Return to Sleepaway Camp

This is a terrible movie. It just sluggishly plods along, subjecting us to annoying characters, until it reaches its ridiculous end.

The story is insipid and the editing atrocious. (The scene with the Jeep and tree goes on far too long, extinguishing any tension or morbid humour the scene might have had otherwise.) There is an amusing bit, involving a hole in a floor; that scene, with the wonderful stupidity of the characters involved, is the closest the film ever gets to matching the original in terms of gore and humor.

Isaac Hayes seems to be cast only for the joke of being billed as "The Chef," and then disappears after three short scenes. His character serves no other function (unless we needed a black guy to say "motherf*cker" to liven things up a bit.) There is no mystery as to the killer's identity once all of the main characters are established. Alan, who for some unfathomable reason is the film's lead character, is so irritating that his quick death would have perhaps made the film tolerable. However, there he is, in scene after scene, in filthy clothing, telling people that their ass stinks, and then throwing himself pity parties because the other kids don't like him. (Think of Shelly from "Friday the 13th: Part III" but with none of his sympathetic aspects, only the annoying ones, multiplied by ten, and with body odor and a mean streak, and there is your Alan.) (I thought that at least his "your ass stinks" line would serve some purpose, some foreshadowing regarding his or another character's death - death by stinky ass! - but no, it's just his cringe-inducing recurring line, as lacking in purpose as Isaac Hayes' role.) Any fan of the original is going to want - to HAVE - to see this. Just don't blow $20 of your own money on it.

This was one I was really looking forward to seeing. It felt like it took years for it to be made and released. So when it was available to purchase I bought it at full price not knowing what a disappointment it would be. The plot follows the basic "kids are at camp when a bunch of murders occur" storyline. Fans of the original know the backstory of Angela so I won't go into that, but if you don't; it's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with the 1983 film.

This sequel does something I hate which is it completely ignores Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3. We are supposed to forget those late eighties sequels which involved Angela escaping and becoming a counsellor killing a bunch of teenagers. By not bringing up the incidents that took place in these movies left me a little confused, but I'll move on from that negative. The next problem I have with this is the "lead" character Alan. What an annoying human being. He bullies other kids and then whines like a baby when he gets bullied or other camp counsellors tell him to stop. The constant whining, screaming and cursing was driving me nuts by the twenty minute mark. Now I loved the fact that Ricky in the original cussed like no other, but it's WAY overdone in this by Alan. And the acting by pretty much everyone involved is some of the worst I've seen since Troll 2.

What I found in this movie after seeing the original was that a lot of these new characters emulated characters from the original. There is Alan who is supposed to be a mix of Angela and Ricky, a character named Pee-Pee (I know right?) acts a lot like a shy Angela, there is even a nasty chef who gets scalded by boiling water. There are other parallels as well. Other cons are the music, which is mostly terrible and adds no suspenseful effect to the scene like the original score did in 1983. And the juvenile writing is just annoying to sit through. Some of the things the teens say and do is supposed to be funny but just leaves a bad taste in the viewers mouth, especially when the same joke is repeated over and over again.

I've been down on Return to Sleepaway Camp so far, and rightfully so; it isn't very good. BUT the ending definitely saves it from being a total letdown. The last half hour is jam packed with murder and mayhem. And some of the gore is pretty shocking and well done. Also, I liked the added mystery of trying to find out who the killer is (even if I thought the identity of the killer was a bit lame). And I loved seeing some of the original cast and characters return like Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten), Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) and a "cameo" by Felicia Rose who played the original Angela Baker.

Overall, this movie is all over the place. It's almost as if Return to Sleepaway Camp has an identity crisis. The first SC was scary. Parts 2-3 were funny. This one tries to be a bit of both and, except for a good thirty minutes of scares, doesn't do well at either.

4/10

I am a huge fan of the original "Sleepaway Camp" film and its two original sequels.

Like most fans of the series, I was ultra-excited when I heard that the original director was going to make his own sequel to his film. Though I do like the "Unhappy Campers" and "Teenage Wasteland," they are tad to thick on the humor than I would have preferred. So, I waited and waited and waited patiently for this film to finally be released. Well, it was, and while I appreciate the nostalgic feel to the film, and the fact that is a slasher film through and through and knows its origins, the film, for me, was a huge let down for ONE reason alone: the character that we are suppose to sympathize with the most and who is by all accounts the main character of the film (Alan) has to be one of the most annoying characters in film history. He is rude, disgusting, nasty to everyone, and not likable in the least. When campers pick on him, we root them on and I really wanted him to be the first to die.

