Summer Camp

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!

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.

It seems like just another slasher stereotype: a group of young attractive camp Counselors, alone in the woods trying to get to know each other before the kids come. This time around however, a strange outbreak turns anyone exposed into a raging murderer for a small period of time. It eventually wears off, but do to the nature of how it spreads, anyone at anytime can become the slasher and as easily not become the slasher.

It makes for a very suspenseful film not knowing who was going to be the slasher or the victim at any given time, and it was very impressive that they kept this up with so limited resources for 83mins.

It's starts off slow and very corny. The movie is filled with a lot of OMG and WTF moments that are very slasher campy, but as the mystery of the outbreak begins to unravel the camp turns form bad to really good. Summer Camp seems to go for one big punch line instead of a few good kills, which turned into a smart tactic that makes this cleaver film work.

It's the type of Horror film all slasher fans should check out.

Summer Camp: The title suggests a slasher film, even the build up points to this with a mysterious knife wielding stranger in the woods and odd new age travellers in the area. Three Americans are hired as counsellors to work with the director at a Spanish camp in an old building. Problems abound as animals come down with a strange illness, turning savage.

Soon humans are also affected and turn violent after vomiting up a dark liquid. This is a fast zombie style illness involving biting and feral behaviour. Some impressive action scenes as the violent ones hunt the uninfected through the building and the forest. Perhaps a little drawn out and the attacks/violence becomes a tad repetitive. Nevertheless it is an effective directorial debut by Alberto Marini who also co-wrote the screenplay. 7/10.

I understand that there are a lot of people out there, that either were expecting something different or got annoyed with the characters. Or even kind of hated most of the predictable stuff that happened. So it may be a lot to ask, but if can see this as light horror entertainment (still with pretty vivid special effects), you will be able to enjoy this for what it is and what it aims for.

This never went out there to be an instant classic or a classic at all. No this just wants to entertain and give it's audience some shocks along the way. So yeah the camp is deserted and only 4 people are there to bring it up to speed, but that's how these horror movies work. And if you are in on the joke like the cast, go for it