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.
Felissa Rose Jonathan Tiersten Karen Fields Christopher Collet Mike Kellin Katherine Kamhi Paul DeAngelo Thomas E. van Dell Loris Sallahian John E. Dunn Willy Kuskin Desiree Gould Owen Hughes Robert Earl Jones Susan Glaze Frank Trent Saladino Rick Edrich Fred Greene Allen Breton Michael C. Mahon John Churchill Dan Tursi James Paradise Paul Poland Alyson Mord Carol Robinson Alexander Bram Hand Brad Frankel Dee Dee Friedman Show All…
Summercamp Inferno, Blutiger Sommer, A halál angyala, Kamp za prespavati, Uspiony obóz, Acampamento Sangrento, Kesäleiri, Nightmare Vacation, Campamento de verano, Campamento Sangriento, Sleepaway Camp - Das Camp des Grauens
Horror, the undead and monster classics Intense violence and sexual transgression horror, gory, scary, killing or gruesome horror, creepy, eerie, blood or gothic cannibals, gory, gruesome, graphic or shock scary, horror, creepy, supernatural or frighten violence, shock, disturbing, brutal or graphic Show All…
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…
The most disturbing image in this movie isn't that final shot, it's the fact that Meg seems genuinely into the idea of shagging that rancid old camp owner.
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 campers and…
So much wrong with this film. I wonder if there was subversion going on or if Robert Hiltzik was working through some personal issues while writing/directing this oddity. Sometimes, it seems John Waters influenced and other times, just awkward and unintentionally funny.
The Scream Factory Blu-ray has a great restoration.
Special features
• New 2K scan of the original camera negative
• New Commentary with actors Felissa Rose (“Angela”) and Jonathan Tiersten (“Ricky”)
• New Commentary with writer/director Robert Hiltzik, moderated by SleepawayCampMovies.com webmaster Jeff Hayes
• Original Audio Commentary with writer/director Robert Hiltzik and star Felissa Rose
• At the Waterfront After the Social: The Legacy of Sleepaway Camp – new interviews with Robert Hiltzik, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten,…
too real...........
impossible to begrudge anyone who says this movie is transphobic, of course. but god. i feel it, you know? shrinking away from people's touch and freezing at confrontation and feeling monstrous, just like a shrieking hissing nightmarish creature whose gaping mouth can swallow anyone whole. i dunno folks. even knowing the "twist" i was deeply shaken by the ending. this is all time stuff for me i think.
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…
Jesus H-Bomb Christ.
First time watch.
And I even knew the ending. Still blew me away.
And not in a Shyamalan way! More in a ‘sit down, your mother and I are getting a divorce’ way.
Good lord. Good Christ. Sweet Jesus.
Still though, solid score.