What made the first film effective was that Angela, who got picked on the very same ways Alan does in this film, doesn't deserve it. She is quiet, sweet, and introverted. She doesn't cause any problems for anyone, so when the people who harass her the most begin to meet their deaths, the audience can silently cheer. Having a unlikable main character can ruin any film, and this is a prime example.

If you can get past the annoying Alan, "Return to Sleepaway Camp" follows virtually the same plot as the original, but with less originality and more clichés. Ronnie, the counselor from the original, now owns his own camp. Typical teenage behavior is shown, and when the campers begin picking on Alan (who again, DESERVES IT!), they begin to meet grisly deaths. Ronnie quickly blames Angela, even going as far as to accusing another counselor who is OBVIOUSLY much to young to be her, of being Angela. Unfortunately, due to a pretty lame disguise, the killer's identity is not hard to figure out. The "Angela" aspect of the film is also played down quite a bit, so much so that this really could have been any typical camp slasher unrelated to the "Sleepaway Camp" series. Yes, Angela is mentioned, but she is hardly a crucial component to the plot, and even the ending is abrupt and explains very little and certainly isn't the return to glory that one of the most interesting slasher film killers in history deserved.

There are some creative kills, but I honestly thing the original sequels are better and more brutal in this department. The acting is atrocious by most involved and the script is just really bad. In the end, I wanted more from this film and expected the original director to really bring it. Unfortunately, he didn't and the film pales in comparison to the original and even to the original sequels.

I only hope that if "Sleepaway Camp: Reunion" DOES happen, it is much better than this. The series deserves it.

My Grade: D

Return to Sleepaway Camp is a huge treat for the fans of the original trilogy, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten and Paul DeAngelo all return in their respective roles. Tiersten and DeAngelo aren't the best actors but Tiersten absolutely gives it his all.

The plot is terrible, and apart from the one twist at the end held few surprises. However, I have huge praise for the amount of bloody and exciting kills we get, and they're actually all really creative, being killed in different ways. The main character is a loner and a creep towards women and is simultaneously bullied and feared. The music is not great and the dialogue is simplistic and unimaginative.

4/10: A lot of fun, with a surprisingly high amount of creativity put into the kills.

Return to Sleepaway Camp (2008)

** (out of 4)

The fourth film in the series is a direct sequel to the first one as this here, ala the Halloween series, leaves out parts two and three. Hiltzik was the original writer and director of the 1983 cult classic so there were high hopes for this film, which went through a decade of delays, cancellations and even a lawsuit. Whereas it was Angela in the first film being picked on, this time out it's a fat kid named Alan (Michael Gibney) who feels that everyone is after him. Pretty soon dead kids start turning up everywhere and the counselor Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) thinks Angela (Felissa Rose) has returned or perhaps it's Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) seeking vengeance. In case you didn't know, Ronnie, Angela and Ricky are the same three characters from the original film and the original cast members are playing them, which is the biggest draw of this film. After waiting twenty-fives years for a direct sequel does this one pay off? Yes and no. The film certainly turned out a lot better than I expected it would but the film doesn't work all the way through. The biggest problem is the character of Alan. In the original film Angela was a victim we could care for because she was being picked on because she was shy. This time out the character of Alan is just so wildly written that it's hard to feel anything for him because when he isn't getting picked on he's picking on people smaller than him. This film knows how big of a cult the original is and it plays with the viewer over that. The ending here is certainly done a tad bit campy because the director knows the viewer knows the original's ending so he plays with up to get our expectations high. I won't ruin anything but when the ending is revealed it really doesn't come as a shock as it's pretty easy to see coming. It still made me laugh in a campy way but don't expect anything shocking like the original. It was great fun seeing the original cast members and DeAngelo's character is just as campy as in the original film. He certainly adds a lot of fun to the movie as does Vincent Pastore and Isaac Hayes in his final role. The death scenes are also worth talking about as they range from painful to silly. The first death sequence will certainly be talked about as it pays homage to a death scene in the original movie. In the end the movie doesn't work completely but it is a lot better than it should have been. Rumors are going around that we're going to see another one and I'd be up for that as well.