the axis are great. Crampton's Dr. McMichaels also goes through a full transition from the stiff restrained woman of science to full fledge sex maniac on the fringe of insanity. This makes characters so much more intriguing and filled with dimension than the regular mad scientist of say Re-Animator.

Combs knocks it out of the park with the portrayal of Tillinghast, Dr. Pretorius assistant, who at first has nothing but awe and respect for his master, but as the movie plays through, transforms into knowing the truth and finds that he actually hates and despises Pretorius. His characters role as the victim and his presumed insanity make him vulnerable and easy to empathise with.  There’s also a great use of guilt to fuel his transition, as the respect for his former master slowly wares away and turns into the hatred and repulsion he really held for Pretorius. This is due to the guilt he had over never questioning or opposing the cruel sexual games that the impotent Dr. Pretorius played out in his torture chamber. It’s the guilt of all these suffering women that he could have saved.  Note that even the impotent Dr. Pretorius has a transformation arc as he’s everything but impotent when he returns in his beast shape.

Special effects are brilliant; it shows that some of the great FX people of the era; John Carl Buechler, Mark Shostrom, Henenlotter regular Gabe Bartalos, Greg Johnson and a young Robert Kurtzman. The creatures look superb despite the high def – which usually is one of the areas where old-school FX can come off looking rather poor and revealed as only being effects. Swedish cinematographer Mac Ahlberg – who sadly passed away last year – works his camera magic, and this kind of work always shows what a great artist he was, not to forget the passion he held for his craft.

Gordon, with stable actors Crampton and Combs would all reunite a yet again with their third Lovecraftian tale on Castle Freak. Gordon himself teamed up once more with Brian Yuzna during his time in Spain under Julio Fernández Filmax, for Dagon before tapping into his, to date, last Lovecraftian adaptation with Dreams in the Witch House as part of Mick Garris Masters of Horror TV-series.

I couldn’t really discuss From Beyond without mentioning screenwriter Dennis Paoli, who wrote the scripts to all of Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraft adaptations. What he does with the characters is perhaps one of the key reasons why Gordon’s Lovecraft films resonate louder than other attempts to adapt the ancient ones and unseen horrors for big screen entertainment. The characters have advanced journeys, developing character arcs and frequently end up polarized positions from where they started. Dennis Paoli is undoubtedly one of the best screenwriters of horror film scripts, and where it would be easy to call it a shame that his talents have been so sparsely used, it may very well also be this simple fact that makes his work stand out so much more than others.

The Second Sight BluRay is an outstanding release, with an astonishingly crisp image, vibrant colours and an impeccable print. Much like their releases of Return of the Living Dead and the Basket Case Trilogy, this is a must have release, and Second Sight add yet another solid brick to the foundation of being the best distributor of fine cult fare in the UK. It wouldn’t be a Second Sight "must have" if it wasn’t filled with those customary extras one has come to expect, so how about a Q & A with Gordon about From Beyond, new interviews with Barbara Crampton, composer Richard Band, and screenwriter Dennis Paoli. Featurettes on the Special Effects of From Beyond, Lost and Found footage from the editing room, and a great commentary track with Gordon, Yuzna and Combs, and the reason that makes these films pop out amongst the rest,  spiffy new artwork by the legendary Graham Humphreys.

Make room on your shelves for Second Sight’s Limited Edition BluRay Steel book release of From Beyond, out in UK on the 25th of February.

(With more great eighties horror classic promised to follow)

Night of the Demons

Night of the Demons

Directed by: Kevin S. Tenney

USA, 1988

Horror, 90min

Distributed by: Anchor Bay 

I really like Night of the Demons, REALLY! I’ve had a real soft spot for it since the very first time I saw it a long, long time ago. Yeah, it’s one of those eighties flicks that I hold as a classic, and I held on to that old VHS tape for an eternity. It’s schlocky, creepy, fun and intimidating, just in the right way, it plays out almost like the first time you rode the ghost train. The first time around it was scary and fun, the second time you knew the beats and came prepared, and every time from there on, you just took the ride for the sheer fun of it. I can’t really say why this one became a fave more than any other title, but at the time Steve Johnson FX where buzzing, Linnea Quigley was THE scream queen and the flick had one of the best Bauhaus songs ever on the soundtrack.

