Spirit Camp

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.

It wants to be a late 70s early 80s style slasher but many of those were competent films made on a low budget while this is clearly an imitation. A lot of shots are too tight and zoomed into faces and things for no reason and they do that thing where a victim is standing in the open, in daylight, and the killer appears in front of them out of nowhere. Lighting in the woods at night is too bright, even, and are obviously studio lights. The actresses often portray caricatures of the roles they fill. Only one of the girls was really believable as a cheerleader. The cheer camp is in the middle of nowhere down a road that is randomly muddy and impassible as the plot requires. For some reason we are treated to a long camp safety speech. The music randomly changes from creepy to upbeat. The girls are mostly cute and they manage a little bit of gratuitous nudity but there isn't much blood.

Pretty girls being slaughtered at a lakeside cheer-leading camp—hardly the most original idea for a horror film. Clearly believing that the only way they could possibly get any mileage from this already well-worn plot, the makers of Spirit Camp opt to play much of their film for laughs, only attempting anything remotely resembling real scares in the closing moments.

Ironically, it is the tongue-in-cheek humour that comes across as the most tired aspect of the whole film, slasher films having been subject to mockery for many years now, whilst the scary bits in the finale actually work the best. I suspect that if director Kerry Beyer had had a bit more conviction in his abilities as a film-maker he could have made a genuinely good slasher, instead of a cheesy, trashy and laugh-free spoof with not nearly enough blood and guts. Maybe next time, eh?

Still, I suppose it could be worse: the women in the film are attractive, buxom, and aren't shy about taking off their cheer-leading outfits for a spot of much appreciated nudity; the acting isn't all that bad considering that most of the cast seem to be new to the job; the film has a polished look to it, belying its low budget independent roots; and with such delights as a camp counsellor being killed while breaking in a sex toy, several sneaky up-skirt shots, the campest male cheerleaders imaginable, and a fat guy going down on his total babe of a girlfriend (the lovely Katy Rowe), at least Spirit Camp can never be accused of being boring.

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.