Summer Camp

Wow, I've watched bad films before and not enjoyed them because of things like story, acting, plot etc, but 'Summer Camp' gave me a new reason to really consider turning it off from any time after the twenty minute mark.

I'm a general fan of horror and/or B-movies, so I've watched (and enjoyed) a tonne of cliched films where a handful of teenagers get stalked by - insert monster or serial killer of your choice here - and liked them for what they were. So when the summary of this movie was basically, four camp councillors get infected with a deadly disease while in a Spanish summer camp, I was pretty sure I'd be getting some form of zombie outbreak film.

And I got basically just that - only with two major differences/problems. The first was that the film was just too damn dark to ever see what was going on. Seriously, I actually tried adjusting my TV's contrast and brightness in the hope of actually working out what was going on. The second - and even worse - problem was that the camera constantly shakes whenever something - supposedly scary - happens. This, combined with the fact that the film is shot in near darkness means I couldn't tell what was happening at any time.

One example was two people driving in a car. One attacks the other. The car crashes. I assumed both were still in the vehicle, but it turned out one had got out (or jumped out?) and I hadn't been able to see this happen on screen.

In short, this film just doesn't work because you need night vision goggles to even stand a chance of getting anything out of it. I don't know how you overcome the 'shaky-cam' - maybe just be used to being on a ship on choppy water? There are a million better zombie/infection stories out there that you can actually see what's going on.

Shot in Spain this starts off reasonably interesting but quickly descends into an hour or so of infected people chasing non-infected people which becomes tiresome & tedious. It's also confusing as the infected become uninfected, then infected again. The ending is reasonably good but it's too little too late. The title sound more like a slasher movie, perhaps it would have been better had it been one instead.

Four young Americans travel to Europe to work as counselors for a summer camp there but an unseen terror stalks and strikes this group . They are the four followings : Diego Boneta (known for ¨Rock of ages¨) as Will , Jocelin Donahue as Christy , Maiara Walsh as Michelle , and Andrés Velencoso (who replaced Álex González who had to be substituted due to scheduling problems) as Antonio . Before the children arrive at a European summer camp , however , the rage-inducing outbreak begins in the animals , specifically in a raging dog . The group soon discovers that an inexplicable virus is causing fits of rage in both , animal and human alike . One by one are bitten and extending the doomed virus , as the group has to escape from the terrifying plague . Resulting in the biting Andres Velencoso/Antonio who starts the killing outbreak . As the counselors desperately attempting to getaway the illness . However, the camp is in the wilderness , being really under siege and far from the civilization.

This splatter/gory film deals with some American counselors who must deal with the outbreak of a rage-inducing illness , a demonic disease spread rapidly from animal to person , displaying horrifying scenes , screams , action , suspense , a twisted finale and resulting to be pretty entertaining . The thrilling and suspenseful premise turns out to be the following : how are they going to get to safety to getaway from the raging people infected by a creepy plague , having their cars wrecked , phones out , fully isolated and completely besieged by starving killers , Zombie-alike . The horror moments are compactly made , fast moving and well-paced . This ¨Summer camp¨ takes parts of ¨Rec¨ saga , ¨28 days later¨ , ¨28 weeks later¨ and ¨Walking dead¨ series . In Spain was premiered in 2016 -two years after being shot- only in a few theaters in dubbed version , getting a limited success . Most of the film was shot on actual Cataluña wilderness and an old building , though some of the sets had to be recreated at the studio in order to allow space to film and do stunts.

Atmospheric though dark cinematography in ¨Rec¨ style and including a shaky camera by Pablo Rosso. Thrilling and heart-pounding musical score by Arnau Bataller . Decently produced by Jaume Balagueró and his work partners , producers Julio Fernández and Carlos Fernández , the fine artificers of such a big hit as ¨REC¨ , ¨REC 2 , ¨REC 3 Genesis¨ , and ¨Rec 4: Apocalypse (2014)¨ . The motion picture was professionally written and directed by Albert Marini . He is known for his work as head of development , script consultant , story editor , development executive in ¨Julio Fernandez's Fantastic Factory¨, ¨Filmax¨ and specially on a quite a few successes as ¨Dagon¨, ¨Arachnid¨ ,¨Bullying¨ , ¨Kovak box¨, ¨The abandoned¨, ¨Gisaku¨, ¨Fragiles¨ ¨Darkness¨, ¨Beyond Re-animator¨, ¨Nocturna¨ , ¨Sleep tight¨, ¨El Camino¨, the smash hit ¨REC¨, among others .

You need to see around 10 minutes of this movie to realize it's everything you've seen before 1000 times. All the moves, the reactions, the plot, the actors and so on.

But look what happens if you pass 25 minutes: it gets better! It gets somewhat different, and you start to actually enjoy it. To connect with the characters a little, to feel the tension around, even to start to wonder. Rarely have I seen something that starts out from bottom and ends up nicely indeed.

I will recommend it as I do consider it better than many such productions. It was a pleasant surprise and I'm glad I found this one. You just have to make it through the first 25-30 minutes. But it will all be worth it.

Cheers!

This is very good bad horror movie and the ending is the best.