Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland

Angela (Pamela Springsteen) returns to the same camp where she slaughtered the inhabitants the year before under an assumed identity. Renamed Camp New Horizons, the coordinators seek to bring together privileged kids from the suburbs & small towns with underprivileged kids from the big cities. Michael J. Pollard appears as one of the camp counselors. The other counselor is reminiscent of Paula Dean.

"Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland" (1989) is a rehash of the previous film (1988) with the same director/writer team and star (Springsteen), but of course a whole new cast of victims. The film even features cuts by the same semi-obscure 80's bands: Anvil ("Wild Eyes"), Obsession ("Methods of Madness" & "Killer Elite") and John Altyn ("Sleepaway"). The main difference is a focus on tent camping and the mixing of "rich" kids with "poor."

The movie's fun, but it lacks the mojo of the previous film. There's less depth as far as human interest goes: The characters and their relations are so exaggerated it's campy, which kills any realism. Yes, I realize it's an amusing 80's slasher flick set at a youth camp, but the two preceding movie's included gems in the coming-of-age context, which is largely lacking here. Still, "Sleepaway Camp III" has its entertaining moments. Tracy Griffith as redhead Marcia and Stacie Lambert as Jan are highlights.

The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in Bremen, Georgia, about an hour's drive west of Atlanta (the same as Part II); with the opening scenes shot in Atlanta.

GRADE: C

The first movie in this series is the one with the twist, that made it a cult hit. I thought I watched the second one recently but must have skipped it so I'll have to watch it soon. This one is ok, but still filled with bad acting and nothing to set it aside from any other slasher.

I liked "Sleepaway camp" because the death scenes were original. There's also hardly any slasher flick out there where the woman is the killer. In the tradition of the "Friday the 13th" films, this one is right on top as one of the best slasher flicks in the genre. I even liked it more than "Scream" and "Scream 2". (I haven't seen this movie in a long, long time, but I do remember loving it)

If you ignore the fact that the busiest serial killer in the world has no problem putting on a pair of sunglasses and going back to the camp where she killed dozens of people, you will enjoy this movie. The premise isn't any sillier than the Friday The 13th movies and people seem to love those. At one point Angela fishes a hockey mask out of the lake and then asks what day it is. Wouldn't you know it's Saturday the 14th! I almost laughed. Once again, Angela manages to kill everyone at camp without arousing anyone's suspicion. It's the same plot as the first two movies but it still works. If you saw the first two, you have to see this.

We're no longer going by the name of Camp Rolling Hills. All respect is to Angela (Pamela Springsteen) Baker. The camp is now titled Camp New Horizons.

This time, Angela changes here identity to a New York under privilege female by the name of Maria Nicastro. Angela soon dispatches Nicastro by way of a garbage truck and takes her identity, so that she can be a camper at Camp Rolling Hills aka Camp New Horizons. It's the same location, but it is yet under another name. This is due to the "MURDERS," as Lily, the camp co-owner would put it.

Married couple Lily and Herman, who is played by Micheal J. Pollard, are the camp owners and they make a desperate move to try and bring some inner city under privilege teens together for an experience in sharing.

It probably would have worked, except for the fact that the real Maria Nicastro won't be showing up. Instead, Angela Baker returns for yet another bloodbath of slaying.

This one has the same campy humor, creative deaths and beautiful babes, one which would include Jill (Night of the Demons) Terashita. Again, I'm not sure whether I like this one more of SC2 more. Nonetheless, check out this sleeper of a slasher flick. 10/10