Camp Dread

I am so angry at myself for paying for this DVD without reading more reviews. It is an Inept, dull, lifeless, low-budget, boring, rip-off of a movie. I threw it in the trash half way through. Avoid this dreck . You have been warned!

Eric Roberts plays washed-up filmmaker Julian, director of the "Summer Camp" movies, a trilogy of wildly successful horror films from the 80s. He has recruited a bunch of young wayward delinquents who have pssed off their parents, to have them attend his summer camp in lieu of jail or rehab.

The camp is covered in cameras, and so are the young adults, as they are told that they will be participating in a reality series, where one by one they will be participating in a series of challenges, and "fake killed," with the last one standing winning a million dollars. There's more to the story but it doesn't really make a difference in the film. It's so convoluted that none of it really does.

Felissa Rose (of Sleepaway Camp fame, get it?), plays the washed up star of Julian's famed trilogy who is now a therapist, and as head counsellor seeks to rehabilitate these wayward youths.

This being a horror movie of course, they start getting offed for real, as they slowly begin to discover the truth of why they are there.

There are a few decent kills here but nothing much new. The gore and effects are pretty standard. One character in particular is killed with an object I won't name, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time put to film. You'll know it when you see it near the end.

One of the things that drew me to watch this film was the supposed starring role of scream queen Danielle Harris, who started in horror films back in 1988, has been in 4 Halloween films, and has always been a favourite actress of mine. She has SECOND BILLING in the credits and everywhere else but only appears IN TWO BRIEF SCENES FOR A TOTAL TIME OF UNDER 5 MINUTES. Obviously she was attached to this movie just to sell tickets, and cash a paycheck.

All in all a sub-par effort.

Don't go into "Camp Dread" with expectations of something new. This is a by-the-books slasher, and all the rules are respected (for a reason). Dumb and horny teenagers, a cabin by the lake, a mystery killer, gory offings every 10 minutes or so, down to the finale where the survivor keeps running into the dead bodies of her former inmates as he/she tries to escape the killer.

References abound in more than just the tired, if necessary, format. Felissa Rose plays the star of a slasher 80's trilogy, much like she did in real life as the cult hermaphrodite killer in "Sleepaway Camp". Most murders are recreations of classic offings from previous slashers, like "Friday the 13th" but also "Psycho". Of course, this all fits into the script, since this tells the story of a twisted slasher producer experimenting on a new reality-TV format for the 4th installment of his long-forgotten horror franchise.

Bodies are dispatched at a slower rate than usual, which is the movie's main setback. Unlike successful slashers of yore, most of the offings happen after the 40 minute-mark, with a crescendo during the last 20 minutes. For that reason, there's no real final girl, or suspense for the climax.

Although villains are a-plenty in this amoral marathon, the movie succeeds in keeping the audience wondering who is the killer, and a few final twists will actually keep you off-guard. That and a fair amount of blood should satisfy any slasher fan's basic needs.

Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai, voila ladies and germs, that should be my review. Do I need to say more? Guess you want to know why I'm saying those words.

This is a throwback to the slashers from the eighties but then done in a bad way. First the positive news, it's great to see Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp (1983) back here. I knew she was to return to the genre after the Blu Ray release of Sleepaway Camp. And in fact, this story do talk about her history in a film franchise, only with another title so far so good, and she even didn't act that bad at all.

The bad things are the facts that Danielle Harris (the sheriff) is used to promote this flick, and face it, she's only in it for a few minutes. On the other hand it could have been a really good flick but before things go wrong it's rather a boring flick with a lot of talking going on. When the first killing happens it was rather well done. It's messy and gory an I thought, hell, this is going to be good after all.

We also have sexy chick who happens to be lesbian so they do talk a lot about sex and doing it but it never happens and can someone tell me why one of the girls is wearing a towel because when she suddenly drops it she's still wearing her underwear. The only tittie shot happens due a sex scene boy girl; It's rather funny because the are doing it, with their underwear on. The funny part lays in the fact that we do see the cum on her body and watch closely, she never wipes it from her body when her lesbian friend enters, funny is the fact that she says, hmmm, it do smell sex here.

But look, I'm telling about the funny parts and not about the horror and it isn't even a comedy. When killings are done they are on-camera and are in fact gory but even there it becomes a bit ridiculous that a severed head can decapitate another human. How, well you must see it.

I guess the director went for PG-13. If it was unrated it could have been a lot better, so many shower scene's are involved here only showing...water. You know, if you want to return to the eighties then you know nudity has to be involved.

An ideal flick to start the evening and to see Felissa again. And for the not intended funny moments.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

The "staring actress"? She has about 5 minutes of total screen time.

The movie gets 2 stars for a solid production value, and 1 for OKAY acting...the rest? It's all bad.

I usually know anything with Eric Roberts is going to be trash ...but due to Harris name attached I watched it...kudos to them, they fooled me. Good job?

The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, and by the time you understand why they're doing all this, you've already lost interest.

Without spoiling anything, I'll just say the ending makes no sense...like...what was the motivations for ..the last one alive...? There was no motivation and it wasn't apart of their character at all, were they just faking it? I don't get it...this was a classic case of a film trying to be smarter than it is, which ends up confusing everyone (not cuz we can't grasp it but cuz it makes no sense) and being stupid. None of the kills were anything special.