1983 Directed by Robert Hiltzik
Slightly disturbed and painfully shy Angela Baker is sent away to summer camp with her cousin. Not long after Angela's arrival, things start to go horribly wrong for anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions.
This review was written in 2011, I believe:
How many times is a rip-off able to surpass the thing it owes its' existence to? Only two films come to mind (Piranha is the other). Friday the 13th had great pieces but really didn't come together to be the best it could be (though it's still a personal favorite and always will be). Sleepaway Camp aims lower but nonetheless passes with Sleaze Honors. In the arena of so-bad-it's-good horror movies - bad acting, character stereotypes or costumes that garner a reputation of their own, expository lines of dialogue that inspire riotous laughter ("Meet me at the waterfront after the social" has become this movie's "Nilbog! It's Goblin spelled backwards!") - this…
I tear up every time Angela speaks for the first time. I love this movie. For all the reasons I love my favorite slashers. I love that it's half summer camp movie. I love the camper melodrama. I love the baseball game and that kid's Asia shirt. As a former "quiet kid," I find myself empathizing with Angela as she's constantly harassed. If only I had a killer stare like that as a kid.
More stuff I love:
1. When characters hang out and do 'not plot stuff' like play baseball for a solid 5+ minutes. I don't why, but I find this vaguely rebellious. It makes me giddy.
2. Vague, deeply problematic, but potentially subversive and radical…
I recently watched Final Exam and mentioned how very gay all of the subtext was, but damn I had forgotten about this camp slasher that is dripping with homoeroticismness, right? Not many horror movies feature guys wearing less clothing than girls, male nudity with no female nudity, and unambiguously gay characters that aren’t caricatures, but here we were in 1983 and Robert Hiltzik couldn’t give a f*ck about your genre expectations and I say well done to that.
The kills are also pretty fantastic and even though some are only implied, they are still brutal af. I’ll never not be a tiny bit afraid of a hot curling iron again. Felissa Rose and Jonathan Tiersten are great as the main…
Holy shit...I did not see this one coming at all.
I've heard that Sleepaway Camp had an interesting ending so for years now I've been waiting to get my hands on the box set and making sure I never read anything about the series. It definitely paid off.
Friday the 13th and The Burning this is not...You won't find the same quality but that doesn't mean this movie suffers. As far as I'm concerned I just watched a trashy slasher classic.
I would list the kills here but I don't want to ruin them for anyone. Some are better than others but the really cool ones are fantastic.
The last thing I wanted to point out is that apparently the 80's was filled to the brim with bulges. They're everywhere.
Hey you! Yeah, you! Avid horror fan and lover of every nook and cranny of the genre. Tell me, why have you not watched this yet? A mere 800 people have logged this film as watched on Letterboxd which is a crime as it is a cult and genre classic that should get more attention.
Sleepaway Camp is the epitome of 'so bad it's good'. This has a lot to do with the fact that I cannot get rid of the feeling it was all done intentionally. Many performances, especially from the adult cast, are so unbelievably camp and bad they have a feel to them as if they have been told to act badly in stead of them being…
The Crying Game meets Friday the 13th meets Degrassi Jr High meets Meatballs meets 80's fashion nightmare meets what the fuck did I just watch.
I guess if you've never seen Friday the 13th, then maybe the ending will surprise you. It's the same thing, just with a slightly different misdirection. And the film isn't subtle about the fact that it is going to end that way. It bends over backwards to tell you who it is and draws your attention to genitals over and over again.
I'm not sure this was meant to be a horror film. This film was more of a comedy--at least to me. Especially the ending, but once the beehive death happened, I couldn't take it seriously. That, and the rejected scene from Poison that it cuts to earlier in the film.
Finally, it was nice of the killer to set up the cash-in that came out the next year, Fatal Games. I guess I'll have to watch that one along with the sequels to this film.
Corny 80’s slasher with a great twist, the twist is so great in fact, that I recommend this film just for that, the rest is forgettable.
6.2/10
Can you imagine the original Friday The 13th, but even more boring and formulaic? Oh boy, do I have bad news for you.
Managed to watch this with a group who didn't know anything about the film's reputation or ending. It's the most fun viewing experience I've had with this movie. This bizarre film is such a joy. One of my favorite summer camp movies.
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