The horror industry lately suffers, as I'm sure you're very much aware, from an incredibly annoying trend called remakes. Numerous classics from the 1970's and 1980's – perfectly fine films that absolutely don't require any form of updating – are being remade in order to appeal to nowadays horror loving audiences. That sucks! It also sucks that this trend involuntarily causes you to be milder and a lot less skeptical towards other movies that are nevertheless inferior. "Return to Sleepaway Camp", for example, is a totally redundant and stupidly incoherent sequel that is a quarter of a century overdue, but hey
at least it's not a remake so let's be a little more generous!
I didn't like the original "Sleepaway Camp" very much. The film contained some really ingenious plot ideas and several very grisly images but, regretfully, NONE of these promising elements were processed the way they should have and the shocking climax wasn't shocking enough to compensate for all the defaults. Many old-school slasher fans did count the original among their favorites, and thus the film spawned a handful of sequels. "Return to Sleepaway Camp" is considered to be somewhat unique because it was once again scripted and directed by Robert Hiltzik; the creator of the infamous original. Fair enough, but it isn't because this guy crawled back from underneath a rock after 25 years that the film suddenly becomes an instant must-see cult classic. As to be expected, "Return to Sleepaway Camp" is a routine and hugely derivative slasher picture with uninspired murder sequences and immature attempts at sleazy humor. The atmosphere is light-headed and the production luckily never takes itself too seriously, but generally speaking it's still a waste of time. Strangely enough the film stars a couple of respectable actors, like Vincent Pastore and Isaac Hayes in a flesh & blood portrayal of his South Park character Chef, but most of the cast is a gathering of annoying teenagers (the chubby kid is truly insufferable) and untalented scream queens. Felissa Rose, the one and only Angela from the original, returns to camp as well after 25 years. If you, like me, promptly recognize her amidst the other cast members, it means you've seen way too many stupid 80's slashers.
