User reviews

I usually hate when a sequel explains what happened in the original but this movie needed it and thankfully they did it. Once again there is basically no plot and the acting is not so good. This time they don't go for the over the top screaming, which is definitely a good thing. The ways the people get killed are much better than in the original, although this time lots of dead people continue to breath or move their eyes. I'm sure other reviews on here say it sucks but it's just as good as the original, just different. Give it a chance.

I consider "Sleepaway Camp" to be one of the best, most original B-horror films I've seen so far. The sequel is standard B-movie trash, which goes for broke in gory death scenes and gratuitous female nudity. It doesn't contain nearly as much originality as its predecessor. Nevertheless, it's mindless entertainment. And the frequently nude and topless females serve as fine eye candy. The acting is bad (except for Renee Estevez, who's halfway decent, and the guy playing Uncle John, who's pretty good), the cinematography is bad and the special f/x are extremely low grade. But what the heck? In this sort of film, those elements can be quite charming. But after a while, the cheesy horror grows tiresome (they could've chipped in just a tad more money for the f/x) and script is so devoid of original ideas that the film gets too lame for its own good. But if you're looking for a fun late night horror flick to watch during those sleepless nights, "SC 2" shouldn't disappoint. Even though I felt the first one was much more ingenious, the sequel serves its purpose. And I loved the new heavy metal theme song. It's one of those tunes that screams out, "This is not your father's horror movie!"

My score: 6 (out of 10)

Before commenting on "Sleepaway Camp II" I need to put something clear. Valerie Hartman is a spectacular beauty; she's incredibly beautiful, sexy, charming, etc. She makes this movie worth a watch. That's how amazing she is. Also, her sex scenes are highlights. Yes believe it.

Now seriously, "Sleepaway Camp II" is a fun, entertaining, somehow gory Slasher flick. It's a sequel to a straight Slasher flick; I mean, the original had no black humor and was all about gore and the now infamous creepy ending. The sequel is more of a black comedy with some gore and cheesy one liners.

This is a pleasant watch for fans of Slashers with the occasional black comedy. Pamela Springsteen delivers a unique, comical performance but when she needs to be bad, oh, she is bad and wicked. She steals the show and I'm glad she is now somewhat a cult icon on the Slasher sub-genre.

The death scenes are very regular for these kind of movies but I must be redundant; the comical bits add something fresh to these death scenes.

Sincerely, I'm objective, and that's why I will recommend "Sleepaway Camp II" only for fans of the Slasher sub-genre. Avid Horror fans with more violent tastes most likely will hate it. It's the typical American Slasher filled with clichès, cheese, and horrible acting.

But overall this is a decent sequel with decent death scenes and funny sequences.

After the debacle of the first Sleepaway Camp, who thought that a franchise could be born. SC II is superior in aspect. More inspired killings and just whole lot more fun. While that might not be saying much (compared to the first movie), Sleepaway Camp II is worth the rental.

Pros: Entertaining, doesn't take itself too seriously like SC I. Inspired Killings. Cons: Crappy acting and mullets abound.

Bottom Line: 5/10

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is the best in the camp trilogy. The gore scenes are great, Pamela Springstein as Angela is very funny and the cast of unknowns is very good. There is also a lot of nudity which is always good in a slasher flick.

I'm a fan of the original Sleepaway Camp and this sequel is utterly lousy. Parts of the movie occasionally qualify for that "so-bad-it's-funny" entertaining quality, but that's the only slightly redeeming aspect. Other than that, this film is so sleazy that I felt the need to shower afterwards!

Angela kills for no reason whatsoever, just murder for murder's sake. At least she uses a bit of creative variety, I'll give her that. The effects are laughable and the 25-30 year old actors trying to portray young teens really make you shake your head. The immaturity and idiocy of the characters wouldn't even have been believable if it were a camp of Kindergarten kids.

Invest your time more wisely than this!

About six years after the events of the first film, Angela (Pamela Springsteen) is now an adult camp counselor at Camp Rolling Hills after getting therapy and the operation (if you know what I mean). She carefreely weeds out all the bad kids and anyone else who might get in the way.

The production values of "Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers" (1988) are all-around superior to the original 1983 slasher. Sure, both are "Friday the 13th" knock-offs, but they're distinguished by (1.) actual adolescents inhabiting the camp and (2.) the perverse uniqueness of the killer.

The only real campy element is Angela's blithe chippy-ness in carrying out her slaughter spree. Other than that, this plays out like a mid-80's coming-of-age drama with quality insights and surprisingly fleshed-out characters, which were the attributes of the first film as well. For instance, Molly (Renée Estevez) is very distinguished from Ally (Valerie Hartman) and Mare (Susan Marie Snyder). The mullets and short shorts on guys are amusing.

