Sleepaway Camp

As far as discount Friday the 13th slasher ripoffs go, this one is pretty average for the most part. It's weird, and the ominous tone of uncertainty is held throughout the entire film. It's a movie that's not afraid to deal with some heavy subjects while at the same time sticking to the slasher genre. For its time and budget, the effects are pretty good too. It's an extremely campy movie but it's one that stands out from the others in the sense that it's one you'll never forget for the twist ending. It's perhaps one of the most well-known - and shocking, especially given the societal changes between then and now - twist endings in history. But I'm not here to spoil the movie; go give it a shot and see what you think.

Slightly disturbed and painfully shy Angela Baker (Felissa Rose) is sent away to summer camp with her foul-mouthed cousin Ricky Thomas (Jonathan Tiersten). Not long after Angela's arrival, things start to go horribly wrong for anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions.

This film is either loved or hated, and with good reason, but it has been embraced more and more as the years go on by fans of the horror genre. The acting is excessively cheesy, especially from Desiree Gould, but purposely so. The kills are grisly and nasty, even if not always shown on screen. When that curling iron strikes, you know the situation. And the pedophile cook? Oh man... that is pushing boundaries that even horror films dare not cross (Freddy Krueger can be a child killer, but not a child molester).

One cannot vouch for the next two sequels, which have little connection to this film, but the original stands as a true modern classic, and if you have not seen it, you are really missing out on an important piece of horror history. What could have been a ripoff of other horror slashers that take place at camp (notably "Friday the 13th") turns out to be far different from any other title out there. And keep in mind the whole crew, more or less, had just come from "Creepshow", so these were folks who knew what they were doing.

Writer-director Robert Hiltzik (who graduated NYU with Ang Lee) mysteriously went decades without directing again. Many of the actors also never acted again, at least for a long time. And then you have Christopher Collet, going on to make such things as "Prayer of the Rollerboys"... does that make him the biggest success from this film?

Not only does the film get better with repeated viewings (which make the humor and camp more fun), but there are actually some clever subplots that will likely be missed on the first time or two. Mel Kostic (portrayed wonderfully by the late Mike Kellin) not only is one of the best characters, but has his own story and relationship with the campers and counselors that may not be immediately evident.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray is ridiculously good and worth owning. Beyond the excellent presentation, it has three different audio commentaries, where you learn odd trivia like Felissa Rose's husband Deron Miller meeting her as a fan, and much more. There is even a short film showing whatever happened to Judy (although it is not very good).

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

*** (out of 4)

Angela (Felissa Rose) goes with her cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) to a summer camp where she's constantly picked on and harassed by the most popular girl in camp (Karen Fields). Over and over again Angela is picked on due to her shyness, which causes Ricky to have to defend her and before long dead bodies begin to pile up.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP is a pretty notorious entry in the 80's slasher genre due in large part to a terrific twist at the end, which I obviously won't spoil here. If you want to play a uptight critic it's easy to really cream this film because there are some pretty bad things throughout including some at times hideous acting. However, if you're a fan of the genre, which I am, there's no question that this film has a lot going for it and it fits nicely into the genre, which at times delivered one cliché after another. There's no doubt that SLEEPAWAY CAMP has some clichéd moments but there's still no doubting it's impact on the genre and the all around good time you can have with it.

I think the best thing about the film is that it just feels so much like the 80's. The movie has the basic set-up taking place in a camp with a psycho running around but there's a lot of other stuff thrown in including a bizarre subplot dealing with a pedophile and there's even some stranger stuff that I won't go into so that I avoid any spoilers. The film also shows how bullying was handled in the 80's, which was usually with a big fat nothing. The film manages to really make you feel the time that it was set in and I think writer- director Robert Hiltzik deserves some credit for putting some of the more bizarre things in here.

It also doesn't hurt that you've got a group of characters that you can root for and against. One can't help but feel sympathy for Angela and you also can't help but like Ricky and Paul. The villains in the film are so over-the-top cruel that you also don't mind seeing them get knocked off one at a time. Then there's Judy who's certainly one of the most memorable villains in the history of the slasher period. Fields performance is just so spot-on that you can't help see the glee in her as she torments Angela. Rose is also quite charming in her role and there's certainly not a better slasher actor than Tiersten when it comes to saying profanity.

The murder scenes are mostly off-camera, I'm sure due to budget reasons but they're still quite memorable and especially the aftermath when we see what actually happened. The make-up effects are quite simple but effective enough. I also liked how the main goal of the film wasn't the gore and violence but instead the characters and especially the mystery. I'm sure some will guess what's going on but if you go through the film without knowing and just guessing who's doing the killing, it certainly adds to the entertainment level. SLEEPAWAY CAMP has a lot of nostalgia going for it but it's also one of the more entertaining films in the 80's slasher cycle.

This was part of a Cheesy Horror night and most of the time my friends and I were just amused by the funny 80s hair and clothes but the ending freaked us out, it is really creepy! And, they freeze it on a freaky image for nearly(if not all) the whole credits. Ick. Nobody expected the ending to be what it was. Most of the film is your standard summer camp horror movie - though the body count is rather high - kids getting it on, pranks etc.

I recommend this film for its 80s value AND shock ending, though now everybody has told you the ending is shocking then you will probably spend the whole movie trying to figure out what it is.

"Sleepaway Camp" had been talked up to me by friends and associates as a unique entry into the slasher film sweepstakes, and they're right. Never before do I remember slasherfilmvictims being so mean, foul-mouthed, and spiteful. Not a single character in this film exists above redemption. And most of them get killed off.

There's an uneasy sexual undercurrent plodding about this film, from the camp chef (who calls the kids "baldies") to the treatment of homosexuality to the shot of a dozen bare-assed guys going for a night swim ... to a teenage counselor going on a "date" with the old, crusty camp owner. Perversions run high here, and not on a level that most will enjoy. The killing scenes are inventive, plentiful, and happen on a regular basis throughout the movie, and the reaction shots to these killings seem to go on forever, which make them all the more difficult to endure.