Meurtre Sanglant au Camp D'Été

This is a surprisingly effective slasher movie that's far better than the usual straight-to-video exploitation fare thanks to stylish direction and an eerie score. The movie is clearly influenced by '80s summer camp horror films like "Friday the 13th" and "The Burning," and it earns comparison with those cult classics due to an unusual respect for pace, composition, and performance. The suspense sequences are crafted with care and build to some pretty frightening payoffs, and the characters are well defined and well acted enough that we actually care about what happens to them. A creepy score helps matters along, as does expressive editing and a story that has its share of surprising twists. "Bloody Murder 2" is hardly original, but as an escapist thriller it delivers the goods.