Spirit Camp

Here we go with yet another teen slasher movie with the usual wooden acting by a bunch of bimbos who obviously won't be doing Shakespeare in the park this summer. A troubled adolescent is sentenced by a kangaroo court to be punished by spending her days at a cheerleader camp. I can't make this sh** up.

Roxy Vandiver "stars" as Nikki, the goth bad girl who has a resemblance to the singer Pink. She is immediately despised by her fellow pom pom girls as they make fun of her for being different. The killings start quickly, and in between are some drills on the correct way to lead a cheer; go team go; ra ra ra, and praise the lord and pass the ammunition. Spirit Camp is about as bad as it gets, so do yourself a favor and avoid this movie.

I have been a fan of low budget horror my whole life and as a longtime fan of the genre, you really don't expect much when you hear "low budget horror film." Things are different now. If you weren't aware that Spirit Camp was a low budget horror film, you'd never know it when viewing the movie. It easily looks like a multimillion dollar effort.

Technically, the film looked perfect. The cinematography, sound, shot composition, direction all first rate. And when I learned the history of this project, that not only did Kerry Beyer write, produce, direct and perform in Spirit Camp, but he was also the cinematographer, editor, sound editor and did the digital effects himself, it almost redefines "indie" -- he almost did everything himself.

The acting is a lot better than it needed to be as well. The leads and co-stars are great, and there are some great actors in bit parts.

If you are a horror fan, especially fan of classic slasher films, you should catch Spirit Camp if it comes to your city.

Beautiful glossy sweet movie of cheerleaders, blood and gore. This film is everything that you can expect and more. It's cool, sleek, witty, neat and enjoyable to watch in a teen slasher kinda way.

Basic plot involves a group of teens heading off for summer camp. Once arrived, they soon discover that a crazy madman has escaped from a local secure (or un-secure) prison and the body-count begins to mount up. Yes, this is the original obvious plot, but its produced as a pure homage to all that has come before, looks great and really is a fun film to watch.

When I say obvious, I really mean it. Basically, every time someone steps out of one of the chalets or into the woods, into a shower, they are sliced up. 'So, if it's so obvious, why is it good?' I hear you cry. This film is produced with such love an attention, fine detail and witty perfect script, it's impossible not to watch. I'm presuming it was filmed on HD Camera, it's gloriously lit and colourful to the eye. The cast are all great too. Great to see Julin again (after another fav of the 365Horror project, the Final) real screen presence and great comic timing. Roxy Vandiver is good, kinda in the lead here, but totally overshadowed by Julin. Brandon Smith and Amy Morris both offer sterling performances. Credence to Kerry Beyer, as writer, director, DP and actor for getting a great performance out of such a young cast whilst shooting a great lookin' film.

One of the best of the year so far.

Plot-Think Friday the 13th meets The Breakfast Club with cheerleaders. Roxy Vandiver and Julin, among others in cheer leading outfit trying to not be killed by a slasher in the woods at Spirit Camp. This film really just sells itself.

Review-Kerry Beyer is truly a fan of horror. With references in this film to genre classics such as Halloween,( camp director's name is Miss Haddonfield)and kills very much like Friday the 13th. Spirit Camp is a prime example of what an indie film can do right, and a Hollywood film will always screw up. Kerry is another example of the talent that is coming out of Texas right now. Texas has become a hotbed for horror in the last few years, pretty much like when Nirvana put Seattle on the map. Where people will look at the cover art of this film and have their minds made up before even attempting to give this film a shot. I can tell you that this film delivers a very solid story, very well written characters, a decent amount of kills, and a huge amount of nudity. Make no mistake about it, this film was created for a certain demographic, and that is male between the ages of birth and death. You have Julin, Roxy Vandiver and etc running around in cheer leading outfits while being chased by a killer. Who else could you market this film to? Churches? What it lacks on kills, it makes up for with the ladies. And the shock, what it lacked on ladies and kills, it made up for with a well written script. Kerry actually made a smart script from a type of genre comic film that a smart script should not work on, and it worked. Look at Roxy playing Nikki, where most directors would be content letting Nikki be the bad ass misunderstood rebel. Kerry, as the film went on made her character a "don't judge a book by the cover" character. This is another example of the brilliance of this film. He lets the actors own their characters, instead of playing against the tongue and cheek feel of the film. He made them seem serious, funny but yet sympathetic that you would not want to watch anything bad happen to them.

This film has such a dark humor and very fan written script, that you cannot hate this film. It was made by a fan for the fans. You almost feel as though, Kerry had a proverbial check list as to what to include in this film. We have to have the male characters that have the appeal of someone from Porky's. We have to make a death scene even worst, why not get a snake to crawl on the girl while she is in fear. This film is such a fresh breath of air to the horror genre. Spirit Camp is a great example of how far indie films have progressed in the last few years. How are Julin and Roxy Vandiver not more famous by now? This film shows what these ladies are capable of, and shows you what Texas is becoming very well known for releasing. Spirit Camp is a fun time. This film is an example of do not judge the film by the box art. It is so much more than fun and exciting than the cover art shows you. This is definitely a must watch.

A cheerleading squad from the suburbs of Houston goes to summer camp to improve their camaraderie and cheer skills, but a masked killer is on the loose and most of the youths end up dead one-by-one.

"Spirit Camp" (2009) is a satirical meshing of the Friday the 13th and Bring It On flicks. It's a spare change Indie, but the director/writer (Kerry Beyer) is proficient and so the filmmaking is professional with quality locations, lighting, photography, gore, sound and score/soundtrack. Even the no-name cast rises to the challenge with an amusingly campy approach, although there are a couple of scenes with noticeably dubious "acting."

Beyer wisely includes all the staples of the slasher genre and, best of all, knows how to photograph women. The standouts are Katy Rowe (Amber), Denise Williamson (Monica), Amy Morris (Lindsay), Julin (Rachel) and Sarah McCulley /Thygeson (Beth); superb job on this front.

With the campy vibe I had doubts that the story would remain compelling over the course of the slightly overlong runtime (for an Indie slasher, that is), but Beyer keeps things moving and I eventually found myself taking the events fairly seriously (surprisingly). A plus is that I couldn't predict who the killer turns out to be. A minus is that he shoulda toned down the crudity, but it's not as bad as some flicks, e.g. the tasteless "American Pie," and he was obviously aiming to amuse.

The film runs 1 hour and 36 minutes and was shot in Cleveland, Texas (a 2.5 hour drive south of Lake Tyler), with the suburban scenes done in Houston.

GRADE: B/B-