Deer Camp '86

Fun chill watch, seriously campy. You can't take it too seriously, that's not the point. Kept thinking it took place in the 90s instead of the 80s but it didn't really impact the story at all. A bunch of one liners had us cracking up. The storyline is somewhat predictable, but there were a few points that we were sitting back going "wait, that doesn't make sense" before it corrected itself 10 minutes later.

Really loved that the characters were like caricatures of people you know. We had our favorites immediately, and the one you were encouraged to hate had really good reasons to hate them. Made you root for them to get their slashing.

Given the synopsis ("In the fall of 1986 six knuckleheads from Detroit ..."), you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a horror comedy. It isn't. There's some funny banter among said knuckleheads, especially in the early going, but ultimately this movie is trying to be a fairly straightforward survival/supernatural horror. Sort of Predator with a group of drunken quippy idiots instead of an elite special forces unit. There are also references to missing and exploited indigenous women that seem like they're trying to be genuinely profound. It wasn't boring but the tone was an odd mix of silly dialogue, earnest social commentary and horror imagery that didn't ever fully coalesce.

Better than average for the budget. It has something it wanted to say and did it moderately well.

It is pseudo 80s. But doesn't really matter. It has some humor though most of the jokes are a bit bland. A nice change of pace with some enjoyable Northern Michigan fall foliage.

Suburban kids go to the country to hunt. Terrible use of and stereotypical depiction of local country folk. The suburban kids are barely given much better to work with. They eventually get to the cabin and start to go hunting. Then some stuff happens and things build to the finish.

A bit of a slow going. Eventually it gets moving along. With a rushed ending. It has decent practical effect, some moderate cgi and some not great cgi. A little heavy handed on being against hunting.

Overall I am not upset I watched it. Though I am not sure when or if I would ever watch it again. It does wrap up in a reasonable way. Which is too bad, because with some tweaks and changes this could have been really entertaining. Instead it an okay way to pass your time when you are in a mood for a horror flick.

A bit of gore and a bit of language. In a movie that could have been good and ended up just mediocre.

The "hunters" looked like they were outfitted by Todd Snyder. No actual hunter would wear clothing this nice. The actors seemed miscast. And the exaggerated stereo types of small town people was unnecessary (racist, homophobic, etc).

The movie took place in 1986. Besides the "Simon" game, nothing by way of set design or costume made you think "yeah this is the '80s." One highlight was the beautiful Michigan autumn scenery. I've never been to Michigan but I'm now interested.

The acting was decent. And again, the scenery is gorgeous. It was as though it was from the Michigan tourism department!!!!

This is one of those movies that has everything going for it except for a few problems in the writing. The performances are good, it's well-shot and edited, the cast and crew seemed to be having fun (bloopers are scattered throughout the end credits), there are impressive practical FX, the music compliments the visuals, and there are a few creepy moments.

On the writing end, issues begin with the characters, who are one-dimensional. There's a cop who's only there to spout exposition, the mean fat guy and the loser whom he bullies, the psycho war veteran, the token black guy, a bland redneck, and a blander final boy. This is a low-budget horror movie, and I can forgive the character shortcomings, so let's move on... It wants to be a comedy, but it's really not that funny, and the pacing is off. There's one particular scene that only exists to make viewers squirm - they try to frame it in a supernatural way, but it doesn't work and feels like it belongs in a Jack Black movie or something. But my biggest problem is with the twist, which I won't spoil because it comes totally out of the blue. After the credits rolled, I immediately started the movie over, expecting to find some foreshadowing that I'd missed, but it just ain't there. I did enjoy the movie more the second time, though.

Deer Camp '86 works as a throwback (although it feels more early-'90s than mid-'80s), and it's definitely better than the crap mainstream Hollywood has been churning out lately, but it's neither the masterpiece nor the disaster that other reviewers have claimed. I'd imagine it works best with an audience and intoxicants.