Camp Daze

OK, so I'm bias. I had the opportunity to work on this film and mostly I can say it was a great deal of fun and a lot of long days. I realize it was not a greatly made movie, but I'd like to see someone do better on such a low budget with such a tight shooting schedule. This movie was shot in Maine over the course of about a week and a half. Every person on crew got about 4-6 hours of sleep due to the extended shooting schedule. Of the equipment it was not the best, lots of clamp lamps, simple rigs, etc. But the cameras and sound equipment were better than most used in independent production. The people involved were a blast!!! Some of the most fun I have ever had was working on this movie. The death scenes were a blast to see setup, I even got to be in one, as one of the stoners (the blonde one)who gets impaled which shotgunning a joint. Most of the crew, at least it's true when it came to me, got paid very little to nothing. And for me, having virtually no film experience it was a great learning experience. I would like to get into acting/filming and anything at all that you can have on a reel is better than nothing. Oh, and Camp Slaughter (Camp Daze) won Best Feature at the Indy Film Festival, so some of the horrible opinions of this movie that can be found here should be ignored by anyone interested in checking this film out.

This was definitely a low budget flick and it showed. There was definite problems with the audio track and in a special feature about the special effects you could see how simplistic the effects actually were. I liked the plot but the script and the acting could have been better. some of the campers were kinda cheesy and there was more profanity than I care for. I would like to point out one mistake they made with one time related reference. The visitors to the camp kept referring to Jason from Friday the 13th but the campers didn't know who Jason was. They should have, Though. Friday the 13th came out in 1980 and the campers were stuck in August 1981. Despite how my comments may sound I enjoyed the film and its problems were nothing that a larger budget wouldn't of fixed.

Too many reviews on the IMDb claim the film (more often now video) they just saw is the worst film ever made. If there is any justice left this video ( and not for one moment will you not believe it is anything other than a shot on video) will garner new worst film ever reviews. But hey the first people to write reviews of it loved it. Well fortunately most films get watched by more people than made them,though the only reason to sit through this is if you helped make it.

There's almost no point to talking about what's bad about it. Everything is.

But what do slasher fans expect? Let's run it down.

Nudity===no none there other than some shirtless men in tight short shorts--wonder what that's all about?

Gore? Mostly the dribble candy looking blood over an actors skin. Oh, one early kill has the dead woman blinking. More stranglings than slashings and the killer usually arrows instead of a knife. It's pretty much all of the, "Oh I'm pretending I'm being killed" variety. Like you'd see from a bunch of nine-year-olds playing Cowboys and Indians in their back yard with some food coloring for blood.

Music? Well the only decent thing in the movie is the music score, that claims and might actually have some real instruments used. Unfortunately much of the music is god awful pseudo 80's songs that are bad and don't sound like 80's either.

Acting? Well you don't expect acting in a slasher film but I mean really.

The 80's? Well that era for slasher films this one tries for, but the wardrobe isn't consistent, the valley girl is really a few years too early to be in the film and has too many ear rings. The shot on video nature makes it all look cheaper than even the cheapest slasher films of that era. There's no suspense or nastiness here, the set ups for the kills are pretty weak and or silly.

Comedy? Well no you don't expect that in a slasher film, but don't worry unless you think bad actors reciting lines you'll recognize from better movies is funny, you won't have comedy getting in the way of the film. The black chick character says she just ate so much her t**t is going to explode. I guess that counts for something?

Unique killer gimmick? Do sort of loose fitting yellow work gloves terrify you? Well they won't after you see this movie so don't be afraid to keep your eyes open. Even if you are afraid of sort of loose fitting yellow work gloves watching this movie will cure you.

Something like taking their cheapo video camera and badly recorded sound away from these people so they never make another "movie" again.

The central idea (sort of a time travel thing) is really badly done so they can't take credit for that.

All kidding aside this is trash made by people who don't know how to make a movie and don't care about the movie they made. Annoying video hissing sound pops in and out with the camera edits, just like it does in your own home movies. Wow, that's great. Greenish video skin tones that don't match the shots around them, just like it does in your own home movies. Wow, how do they do that? Brightly illuminated by bright white light night scenes, just like when you take your light on top of your video camera and turn it on. Wow, why watch these people do this when you can already make a movie will all the excitement and skill that these people are vomiting up all over you. Talent aside, these are basic basic technical requirements that no one who made or released this film gave a damn about. Why, because they think slash fans are too stupid to care.

Hire the composer of the score, send the rest of the people involved in this film onto the Titanic with third class tickets and glory in the thought of them freezing painfully to death on a moonless night long long ago, and try to forget you ever saw this thing. Oh and while you imagine them freezing to death imagine the juries at the film festivals that this film touts on its box being set on fire as their eyes are eaten out by fire ants.

And please note I never said it was the worst film I'd ever seen, but I hope other reviews do. Not that you should believe them usually, because not every low budget shot on video film is this bad.

I will say that unlike most comments, I liked the look of this movie. The time warp thing should have been used more. After it was introduced, they never really done anything else with it.The gore was pretty lame. Every kill was almost the same. Maybe a little cherry pie filling coming out of the mouth. The score was pretty nice. The composer did a great job with the 80's themed music and the use of strings, which really captured the sound of the 80's slasher. I agree with the other comments with the over use of close ups. It's like they had a camera mounted Mic and were trying to stay in close enough range for the best audio. I think these filmmakers have some talent, I think they just need to concentrate more on good audio, and developing a solid plot.

I attended the Boston screening of Camp Daze. I have recently joined the dark side with other horror genre fans over the past few years. This movie not only surpassed my expectations in terms of gore and blood, it adds humor (with shocking dialogue) to a clever and entertaining story. Jen's delivery of vulgar comments and the exaggerated 80's apparel (especially Ivan's short shorts and belly shirt) will make your mouths drop in shock and laughter. Despite its modern feel, Camp Daze pays its dues to 80s slasher film with its own unique twists and deaths. Even the soundtrack suits the movie's 80s feel of suspense.