Massacre au camp d'été

this was definitely a weird one. the realisticly ruthless portrayal of kids at camp, the pedophiliac in the kitchen, the unexplained insanity of the aunt, the homosexual undertones, the ENDING! i was utterly floored when i rented this one. if you can find it, rent it. watch it. show it to your friends and watch them cringe. Just follow my advice and hold onto something when it winds down to the end. i promise, you will be shocked, and will probably have the final image stuck in your head for a week.

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.

This is 80's American Cheese at it's greatest! The cast does a great job and the script is actually really good. If you're a fan of cheesy slasher flicks this is one you should certainly check out...and absolutely DO NOT MISS THE ENDING!!!! One of the creepiest endings I've ever seen in a movie which is sure to give anyone the chills. A truly wicked low budget horror flick.

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).

"Sleepaway Camp" had been talked up to me by friends and associates as a unique entry into the slasher film sweepstakes, and they're right. Never before do I remember slasherfilmvictims being so mean, foul-mouthed, and spiteful. Not a single character in this film exists above redemption. And most of them get killed off.

There's an uneasy sexual undercurrent plodding about this film, from the camp chef (who calls the kids "baldies") to the treatment of homosexuality to the shot of a dozen bare-assed guys going for a night swim ... to a teenage counselor going on a "date" with the old, crusty camp owner. Perversions run high here, and not on a level that most will enjoy. The killing scenes are inventive, plentiful, and happen on a regular basis throughout the movie, and the reaction shots to these killings seem to go on forever, which make them all the more difficult to endure.