For those of you who buy this movie expecting an Eastern "Friday The 13th" - as I did - you'll be sorely disappointed. For this isn't the Hong Kong answer to Sean Cunningham's 1980 slasher classic, but instead to a nod to the extremely brutal 1974 film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", telling the story of five teenage friends holidaying on an idyllic island who fall afoul of a mentally retarded youngster and his chainsaw-happy father.
"1999 The Deadly Camp" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen - in ANY language. It's grim, it's low budget, the acting's despicable, the dialogue's corny beyond belief; I could go on and on. At first I wondered whether I was missing something in the subtitle translation but, although the 'burned-in' subs on the Widesight DVD release are very hard to read at times, it is the movie itself that deserves the most criticism.
The plot is completely infantile, the direction is lame beyond words and I honestly believe a pre-teen could do a better job given the plot premise. And it's so GRIM - slasher movies (at least in America and I'm sure in the Far East, too) are designed to be fun. Despite the ratings often given, I'm sure most films in this genre are made with the 13-21 age in mind and that's why we're often given a bit of a break from the harsh brutality of the killings with some humour or other light relief. No such luck here, though, as the unrelenting father kills anyone who doesn't have time for his mentally retarded - and sickeningly perverted - young son.
I'm a big fan of Asian cinema and this is certainly just a minor blot on their record for me but "1999 The Deadly Camp" is a movie which made me feel quite sick. Truly abysmal and not recommended in the slightest. * / *****
