Camp Murder

It amazes me the amount of horrible acting that happens in this film. I'm all for independent low budget films but at least make the dialogue flow and not cliche. The old lady in the car discussing her lady needs and the doctor confessing to a one night stand as the love of his life is beyond ridiculous. And the actors trying to play younger than their actual age, really? Trying to portray like you are in campground when I'm fact your are in someone's backyard was beyond believable.

After escaping from a mental asylum, a deranged serial killer returns to the campground he stalked years earlier and targets a group of friends hoping to use the area to indulge in long-suppressed desires, but as his doctor tracks him the killings bring everyone together to stop his rampage.

Overall, this one was a decent enough and enjoyable indie slasher. Among the better features here comes from the goofy setup that comes about providing this one with some intriguing setpieces. The main storyline here involves the escaped mental patient returning to the campground where he massacred scores of people years ago, forcing the psychiatrist to chase him down with his mother and a bounty hunter. Likewise, the concurrent storyline involving the group of friends coming together at the camp for a fun weekend trip with their own issues and interpersonal dynamics comes off quite well at getting everybody together to be attacked by the killer they're unaware of. That leads rather well into the films' cheesy and charming low-budget slashing scenes. The initial escape and the first ambush on the couple in the woods provide the kind of sudden indie-style setpieces that get this rolling with some brutal kills amongst the cheese, while scenes of him appearing to the birdwatchers or the forest ranger offer up some more fun in that ambush-style slashing setup. The finale here provides some more fun with the series of back-and-forth confrontations as the killer finishes off the remaining members of the group while also featuring enjoyable gore and action that has some shocking outcomes for the survivors, giving this some likable elements. There are some rather big issues with this one. One of the few factors against the film is the rather goofy and flimsy series of excuses needed to believe the setup involving the friends being together in the woods in the first place. This requires so much stretching of the believability to buy that they're wrestlers and long-time friends which is somewhat laughable as well as taking up a lot of time trying to hammer this facet home. As well, there's also the usual assortment of issues here in these films that covers the blatantly obvious production issues ranging from the weekend style shooting, the gore make-up, and the general approach of everything which can be a factor in holding this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and a sex scene.

The movie ultimately feels like a proof of concept film that would be shown to investors, and not the actual public. Think if Hatchet had no budget, and the acting wasn't as good. Being someone who was a Polonis fan for over a decade, I can say that this might be his weakest film to date. Overall, it just feels uninspired and boring. The kills, while the gore effects were decent, are just consistently bland, and there was one that felt like he wanted to do the kill in a certain way, but just didn't for whatever reason. And the acting wasn't bad enough to find funny, and the dialog just felt mono throughout the whole film. There were a few funny moments, and I don't regret watching it, but he could do better.

Interesting cast of actors in this one but I actually enjoyed this for a low budget movie. Lighting and sound was above average but the soundtrack was a little irritating at times.

Camp murder is a 2021 film directed by Mark Polonia. It follows a group of people with some sort of wrestling background out in the woods when a masked killer starts slaughtering everyone.

The plot in this film is not original but then again, how original can you really get when it comes to masked camp murder type movies. The only thing that I feel is original in this plot is the strange wrestling related love triangle and murder plot involving Kyle Rappaport and Jamie Morgan. Now this is not to say that movies like this are not entertaining by any means, I'm a big fan of the Friday the 13th and Camp Blood Series after all, just not original. The plot flows well and does not drag which is a plus considering the types of movies I've watched in the past.

The acting in this film was at the standard Microbudget Grade. Though not quite at the big budget standard the acting is passable and there is nothing that would take you out of the film. It is fun seeing Kyle playing the bad guy and not just another murder victim so that gives the film a few pluses.

The production design was pretty good in this film. I really like the killer mask in this one it comes across as very intimidating. The effects on the kills come across well with a lot of practical effects thrown in. I feel as Polonia Movies go this one comes across quite well and not rushed in the slightest.

Camp Murder is an ambitious project, trying to stick out in a sea of similar films. While I don't feel the movie rises above the rest, it most certainly treads water with other solid movies of its time and is far from the bottom. You could do worse on a slasher movie night than to put this one in place.