Summer Camp Nightmare

Man oh man is this movie terrible. It's like watching a trainwreck, but in a totally endearing way. Playing like a Lord of the Flies with an anti-communist message, Summer Camp Nightmare has to be one of the worst movies ever made. The acting is the worst ever. Chuck "The Rifleman" Conners is so amazingly terrible as Mr. Warren, the camp director who's "lost touch with the youth." Charles Stratton plays Franklin Reilly, the "crazy anarchist" who starts the lamest revolution of all time. Tom Fridly (Cort a.k.a. the kid in tiny shorts in Friday the 13th Part IV) is Mason, the most homo-erotic rapist ever. Runk the Punk is by far the lowlight of the movie, serving both as Mason's obvious man-slave and Reilly's thug (albeit the least intimidating thug ever).

The storyline is pretty simple. Mr. Warren takes over as camp director, but is a real stickler for order. After blocking all but the "religious station" on the rec room's TV, he cancels the dance with the nearby girls' camp. Rebellion soon ensues, as Reilly falsely accuses Warren of molesting the younger boys. Soon, both the boys' and girls' camps are taken over by the regime. All order falls apart, etc. etc. etc. There really is no cohesive plot, just a lot of bad acting, some sort of moral, and the sluttiest teenage girls ever! They can't keep their hands off these weird, ugly, ambiguous guys. Kind of creeps you out.

However, with all the blatant homo-eroticism and crappy acting, it sets itself up as one of the greatest movies to mock with your friends ever. It's on a par with Plan 9 from Outer Space, but has more appeal for those who can remember torn jeans and teenage boys with feathered hair. If you do manage to snag it though, watch with friends and be prepared to laugh like hell, if Mystery Science Theater 3000 is your idea of a good time.

Well, of course I found it in the Horror section. With a title like that, what do you expect? Of course the video store employee is gonna stick it right between Slumber Party Massacre and Twisted Nightmare. It's just common sense. Especially if you haven't seen it. But I suppose Summer Camp Nightmare can be interpreted as semi-Horror, yet, officially, it's more of a suspense-drama... or thriller? I don't know. Despite the fact that we're talking about a quality flick, with quality acting, and zero gore, I still prefer to think of it as B-Horror. Now that that's settled, our story is set in an all boys camp (awsome!!) Run by an uptight religious fanatic, who has a thing for butterflies. This new camp director (Chuck Connors) is determined to make sure that everyone is watched, at all times, and that no one even remotely enjoys themselves. So, you could imagine how disgruntled everyone would be, expecting keen summer fun, and instead, the dull Mr. Butterflies has different ideas. Franklin Reilly, the evil genius (every camp has one) has stood about as much boredom as he's gonna stand. It's time for a revolution. Being an evil genius, Franklin can easily manipulate others to do stuff. Stuff, such as turning on Mr. Butterflies, and the other authority figures, lock them up, and naturally, make Franklin their leader, with the promise of unlimited freedom. Runk the punk seems to think it's a swell idea. Now would probably be a good time to head over to the girls camp, and lock up their authority figures, and bring the girls over here, so, the keen summer fun can finally begin. Lets's just hope Franklin's power doesn't go to his head. Summer Camp Nightmare is either slightly inspired, or slightly ripped off from Lord Of The Flies, which is fine, because one is cheesy 80's fun, and the other is mediocre. I'd rather watch Summer Camp Nightmare any day of the week. Whether this movie is actually a thriller at a camp, like the book probably meant for it to be, or campy Horror, like the video store guy assumed it was, it's not that important, because Summer Camp Nightmare is interesting, entertaining, and offers not one dull moment, and I'm glad to have this movie in my B-Horror collection, whether it belongs there or not. 8/10

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the movie at a Columbus Circle screening room.

Beneath the intentionally misleading release title "Summer Camp Nightmare" rests an uneasy mixture of teen hijinks pic and cautionary lecture for youngsters. In adapting William Butler's novel "The Butterfly Revolution" (film's original titled during its 1985 lensing), filmmaker Bert L. Dragin and co-writer Penelope Spheeris have created an all-too-obvious anti-fascist parable which is simply not entertaining in the manner of the S. E. Hinton ic or even the John Hughes comedies.

First few reels play like "Meatballs" without the laughs (nor for lack of tring, but the gags here fall flat), with the young boys at Camp North Pines dreaming of the slightly older girls at nearlby Camp South Pines. Fly in the ointment is new camp director Chuck Connors, styled as a strict disciplinarian who only allows an all-religious channel to play on the camp tv and locks misbehaving boys or counselors up in a detention cabin.

Pic takes a dark turn after 15 minutes when a counselor, played by Charles Stratton, organizes an instant revolution, lockng up Connors and his adult staff and having the kids and student counselors run the camp in military fashion. He quickly extends his control to the girls' camp, locking up all the adults there, too.

With teens and kids running the show, film gradually tries for "Lord of the Flies" commentary, as Stratton's fascist behavior leads to several deaths and the kids descend into barbarism. Unfortunately, Dragin's direction is very soft, denying the film the tough-minded points and power of such forerunners as Harold Becker's "Taps". Instead, we get an alternation of comedy and seriousness which represents a candy-coated lecture few kids will swallow.

Acting is passable, with Stratton very good indeed at suggesting a likable (on the surface yet megalomaniacal character.

This movie is like a mix of "Meatballs" and "Taps". The title is misleading. This isn't a "Friday the 13th"-type horror film. It's a pretty good little film about a teenage counselor who organizes all of the kids to take over the camp and lock up the adults. They do it because the new camp director (Chuck Connors) runs the place like a dictator and doesn't let the kids do anything fun. I wish we had done this when I was kid at bible camp! The teen counselor isn't exactly playing with a full deck either, but the kids don't mind as long as they get what they want, which is rock n' roll, parties, and sex. The supporting characters are well-drawn, especially Runk the Punk. Check this movie out if you come across it in the video store. It's a good time-killer.

SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE (1987) **1/2 (out of 4*'s) DIRECTOR: Bert L. Dragin. Chuck Connors, Charles Stratton, Adam Carl, Melissa Brennan.

Good story, about wild punks overthrowing the Summer Camp staff and taking over and starting their own revolution.

More of a violent drama. Despite the misleading title, this is not a horror movie. Well acted, good character development, and does have some exciting moments.

AKA: THE BUTTERFLY REVOLUTION.