Massacre au camp d'été

Slightly disturbed and painfully shy Angela Baker (Felissa Rose) is sent away to summer camp with her foul-mouthed cousin Ricky Thomas (Jonathan Tiersten). Not long after Angela's arrival, things start to go horribly wrong for anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions.

This film is either loved or hated, and with good reason, but it has been embraced more and more as the years go on by fans of the horror genre. The acting is excessively cheesy, especially from Desiree Gould, but purposely so. The kills are grisly and nasty, even if not always shown on screen. When that curling iron strikes, you know the situation. And the pedophile cook? Oh man... that is pushing boundaries that even horror films dare not cross (Freddy Krueger can be a child killer, but not a child molester).

One cannot vouch for the next two sequels, which have little connection to this film, but the original stands as a true modern classic, and if you have not seen it, you are really missing out on an important piece of horror history. What could have been a ripoff of other horror slashers that take place at camp (notably "Friday the 13th") turns out to be far different from any other title out there. And keep in mind the whole crew, more or less, had just come from "Creepshow", so these were folks who knew what they were doing.

Writer-director Robert Hiltzik (who graduated NYU with Ang Lee) mysteriously went decades without directing again. Many of the actors also never acted again, at least for a long time. And then you have Christopher Collet, going on to make such things as "Prayer of the Rollerboys"... does that make him the biggest success from this film?

Not only does the film get better with repeated viewings (which make the humor and camp more fun), but there are actually some clever subplots that will likely be missed on the first time or two. Mel Kostic (portrayed wonderfully by the late Mike Kellin) not only is one of the best characters, but has his own story and relationship with the campers and counselors that may not be immediately evident.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray is ridiculously good and worth owning. Beyond the excellent presentation, it has three different audio commentaries, where you learn odd trivia like Felissa Rose's husband Deron Miller meeting her as a fan, and much more. There is even a short film showing whatever happened to Judy (although it is not very good).

After some VERY dramatic, ominous music during a panning shot of the titular camp Arawak, SLEEPAWAY CAMP begins.

Right off the bat, tragedy strikes on the lake. We know this mostly because of the water-skier who won't stop screeching like a pint-sized tornado siren.

Several years later, the scene switches to the soon-to-be camper, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). He and his shy cousin, Angela (Felissa Rose) are getting ready to leave. Angela survived the aforementioned tragedy, and was taken in by her Aunt, Ricky's -extremely odd- mum. Next stop, the camp.

It's probably not a good sign, when one of the first adults to be introduced, obviously likes kids a bit TOO much! He's Artie (Owen Hughes) the cook, and he's one of the most vile characters since the gargantuan neighbor in ALICE SWEET ALICE! Yecch! Don't worry though, he quickly becomes... overheated.

As it turns out, there's no shortage of creeps and jerks at Camp Arawak, which means there are lots of victims for whoever starts bumping them off in grisly ways. Most are vindictive idiots like Judy (Karen Fields) and Meg (Katherine Kamhi), who simply must torment Angela as LOUDLY! AS! POSSIBLE! This could be a long summer, if anyone lives through it!

Though everyone remembers this movie's "shock" finale, the rest of it is interesting in that it contains so many hateful, unbalanced characters. EXHIBIT A): Mel (Mike Kellin), who's unwarranted paranoia verges on the maniacal! This is especially disturbing, since he runs the camp!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The fake mustache on the cop at the end! #2- The cheap, cheeezey, yet somehow creepy song during the end credits!...

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

*** (out of 4)

Angela (Felissa Rose) goes with her cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) to a summer camp where she's constantly picked on and harassed by the most popular girl in camp (Karen Fields). Over and over again Angela is picked on due to her shyness, which causes Ricky to have to defend her and before long dead bodies begin to pile up.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP is a pretty notorious entry in the 80's slasher genre due in large part to a terrific twist at the end, which I obviously won't spoil here. If you want to play a uptight critic it's easy to really cream this film because there are some pretty bad things throughout including some at times hideous acting. However, if you're a fan of the genre, which I am, there's no question that this film has a lot going for it and it fits nicely into the genre, which at times delivered one cliché after another. There's no doubt that SLEEPAWAY CAMP has some clichéd moments but there's still no doubting it's impact on the genre and the all around good time you can have with it.

I think the best thing about the film is that it just feels so much like the 80's. The movie has the basic set-up taking place in a camp with a psycho running around but there's a lot of other stuff thrown in including a bizarre subplot dealing with a pedophile and there's even some stranger stuff that I won't go into so that I avoid any spoilers. The film also shows how bullying was handled in the 80's, which was usually with a big fat nothing. The film manages to really make you feel the time that it was set in and I think writer- director Robert Hiltzik deserves some credit for putting some of the more bizarre things in here.

It also doesn't hurt that you've got a group of characters that you can root for and against. One can't help but feel sympathy for Angela and you also can't help but like Ricky and Paul. The villains in the film are so over-the-top cruel that you also don't mind seeing them get knocked off one at a time. Then there's Judy who's certainly one of the most memorable villains in the history of the slasher period. Fields performance is just so spot-on that you can't help see the glee in her as she torments Angela. Rose is also quite charming in her role and there's certainly not a better slasher actor than Tiersten when it comes to saying profanity.

The murder scenes are mostly off-camera, I'm sure due to budget reasons but they're still quite memorable and especially the aftermath when we see what actually happened. The make-up effects are quite simple but effective enough. I also liked how the main goal of the film wasn't the gore and violence but instead the characters and especially the mystery. I'm sure some will guess what's going on but if you go through the film without knowing and just guessing who's doing the killing, it certainly adds to the entertainment level. SLEEPAWAY CAMP has a lot of nostalgia going for it but it's also one of the more entertaining films in the 80's slasher cycle.

One of the all time B movie greats of the 1980's. With a disturbingly young cast and bizarre queer subtexts this is a must for anyone into camp/cult films. Not to mention a great ending and some creative death scenes. Judy as the main bad girl truly makes this film for me,and her demise is tragic, a fate so terrible that the filmmakers don't have the guts to show the aftermath. Yes, a curling iron to the crotch is never a pleasant experience R.I.P Judy, R.I.P. The plot really is secondary, a tragic boating accident leaves a newly orphaned Angela, who looks a lot like Sarah Silverman, with her aunt Martha and cousin Ricky, and off to camp the kids go, where bad things start to happen. This is from a time when horror was an odd creature, the film is clearly made for 12 year olds, much in the way that Deadly Friend was too, but contains fairly graphic, albeit silly, death scenes and strings of profanity designed to make the young ones giggle. If this were made today, no doubt it would be neutered, given a PG-13 rating, with bland yet classy production values, and a cast from One Tree Hill.

This was part of a Cheesy Horror night and most of the time my friends and I were just amused by the funny 80s hair and clothes but the ending freaked us out, it is really creepy! And, they freeze it on a freaky image for nearly(if not all) the whole credits. Ick. Nobody expected the ending to be what it was. Most of the film is your standard summer camp horror movie - though the body count is rather high - kids getting it on, pranks etc.

I recommend this film for its 80s value AND shock ending, though now everybody has told you the ending is shocking then you will probably spend the whole movie trying to figure out what it is.