An additional highlight is the kick-axx soundtrack of semi-obscure mid-80's rock/metal, starting with Anvil's excellent "Straight Between the Eyes" during the opening credits (only hindered by the juvenile and tasteless lyrics, but what else is new?). "Outta Control" by John Altyn is featured later and Obsession's "Desperate to Survive" during the end credits.

The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in Bremen, Georgia, about an hour's drive west of Atlanta.

GRADE: B/B-

100% female and waving around the certificate of goody-goody Girl Scout, Angela signs in as a counselor at Rolling Hills summer camp. She's determined to make it a fun summer for everyone, singing Kumbaya-songs around the fire and all, but she keeps on having conflicts with rebellious and sex-hungry teenagers. In order to uphold the camp's happy spirit, Angela has no other option but to send the rotten apples home. Of course "sending people home" in Angela's book means slaughtering them brutally… Talking in terms of 80's slashers, the original "Sleepaway Camp" (released in 1983) is a classic. Along with a selected group of other titles (like "Prom Night", "Friday the 13th" and "The Prowler"), the original is a film that every self-respecting horror fan simply has to see. This first sequel isn't nearly as 'essential', but it still stands as a highly enjoyable and relaxing film. The script contains absolutely no tension or plot-twists, since you already know the culprit's identity from the beginning, so all the excitement depends on the various methods by which the teenager are killed off. Angela uses drills, strings of a guitar, car battery-acid, campfires and there even is an entire act in which campers battle dressed up like horror icons Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface! The biggest trump of "Sleepaway Camp" is that it never takes itself too seriously and it has absolutely no ambition to be a compelling film. All in one, a light-hearted movie with gore, nudity and an attractive cast. You simply can't expect more from a movie like this.

Sleepaway Camp II is a great horror sequel, not only does it manage to equal the demented original, but in many areas, it actually improves upon the 1983 masterpiece.

Angela is back, this time at Camp Rolling Hills and posing as a camp counselor. She's pretty cheerful until some of the immoral teenagers start getting under her skin, then it's death by battery acid, power drill, knife and much, much more! The character of Angela Baker this time out is played by Pamela Springsteen (Bruce's sis) and she does a wonderful job. Some have criticized this film for making its maniac too likable, and that is a minor fault, but Pam is wickedly funny, often creepy, and always a great presence on screen.

Sleepaway II ties horror and comedy together very well, being in turn funny and creepy, it's much more of a subtle horror parody than the likes of Scream, and a lot more fun! For fans of the genre that have managed to miss this one, definately check it out, its got enough nudity, blood and overall fun for 10 summer camp slashers! As horror goes, it rates a solid 8 out of 10 on a serious scale!

The original Sleepaway Camp movie was a dark slasher movie with a seriously twisted ending, part 2 "Unhappy Campers" however is loaded with humour. Killer camp counsellor Angela (Pamela Springsteen, yes sister of Bruce) is back, "cured" of her murderous tendencies. However, even before the opening credits, she's back to her old ways, hitting a girl across the head with a log before slicing off her tongue! There follows many more gory and imaginative deaths, two stoner sisters are burnt to a crisp ("Say no to drugs" says Angela during the act), a guy has acid thrown into his face, another is decapitated, throats slashed, heads, drilled, etc. There is also plenty of sex and gratuitous female nudity (boobs, no full frontal) on show, add to that some mullet hairstyles and 80's rock music, proof that despite the slasher boom being over by around four years there was still life in the genre. Three characters dress up as horror icons Jason, Freddy and Laetherface, with Angela playing the latter you can be assured that her chainsaw isn't a fake one! Originally released heavily cut in the UK on VHS as Nightmare Vacation 2 this is now available in all of its uncut glory. Not really a classic but there is a lot of gory fun to be had.

Sleepaway Camp 2 (1988) was another in a line of unwarranted and lousy sequels to good horror films. The first one was no classic but it is one compared to this tripe. My biggest pet peeve in a movie is when the film makers try to hard. Yes, they tried to hard this time. I hate that so much. If you're not funny and witty but you think you are and you cram it down the people's throats and beat them over and over in the head with lame humor is not cool! No one is going to fall for it! The only reason this movie got such a high rating is that the movie that followed this one is so bad that this one is a masterpiece by comparison and the first one is a classic.

Not recommended, unless you love movie that tick you off!

It's not easy being a horror movie fan. After seeing some spectacular masterpieces you start to realize that there aren't many good ones, and you'll spend most of your valuable movie-watching time on lame tripe that contains no originality or jollity, desperately searching for another classic. But I've discovered that if you lower your standards a bit you might find some less-than-classics that are still fun and enjoyable, if not legendary works of art. I humbly submit "Sleepaway Camp 2" as a tolerable entry in the slasher movie archives.

First of all, as far as deranged mass-murderers go, you could do a lot worse than Angela, a demented transsexual camp counselor who flips out at the most minor rule-breakers and reacts lethally, all while sporting a smile and never feeling blue. Our cheery Angela is the most "can-do" serial killer ever. You'll never find a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" or "American Psycho" near her victims- but maybe "Life's Little Instruction Booklet"!

