Spirit Camp

A cheerleading squad from the suburbs of Houston goes to summer camp to improve their camaraderie and cheer skills, but a masked killer is on the loose and most of the youths end up dead one-by-one.

"Spirit Camp" (2009) is a satirical meshing of the Friday the 13th and Bring It On flicks. It's a spare change Indie, but the director/writer (Kerry Beyer) is proficient and so the filmmaking is professional with quality locations, lighting, photography, gore, sound and score/soundtrack. Even the no-name cast rises to the challenge with an amusingly campy approach, although there are a couple of scenes with noticeably dubious "acting."

Beyer wisely includes all the staples of the slasher genre and, best of all, knows how to photograph women. The standouts are Katy Rowe (Amber), Denise Williamson (Monica), Amy Morris (Lindsay), Julin (Rachel) and Sarah McCulley /Thygeson (Beth); superb job on this front.

With the campy vibe I had doubts that the story would remain compelling over the course of the slightly overlong runtime (for an Indie slasher, that is), but Beyer keeps things moving and I eventually found myself taking the events fairly seriously (surprisingly). A plus is that I couldn't predict who the killer turns out to be. A minus is that he shoulda toned down the crudity, but it's not as bad as some flicks, e.g. the tasteless "American Pie," and he was obviously aiming to amuse.

The film runs 1 hour and 36 minutes and was shot in Cleveland, Texas (a 2.5 hour drive south of Lake Tyler), with the suburban scenes done in Houston.

GRADE: B/B-

After reading the reviews of this abortion it is hard to understand why ANYONE would give it a favorable review. It is a "camp rendering" of the slasher flicks of the 80's with plenty of boobs to keep the viewer tuned in. The acting is barely possible, campy, and poor at best. It is a Michael Meyers knock off with a bad mask to boot. The murderer is previewed early on and most of it is just a trashy waste of time. You would be better off getting your hemorrhoids sandpapered than to waste the time watching this bloody abortion. The first chick killed reminds me of one of the K-people... the people are parodied that would anger most people. This movie couldn't decide if it was a satire or a serious flick. Avoid if at all possible.

I have been a fan of low budget horror my whole life and as a longtime fan of the genre, you really don't expect much when you hear "low budget horror film." Things are different now. If you weren't aware that Spirit Camp was a low budget horror film, you'd never know it when viewing the movie. It easily looks like a multimillion dollar effort.

Technically, the film looked perfect. The cinematography, sound, shot composition, direction all first rate. And when I learned the history of this project, that not only did Kerry Beyer write, produce, direct and perform in Spirit Camp, but he was also the cinematographer, editor, sound editor and did the digital effects himself, it almost redefines "indie" -- he almost did everything himself.

The acting is a lot better than it needed to be as well. The leads and co-stars are great, and there are some great actors in bit parts.

If you are a horror fan, especially fan of classic slasher films, you should catch Spirit Camp if it comes to your city.

This movie is listed as a Horror/Comedy and it is a perfect blend of both. The comedic parts are actually really funny and the horror side of the film is a perfect slasher flick. The ads for the film describe it as "Friday THE 13th meets BRING IT ON" which is a pretty good comparison. Although there were actually more similarities and nods to the film HALLOWEEN than there was to Friday THE 13th (the action takes place at Loomis Lake and the camp director is named Mrs. Haddenfield). You will also see some more subtle nods to HALLOWEEN if you watch close enough...I won't ruin them all for you here.

The acting is the movie is superb. There is not one bad performance in the group. A few performances that really stuck out as really great were the part of Sheriff Todd played by veteran actor Brandon Smith, the part of Rachel played by Julin, and the character of Missy played by Megan Moser. These were great performances, but really all the actors did a great job.

The gore scenes is the film are great too. One thing this Horror/Comedy didn't do was skimp on the blood. There are plenty of great kills to satisfy even the most die hard slasher fans. This film is definitely one to watch again and is going on my list of favorite slasher flicks!

Be sure to watch the behind the scenes documentary on the special features. Beyer talks about making this movie with such passion, you can tell he really loves the genre and film making in general, and it shows in his final product. Also, during this behind the scenes look, we get a very personal glimpse of a tragedy that struck his family, as during shooting his mother had to undergo brain surgery to remove a brain tumor. Mrs. Beyer was did all the catering for the film and was very involved and supportive of her son and this project. There is a very touching interview with Beyer's mother and even footage of her right after having been through the surgery. This was a very interesting behind the scene featurette with a lot more substance than most of the making of documentaries we are used to on every other Horror DVD. I hope Beyer sticks with the Horror genre and I look forward to seeing future projects from this amazing filmmaker.

Thanks to fangoria I came beware of this flick, I watched the trailer and agreed, I want it, but that wasn't that simple. Again the production let me know that they weren't allowed to export their feature. But I kept emailing and after a while they send over the DVD. Included in my package was a pair of knickers from Julin. That was already a fun part, but was the movie as good as her panties? Lucky it was. First I would like to say that the movie is indeed a mixture between 70's slashers and comedy. But the comedy doesn't take the lead. This independent takes off already with gore and nudity, always a good teaser to start. Then we go 2 years further and the movie really starts, and as in a slasher all kind of girls are in it, the fat one, the nerdy one, the sexy one. All facing into the face of death. The killings are mostly off screen only showing the results or even just hearing the knife going into the flesh or a scream. But still it works. And the best thing is that the editing is okay, you will never notice that it is a low budget flick, and the acting is good too. So if you are into some old school fun, be sure to take the road to spirit camp.