Twisted Nightmare

"Twisted Nightmare" follows a young woman who is invited to her childhood summer camp for a free weekend getaway along with a large group of her old friends. Once there, the campers start to die off rather briskly, and it may have something to do with the camp's situation on sacred Native American land.

This obscure supernatural slasher is an admitted mess of a film--a cobbled-together amalgam of slasher tropes that rips off everything from "Friday the 13th" to "Silent Night, Deadly Night," and attempts to explain itself (sort of) via supernatural mythos that frankly makes no sense.

In retrospect, it's obvious that "Twisted Nightmare" was a troubled production, a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, if you will. And while most of it is trite and badly-acted, there is a considerable amount of fun to be had here, especially (or perhaps only) for fans of '80s slasher films. The film, for all its misgivings, is quite atmospheric, and the set (which you may recognize from "Friday the 13th Part III" lends some nice ambiance. The cinematography is also, though inconsistent, fairly moody, and there are some fantastic silhouette shots of the hulking, growling villain, backlit with cold blue light. The characters (and there is a large number fo them) are more or less disposable, and the actors are inexperienced and most can hardly deliver their lines, but this weirdly adds to the charm.

I think the main problem with "Twisted Nightmare" is that it doesn't have its own mythos properly worked out, and conclusion is as utterly confounding as what precedes it. There is no throughline and little consistency to speak of, but there are some atmospheric moments, a fairly creepy killer, and enough murder scenes to keep diehard genre fans amused. A mess, but an offbeat and fairly amusing one. 6/10.

Paul Hunt's "Twisted Nightmare" was actually made in 1982 and in the same setting of "Friday the 13th Part III".The film was withheld until 1987.It's easy to see why.A group of teenagers go to a lakeside camp named Camp Paradise built on an ancient Indian burial ground.Two years ago mildly retarded and virginal Matthew was burned alive in the barn.His charred body was never found.Two years later the teens are invited back to camp where demonic killer starts slaughtering them."Twisted Nightmare" rips off "Friday the 13th","The Ghost Dance" and "The Burning" and offers plenty of clichés.There is nudity galore and the bodycount is quite high,but all sixteen killings are shown mostly off-screen.The acting is pretty amateurish too.6 out of 10.Now let's go and explore the barn.

Following the trend of slashers set in camps from the 80s, "Twisted Nightmare" (1987) brings with it all the clichés and predictability that the subgenre can offer, while at the same time entertaining the viewer.

As expected from a low-budget eighties slasher, the film features comical performances with absurd and meaningless reactions, the antagonist's desire for revenge and appealing scenes of sex and nudity. During the progression of the film, there are several moments in which the editing sounds confusing and poorly edited, with poorly executed slow motion effects and dislocated scene transitions. Despite these flaws, the film stands out relatively in terms of the soundtrack and the aesthetic sense of certain moments, focusing on a visual identity with the color blue recurring in the sets, ambiance and costumes. The "trash" moments entertain audiences who are not expecting a pretentious work, making the experience stimulating.

With clear inspirations in "Friday the 13th" (1980) and "The Burning" (1981), "Twisted Nightmare" fell into ostracism and did not please the majority, although it works as a slasher for a late afternoon.

"Twisted Nightmare" won't pull out any surprises as it's a deranged, if run-of-a-mill camp-based slasher, but it does have some interesting novelties ranging from the fact it was filmed around the same time as "Friday the 13th Part 3" (to only be released a couple years later) and that in was shot in the same area as that film too. Those would remember the barn of doom (and again it seems to hold some sort of attraction).

A group of old friends are mysteriously invited back to Camp Paradise, but no one has been there since the strange death of Matthew (a simple kid who was picked on by them). His death was unexplainable as he was turned into a scorching human torch and the body was never found. So the friends are together again along with Matthew's sister, but not too soon one-by-one the group start getting picked off.

For being a low-end slasher it has its recycled conventions, but it was a competently done (on the technical side) for what it is. A quickie, but well delivered slasher that reminded me of a cheaper version of woodland slashers "The Burning" and "Madman". The killer is pretty much in the same mould as "Madman" --- an unstoppable scruffy brute that's disfigured and who likes to growl. The story is old-hat (despite an interesting back-story about how the campsite is cursed) with a sluggish beginning before getting on with things before leading onto a insanely predictable revelation, the forced dialogues are lame and the acting for most part is bad (leaden or ripe). However it does bestow a healthy body count throws about the nudity quite freely and has its nasty moments. Junky and cheesy, but entertaining. Director Peter Hunt uses the locations rather well, but it seems to work better during the night sequences with the cat and mouse chases between the bulky killer and self-obsessed victims. There are some atmospheric touches with beaming blue lighting and mist, but even then the vision can become quite murky and editing rather jerky (like the first death sequence). The death scenes are hit or miss, some coming off while others not so. Moments do become laughable, like the use of slow-motion. The music is an unhinged, but mangled mixture sounding ominous but then breaking into something sunny and bright.

Dumb, moronic film was shelved for 5 years (completed in '82, released in '87), because of poor pacing, editing, and horrible death scenes. What little plot there is, is about teenagers winning a vaction to a camp they once attended when they were younger. However once they get there and people start turning up missing they start to believe that the disapperances have something to do with the accidental death of a friend at the camp years earlier. Sound familiar??

Rated R; Graphic Violence, Sexual Situations, Profanity, and Graphic Nudity.