Das Camp des Grauens 2

I went into Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers expecting another run-of-the-mil 80s slasher (or if you prefer "dead-teenager movie"). I expected the worst. C'mon, middle of the forest? Busty campers way too old to be sent to summer camp? The obligatory ghost story around the fire which recaps the original film? Girl wanders off alone and loses her way? That's when the movie knowingly winked at the audience, and I grinned as the first murder took place. Yes, the killer had become the hero, and the horror had become comedic. Thank you, oh thank you, thank you director Michael Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon.

Angela Baker returns, this time played by Pamela Springsteen, as an overly chipper (dare I say "dorky") camp counselor who looks on the verge of spraining something with that wide smile. Wait, it gets better: she sings a goofy "happy camper song" with enough enthusiasm and good cheer to power the Monsters Inc city for centuries. Were this woman not a homicidal maniac with a demented sense of humor, you'd want to slap that smile off her face. Instead she's kinda lovable (admit it, you sick jerks want to see a horror-movie with a shotgun-wielding psycho dressed up in a Barney suit just as much as I do.)

As for everyone else in the film? We know they're fodder, the director and writer know they're fodder, hell the actors know they're fodder, so everyone says "screw it. Throw in a bag of slasher archetypes everyone hates and let Angela go to town." And there lies the joy of Unhappy Campers. Go Angie! Kill them! Kill them all! Wait, lemme get some popcorn. One more sec, need a Dr. Pepper too! Okay, now we're set. Massacre away!

A few of the campers decided they'd scare Angela by dressing up as horror movie icons which made me giggle with glee. These nitwits made their "scary costumes" at the arts and crafts table – the crayons were a nice a touch. "Ooh, this is going to be so scary!" They tell one another. "Yeah, this'll scare her for sure!" One goes with a hockey mask/machete combo; the other goes with the dirty fedora/bladed glove. Angie wants to play too, so she shows up to the party with a chainsaw and a leather face. And for the first (probably last) time ever, I cheered for TCM.

Oh, and you haven't lived until you've seen this frustrated female killer stomp away with her chainsaw. She finds another victim, and the thing just won't start! *sigh* Or when Angela realizes she has to kill the gossipy character in the next room, and she goes on the hunt for a suitable weapon, testing all the mundane everyday items lying around, weighing each in her mind, trying to find just the right one. So casual in her selection – she might as well be going through her closet deciding, "Hmm, what blouse would go with this skirt?" Let's not forget when Angela chases one of her victims through the forest and calls out, "Wait! I just want to be your friend!" You hear Angela's voice, and she sounds like she really truly means it … never mind the knife in her hand.

On the down side, while Angela is very entertaining, the movie doesn't go far enough. Sleepaway Camp 2 calls attention to the over-indulgence of boobs by indulging in boobs, but it never offers its own comments on the low standards of DTMs. The violence blindly mirrors the violence of its parent films, but never evolves beyond it – nothing like the geyser of blood from the wall (of all things) that made Evil Dead 2 so pointed. SC2 was there, had these silly slasher staples in its sights, but didn't pull the trigger – why not go gunning for these things while blasting everything else? The horror genre, and especially the slasher sub-genre, gives parodies so much ammunition. Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers spots a machine gun, which is fun … but better movies, like Evil Dead II, notices someone left the keys to a frickin' tank just lying around and goes for a joyride.

It's not easy being a horror movie fan. After seeing some spectacular masterpieces you start to realize that there aren't many good ones, and you'll spend most of your valuable movie-watching time on lame tripe that contains no originality or jollity, desperately searching for another classic. But I've discovered that if you lower your standards a bit you might find some less-than-classics that are still fun and enjoyable, if not legendary works of art. I humbly submit "Sleepaway Camp 2" as a tolerable entry in the slasher movie archives.

First of all, as far as deranged mass-murderers go, you could do a lot worse than Angela, a demented transsexual camp counselor who flips out at the most minor rule-breakers and reacts lethally, all while sporting a smile and never feeling blue. Our cheery Angela is the most "can-do" serial killer ever. You'll never find a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" or "American Psycho" near her victims- but maybe "Life's Little Instruction Booklet"!

Next of all, it's got a lot of killings. Some movies give you three, maybe four killings, but this one has a crate-full of slaughter- burning, eye-gouging, stabbing, beheading and more. Main characters or peripheral characters, on-screen or off, pretty much everyone gets it in this movie. There's even a classic scene where Angela forces one loathsome character down the hole in an outhouse! (If that doesn't sell you on this movie, nothing will.)

Finally, the cast is pretty good. The heroine is the lovely Renee Estevez, who should be a bigger star. She's always super-likable, (most notably as Betty Finn in "Heathers"). The severely unstable Angela is brought to life by Bruce Springsteen's sister Pamela, and puts in a wonderful performance here.

I can't recommend parts one or three in the epic "Sleepaway Camp" saga, because they're pretty putrid, but part deux is a pretty good diversion from the standard cinematic defecation that's passed off as entertainment.

I consider "Sleepaway Camp" to be one of the best, most original B-horror films I've seen so far. The sequel is standard B-movie trash, which goes for broke in gory death scenes and gratuitous female nudity. It doesn't contain nearly as much originality as its predecessor. Nevertheless, it's mindless entertainment. And the frequently nude and topless females serve as fine eye candy. The acting is bad (except for Renee Estevez, who's halfway decent, and the guy playing Uncle John, who's pretty good), the cinematography is bad and the special f/x are extremely low grade. But what the heck? In this sort of film, those elements can be quite charming. But after a while, the cheesy horror grows tiresome (they could've chipped in just a tad more money for the f/x) and script is so devoid of original ideas that the film gets too lame for its own good. But if you're looking for a fun late night horror flick to watch during those sleepless nights, "SC 2" shouldn't disappoint. Even though I felt the first one was much more ingenious, the sequel serves its purpose. And I loved the new heavy metal theme song. It's one of those tunes that screams out, "This is not your father's horror movie!"

My score: 6 (out of 10)

Sleepaway Camp 2 is definitely one of the best slasher movies out there! After seeing the first Sleepaway Camp, I wasn't sure I was going to like this, but I was definitely pleased. It has great gore, lots of death, tons of unecessary nudity, and good humor. This is a slasher movie that doesn't scare you but is still fun to watch. The first person camera-work was a great play on the Friday the 13th films. Highly recommended viewing.

I recently went out and bought the Sleepaway Camp set and watched them for the first time. I've got to go with the immoral majority here and say that SC2 was a fun movie. The acting was horrid and the "story" looks like it was thrown together over lunch but, the way the movie poked fun at the horror genre is something rarely seen. Most slasher flicks are funny but, that's cause they try to make a good movie. After seeing the whole set, they made this movie clearly to laugh at and have a good time watching it.

I did enjoy Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and would recommend it to friends. Like others have said, it's mindless gory fun. Hats off to the creators of SC 2 & 3 for making a funny/cheesy flick and letting us have a good time watching it.