Camp Daze

The synopsis for Camp Daze sounded like a lot of fun: four vacationing teenagers somehow end up in a supernatural summer camp that is trapped in time (circa 1981), where they attempt to help the not-so-happy holiday-makers who are forced to endlessly re-live the night they were slaughtered by a mysterious maniac.

And so I eagerly settled down to watch the film, hoping for a brainless slasher flick, with a time travel twist, shot in an 80s style, featuring summer camp fun and games, a touch of nudity, a psycho killer in the woods, and plenty of gore. Sure enough, Camp Daze delivered all of these things—although it wasn't EXACTLY what I had been expecting.

The summer camp activities included the usual sporting events, a campfire sing-song, a spot of amateur dramatics, and frolicking by the lake, as well as the obligatory bit of 'not-on-the-camp-schedule' slap-and-tickle and pot smoking. But why did so many of these moments feature the young men in very short shorts and stripped to the waist?

The one sex scene at least had a hot babe getting it one with her beau (before being killed, of course). But why was the camera focusing on the bloke's abs rather than the girls chest (which for some reason remained covered)?

Eventually, the penny dropped: this was a slasher film made with a particular audience in mind and I wasn't going to see any naked screaming girls running for their lives, or taking unnecessary showers. The clues had been there from the start: the film was produced by Screamkings (a play on the term 'scream queen') and even the title had the word 'camp' in it (doh! I must get my gaydar fixed).

Accepting the fact that this film was likely to feature even more buff bare-chested boys than a Victor Salva movie, I watched the rest of this homo-erotic horror hoping that it would at least deliver in the gore department.

Fat chance! Whilst there is a lot of enthusiastic killing (including some silly, but inventive demises which earn the film a higher rating from me than it probably really deserves), they aren't nearly as convincing as they are funny. The actors ham up their death scenes something rotten, fake blood is liberally splashed about and there are a few rather hokey effects that could never be described as 'special'.

In fact, with dreadful acting all round, an awful script, annoying characters (the black girl who was swearing as if she was in a Tarantino film was especially grating), and a running time of 110 minutes (sheesh!), this film has very little to recommend it. If pushed to say something really positive about it, I will admit that the music is good, but seeing as the score has apparently been ripped off from several other movies, this doesn't really mean that much.

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.

I had to give this movie 4 out of 10 because its not total crap as many are saying. There are some very good things here, but unfortunately its lost under a lot of %$#@! It has a promising start that is a homage to the original 'Friday the 13th'. Two lovers wander into the woods for some love. The acting and shooting here is decent. Hurt by cheesy scripting, the performers at least seem to be trying. Not really scary, but old school horror fans will smile at this bit. However, from here it is all downhill.

As we get into the film, it gets marred with a convoluted plot about time travel, which probably sounded good on paper, but doesn't come off well on screen. The acting takes a nose dive, as does the scripting. In fact most of the leads in this movie are terrible actors that look like gay porn stars. The supporting stars seem to be much better overall.The crazy fat girl seems to have the most talent of the bunch. The special effects are pretty bad and the score is awful.

You can see hints of a good film in here, and its really a shame. I know horror doesn't have to have Al Pacino, but if they casted for talent before model 'stud' looks and did another draft on the script they may have had something here.

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 would rather watch fat render then ever see this movie again. The plot seems like Back to the future meets Friday the thirteenth. The audio quality is awful and the is far to many close ups of the actors, the reasoning for this is (in my opinion) the production company did not have and microphone booms to hold above the actors while they conversed and there for had to shoot straight on with their sweet camcorder close ups. You can actually hear the audio pieced together. This movie is not only and insult to your eyes but also your ears. Things i would recommend over this movie would be: 1. getting kicked in the balls over and over again for the full 93 minutes, 2. Having all you finger and toe nails removed, 3. And simply just not watching this movie. Do everyone a favor, if you rent or own this movie (God i hope you don't own this movie)take a key and scratch the disk until it bleeds. The gore effects looked like something a 9 year old could come up with in the back yard. Please don't watch this movie