A bunch of kids gather at Hall House, an infamous haunted house, where Angela has invited them to a Halloween party. The party starts and fun get’s rollin', until they decide to hold a séance. Disturbing images are seen in the mirror, which shatters into a thousand pieces releasing the demons of Hull House, which start possessing the youngsters one by one…

Basically Night of the Demons is a pretty straightforward generic horror that takes place on Halloween night. Gender roles and stereotypical characters are all introduced within the first ten minutes as the bunch of kids attending Angela’s party are introduced.  Judy [Cathy Podewell – who went on to became a regular on Dallas, as J.R’s second wife Cally, her date Jay [Lance Fenton], Sal [William Gallo], the bad-boy, with a crush on Judy. Their friends Max [Philip Tanzini] and Frannie [Jill Terashita], Angela [Mimi Kinkade] shop lifting while Suzanne [Linnea Quigley] – who only want’s to look good for the boys, bends over way to deep distracting the clerks with her pink panties… and in classic Quigley style, there’s more to come. Punk rockers Rodger, [Alvin Alexis] Helen [Allison Barron] and Stooge [Hal Havins]… and finally the Hull House, where the events of the night are about to unfold.  All of their traits are rapidly presented and we get a crash course into their personalities… and knowing genre conventions you know exactly where they are going to go during the movie. When jock type Jay get’s irritable that Judy won’t put out – after all he’s “heard the rumours” of her and Sal – he ditches her in the dark room and she’s left to her own devices.

Archetypes displaying their traits in the classic way, and from that moment on you know that the good girl virgin, Judy is gong to be this movies “Final girl”. Hey, it’s no coincidence that Judy’s wearing an Alice in wonderland dress, as Alice is a symbol of innocence, a metaphor for virginity… I’ve discussed how Alice in Wonderland is a goldmine for genre filmmakers – such as Jay Lee’s Alyce 2011, and this is yet another example of how it common it is in popular culture, and specifically the horror genre.

Oh, and notice that splendid character shift, where the unfortunate old man taunted by obnoxious teenagers turns into sinister old man about to hide razorblade in apples… That’s the kind of two-sided comedy/darkness I love about The Night of the Demons, and he’ll be back for the wraparound in a final blood drenched Steve Johnson effect.

It’s kind of silly, but the genesis of the haunted Hull House is told through corny dialogue bringing us up to speed – obviously it concerns someone in the Hull House going insane and slaughtering the entire family, and the underground stream, which the house supposedly was built on, that traps the evil spirits inside the old creepy house.

Being such a piece of eighties pop culture, and generic formula, the kids obviously have a few brew’s, dance around to some new wave rock, and then kick up a séance, which releases the evil forces. Buckle up, shits about to get wild, and Steve Johnson’s about to unleash a shit load of amazing special effects upon you as Demons walk the world.

False scares, conventional build-ups, traditional horror ploys, but also some very original moments that still stand out today. You can’t argue with Steve Johnson's spectacular eighties special effects, the eye gouging, possessed faces, burn victims, trauma injuries - still spectacular today  - or that gory climax! Who can ever forget the image of Linnea Quigley pushing her lipstick info the flesh of her nipple. An iconic moment of generic horror that still stands the test of time. The lipstick into the breast scene is still an awesomely impressive effect, and is in many ways an epitome of sex and horror colliding, creating a discomfort within the audience.  First it get’s you all excited then it freaks the hell out of you, but that’s nothing compared to the seductive little dance Suzanne gives Jay later; lifting up her skirt, showing him some muff, straddling the expectant lad, and then turning into a demon only to gouge out his eyes… awesome stuff, and definitely a head fuck in the best possible way.

Night of the Demons was followed by two sequels – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Night of the Demons 2, and Jim Kaufman’s straight to Video Night of the Demons III (written by Tenney) - all starring Amelia Kinkade as Angela. It was also source for a remake in 2009 Adam Gierasch Night of the Demons, to little success, despite Edward Furlong (Who's arm I grabbed and snarled "Watch it Kid!" at, at a convention in Stockholm a few years back, after Furlong stumbled out of a booth in the bathroom, bumped into my then seven year old, and snarled "Watch it kid!"), Shannon Elizabeth, a Quigley cameo, and an almost blueprint replica of the original movie – including lipstick gag. The contemporary take on old-school generic horror fails miserably as it lacks the enthusiasm, fines and passion of this original gem with it’s almost perfect tongue in cheek mix of scares, cark comedy and sexual allusions, and ironic wraparound story.

Night of the Demons is a movie that I love so profoundly that I have no trouble revisiting it over and over again. On a list of 20 desert island titles, I'd take this one with me. Despite being rather conventional and a universally generic horror film, it has some fantastic effects by Steve Johnson – who finally got to showcase his work on his own and not as part of a team, a great new wave soundtrack and an original score by Dennis Michael Tenney, and a cast and crew, who obviously are having a great time. I elevate it above the most other generic flicks of the time, because there’s something magical about the demons in Hull House.