Next of all, it's got a lot of killings. Some movies give you three, maybe four killings, but this one has a crate-full of slaughter- burning, eye-gouging, stabbing, beheading and more. Main characters or peripheral characters, on-screen or off, pretty much everyone gets it in this movie. There's even a classic scene where Angela forces one loathsome character down the hole in an outhouse! (If that doesn't sell you on this movie, nothing will.)

Finally, the cast is pretty good. The heroine is the lovely Renee Estevez, who should be a bigger star. She's always super-likable, (most notably as Betty Finn in "Heathers"). The severely unstable Angela is brought to life by Bruce Springsteen's sister Pamela, and puts in a wonderful performance here.

I can't recommend parts one or three in the epic "Sleepaway Camp" saga, because they're pretty putrid, but part deux is a pretty good diversion from the standard cinematic defecation that's passed off as entertainment.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers? More like Unhappy Renters!

Who funds this sort of garbage? There was no suspense as to who the killer was and none of the usual sudden unexpected deaths or even bare minimum plot typical for the 80s horror genre. The thing that makes this whole thing even worse is the fact that they decided to make a third installment of this series.

I want my 80 minutes back.

Ghostly tales around the campfire, killing, naked women, sex, and rock music. All the ingredients of a classic slasher film. I would personally put this movie along side such gems as Pieces, Slumber Party Murders, Happy Birthday To Me, because Sleepaway Camp 2, like those films, is enjoyable because of the fact that it is so cheesy.

As usual of 80's slasher flicks, the teens are played by twenty-somethings and have really bad hair cuts (some of the mullets are outstanding). The plot doesn't offer anything not been done before, and it is very similar to that of the Friday 13th movies (ie set in the woods). Pamela Springsteen shines as the nutty counsellor - there is one amusing scene when she is deciding on an implement with which to off her next victim. Basically if you enjoy watching harmless cheesy slasher films then this one is for you.

Angela Johnson (Pamela Springsteen--yes she's related to Bruce), the killer from the first film, is up to her old tricks again. She's one of the counselors at Camp Rolling Hills. As long as the girls at camp are nice and stay away from sex, drugs and swearing things are fine. But a few step over the line and Angela kills them--cracking bad jokes all the way.

The original "Sleepaway Camp" was a vicious and nasty splatter film but had some good points to it. This is vicious and nasty too but has NO good points to it. The plot has been done to death and this adds NOTHING new to the formula. There are plenty of gory killings in here (people are burnt alive, heads are cut off, throats slashed) but all the gore is so obviously fake it actually become comical. This also has the smallest amount of campers I've ever seen and virtually everyone is far too old for their roles (especially Higgins). As expected there's the gratuitous female nudity (here provided by the tremendously untalented Valerie Hartman) and the obligatory good girl/good boy team (Renne Estevez and Tony Higgins). With the sole exception of Springsteen and Higgins the acting is lousy--even by slasher movie standards. There's also a cruel edge to this movie in which one character is drowned in an outhouse! Boring and sick with a stupid plot, pointless nudity and bad gore. Skip it.

After watching the first two entries in the "Sleepaway Camp" series, it's quite clear that they took the idea in a completely different direction. While SC 1 was more serious, SC2 had some comic elements and definitely benefited from having Pamela Springsteen as Angela.

Springsteen still portrays the confused and very much psychotic Angela as Felissa Rose did in SC 1, but Pam brings a definite lighter side to the role. In SC 1 rarely did Angela seem happy (I can remember maybe one or two instances). In SC 2, Angela was seen sometimes as cheerful, even though the other campers definitely saw her "bitchy" side.

Overall the violence was rather tame. The way Angela killed Ally was the most disturbing. Other than the beheading all of the violence was left to the viewers imagination. (though we did see some if it in Angela's dream).

Better than the first movie in my opinion. I was not impressed with the quality of the transfer to DVD on SC 1, and this one is not much better. I guess we should be thankful that such companies as Legacy Entertainment are willing to put the older cult movies out.

Rating: 6 out of 10

I admit...this is the only sleepaway camp i've ever seen. It is entertaining. The acting is horrible and the deaths are overly elaborate. But it's funny. Cheesy is the best word for it. I love how the camp director believes the story that all the missing (dead) campers were just sent home. Everyone in this movie dies! It's funny...at the end the one surviving girl appears as though she will be killed as well...leaving the door open for the next sequel which i did not see unfortunately.

I liked watching this movie. It is classic 80's horror. Nothing but a slasher flick. I liked the numerous topless scenes and the gratuitous sex scene (in the woods). I liked how everyone's death was supposedly justifiable in the killer's mind. The drowning in the camp toilet was the best...see this movie if you want to see gore but not be scared. It's good for a laugh...