Sleepaway Camp

After some VERY dramatic, ominous music during a panning shot of the titular camp Arawak, SLEEPAWAY CAMP begins.

Right off the bat, tragedy strikes on the lake. We know this mostly because of the water-skier who won't stop screeching like a pint-sized tornado siren.

Several years later, the scene switches to the soon-to-be camper, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). He and his shy cousin, Angela (Felissa Rose) are getting ready to leave. Angela survived the aforementioned tragedy, and was taken in by her Aunt, Ricky's -extremely odd- mum. Next stop, the camp.

It's probably not a good sign, when one of the first adults to be introduced, obviously likes kids a bit TOO much! He's Artie (Owen Hughes) the cook, and he's one of the most vile characters since the gargantuan neighbor in ALICE SWEET ALICE! Yecch! Don't worry though, he quickly becomes... overheated.

As it turns out, there's no shortage of creeps and jerks at Camp Arawak, which means there are lots of victims for whoever starts bumping them off in grisly ways. Most are vindictive idiots like Judy (Karen Fields) and Meg (Katherine Kamhi), who simply must torment Angela as LOUDLY! AS! POSSIBLE! This could be a long summer, if anyone lives through it!

Though everyone remembers this movie's "shock" finale, the rest of it is interesting in that it contains so many hateful, unbalanced characters. EXHIBIT A): Mel (Mike Kellin), who's unwarranted paranoia verges on the maniacal! This is especially disturbing, since he runs the camp!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The fake mustache on the cop at the end! #2- The cheap, cheeezey, yet somehow creepy song during the end credits!...

"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.

this was definitely a weird one. the realisticly ruthless portrayal of kids at camp, the pedophiliac in the kitchen, the unexplained insanity of the aunt, the homosexual undertones, the ENDING! i was utterly floored when i rented this one. if you can find it, rent it. watch it. show it to your friends and watch them cringe. Just follow my advice and hold onto something when it winds down to the end. i promise, you will be shocked, and will probably have the final image stuck in your head for a week.

A family is destroyed by a speedboat in a lake nearby a camp. Eight years later, the outcast teenager Angela (Felissa Rose), who survived the accident and was raised by her nutty Aunt Martha (Desiree Gould), travels with her protective cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tierston) to spend vacation in the Arawak Camp owned by Mel (Mike Kellin). Soon the pervert cook of the camp has a tragic accident in the kitchen that is followed by the death of several teenagers and kids. Who might be the killer?

"Sleepaway Camp" is a campy American slasher that is worthwhile watching because of the surprising ending. The plot is silly and the acting is terrible (Aunt Martha is laughable so bad it is) and becomes funny for the viewer. But the last scene turns the movie into a cult for horror fans. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Acampamento Sinistro" ("Sinister Camp")

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.