Escuela del infierno

Man oh man is this movie terrible. It's like watching a trainwreck, but in a totally endearing way. Playing like a Lord of the Flies with an anti-communist message, Summer Camp Nightmare has to be one of the worst movies ever made. The acting is the worst ever. Chuck "The Rifleman" Conners is so amazingly terrible as Mr. Warren, the camp director who's "lost touch with the youth." Charles Stratton plays Franklin Reilly, the "crazy anarchist" who starts the lamest revolution of all time. Tom Fridly (Cort a.k.a. the kid in tiny shorts in Friday the 13th Part IV) is Mason, the most homo-erotic rapist ever. Runk the Punk is by far the lowlight of the movie, serving both as Mason's obvious man-slave and Reilly's thug (albeit the least intimidating thug ever).

The storyline is pretty simple. Mr. Warren takes over as camp director, but is a real stickler for order. After blocking all but the "religious station" on the rec room's TV, he cancels the dance with the nearby girls' camp. Rebellion soon ensues, as Reilly falsely accuses Warren of molesting the younger boys. Soon, both the boys' and girls' camps are taken over by the regime. All order falls apart, etc. etc. etc. There really is no cohesive plot, just a lot of bad acting, some sort of moral, and the sluttiest teenage girls ever! They can't keep their hands off these weird, ugly, ambiguous guys. Kind of creeps you out.

However, with all the blatant homo-eroticism and crappy acting, it sets itself up as one of the greatest movies to mock with your friends ever. It's on a par with Plan 9 from Outer Space, but has more appeal for those who can remember torn jeans and teenage boys with feathered hair. If you do manage to snag it though, watch with friends and be prepared to laugh like hell, if Mystery Science Theater 3000 is your idea of a good time.

SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE (1987) **1/2 (out of 4*'s) DIRECTOR: Bert L. Dragin. Chuck Connors, Charles Stratton, Adam Carl, Melissa Brennan.

Good story, about wild punks overthrowing the Summer Camp staff and taking over and starting their own revolution.

More of a violent drama. Despite the misleading title, this is not a horror movie. Well acted, good character development, and does have some exciting moments.

AKA: THE BUTTERFLY REVOLUTION.

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the movie at a Columbus Circle screening room.

Beneath the intentionally misleading release title "Summer Camp Nightmare" rests an uneasy mixture of teen hijinks pic and cautionary lecture for youngsters. In adapting William Butler's novel "The Butterfly Revolution" (film's original titled during its 1985 lensing), filmmaker Bert L. Dragin and co-writer Penelope Spheeris have created an all-too-obvious anti-fascist parable which is simply not entertaining in the manner of the S. E. Hinton ic or even the John Hughes comedies.

First few reels play like "Meatballs" without the laughs (nor for lack of tring, but the gags here fall flat), with the young boys at Camp North Pines dreaming of the slightly older girls at nearlby Camp South Pines. Fly in the ointment is new camp director Chuck Connors, styled as a strict disciplinarian who only allows an all-religious channel to play on the camp tv and locks misbehaving boys or counselors up in a detention cabin.

Pic takes a dark turn after 15 minutes when a counselor, played by Charles Stratton, organizes an instant revolution, lockng up Connors and his adult staff and having the kids and student counselors run the camp in military fashion. He quickly extends his control to the girls' camp, locking up all the adults there, too.

With teens and kids running the show, film gradually tries for "Lord of the Flies" commentary, as Stratton's fascist behavior leads to several deaths and the kids descend into barbarism. Unfortunately, Dragin's direction is very soft, denying the film the tough-minded points and power of such forerunners as Harold Becker's "Taps". Instead, we get an alternation of comedy and seriousness which represents a candy-coated lecture few kids will swallow.

Acting is passable, with Stratton very good indeed at suggesting a likable (on the surface yet megalomaniacal character.

"Attention campers! Welcome to North Pines, where we got lotsa soul, and rock-n-roll, and wild times." This film defines the eighties; the cheese, the mullets, the headbands, the ragged jeans. Summer Camp Nightmare is pure fun and a great addition to the eighties teen movie legacy. I also found this one hiding out in the horror section (where it does not belong). It's title is a tad misleading (except the camp part, because this movie's full of it). It's storyline is similar to that of Lord of the Flies but it doesn't take itself that seriously. Instead, it becomes one of the most hilarious flicks I've ever seen. Charles Stratton does an excellent job as a far-out Counselor In Training who leads the revolution of Camp North Pines. "Society keeps us in line by the use of fear. When we overcome fear, that's when we stand above society." With this theory, he convinces almost everyone to join the revolt. It's filled with great characters, the best of course being Runk the Punk with his Iron Maiden t-shirt. Runk, without a doubt, has the two best lines in the movie. 1) "Stay outta my face, small crap." and 2) when he and Mason (Tom Fridley from Friday the 13th Part VI) lip sync a Fear song titled "Beef Bologna" at the talent show. From there, the movie gets fairly medieval as the kids become more and more primitive. Their new society fails and all hell breaks loose. If you're a fan of the eighties, you have to find this cult classic. To the revolution!

This movie is like a mix of "Meatballs" and "Taps". The title is misleading. This isn't a "Friday the 13th"-type horror film. It's a pretty good little film about a teenage counselor who organizes all of the kids to take over the camp and lock up the adults. They do it because the new camp director (Chuck Connors) runs the place like a dictator and doesn't let the kids do anything fun. I wish we had done this when I was kid at bible camp! The teen counselor isn't exactly playing with a full deck either, but the kids don't mind as long as they get what they want, which is rock n' roll, parties, and sex. The supporting characters are well-drawn, especially Runk the Punk. Check this movie out if you come across it in the video store. It's a good time-killer.