Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.
Jonathan Tiersten
- Ricky
- (as Jonathan Tierston)
Loris Diran
- Billy
- (as Loris Sallahian)
John E. Dunn
- Kenny
- (as John Dunn)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
After some VERY dramatic, ominous music during a panning shot of the titular camp Arawak, SLEEPAWAY CAMP begins.
Right off the bat, tragedy strikes on the lake. We know this mostly because of the water-skier who won't stop screeching like a pint-sized tornado siren.
Several years later, the scene switches to the soon-to-be camper, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). He and his shy cousin, Angela (Felissa Rose) are getting ready to leave. Angela survived the aforementioned tragedy, and was taken in by her Aunt, Ricky's -extremely odd- mum. Next stop, the camp.
It's probably not a good sign, when one of the first adults to be introduced, obviously likes kids a bit TOO much! He's Artie (Owen Hughes) the cook, and he's one of the most vile characters since the gargantuan neighbor in ALICE SWEET ALICE! Yecch! Don't worry though, he quickly becomes... overheated.
As it turns out, there's no shortage of creeps and jerks at Camp Arawak, which means there are lots of victims for whoever starts bumping them off in grisly ways. Most are vindictive idiots like Judy (Karen Fields) and Meg (Katherine Kamhi), who simply must torment Angela as LOUDLY! AS! POSSIBLE! This could be a long summer, if anyone lives through it!
Though everyone remembers this movie's "shock" finale, the rest of it is interesting in that it contains so many hateful, unbalanced characters. EXHIBIT A): Mel (Mike Kellin), who's unwarranted paranoia verges on the maniacal! This is especially disturbing, since he runs the camp!
EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The fake mustache on the cop at the end! #2- The cheap, cheeezey, yet somehow creepy song during the end credits!...
Right off the bat, tragedy strikes on the lake. We know this mostly because of the water-skier who won't stop screeching like a pint-sized tornado siren.
Several years later, the scene switches to the soon-to-be camper, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). He and his shy cousin, Angela (Felissa Rose) are getting ready to leave. Angela survived the aforementioned tragedy, and was taken in by her Aunt, Ricky's -extremely odd- mum. Next stop, the camp.
It's probably not a good sign, when one of the first adults to be introduced, obviously likes kids a bit TOO much! He's Artie (Owen Hughes) the cook, and he's one of the most vile characters since the gargantuan neighbor in ALICE SWEET ALICE! Yecch! Don't worry though, he quickly becomes... overheated.
As it turns out, there's no shortage of creeps and jerks at Camp Arawak, which means there are lots of victims for whoever starts bumping them off in grisly ways. Most are vindictive idiots like Judy (Karen Fields) and Meg (Katherine Kamhi), who simply must torment Angela as LOUDLY! AS! POSSIBLE! This could be a long summer, if anyone lives through it!
Though everyone remembers this movie's "shock" finale, the rest of it is interesting in that it contains so many hateful, unbalanced characters. EXHIBIT A): Mel (Mike Kellin), who's unwarranted paranoia verges on the maniacal! This is especially disturbing, since he runs the camp!
EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The fake mustache on the cop at the end! #2- The cheap, cheeezey, yet somehow creepy song during the end credits!...
This isn't exactly what comes to mind when I think about camp movies How this escaped my attention for such a long is beyond me Based on my only experience with summer camp Camp Arawak certainly feels like a real campground Speaking from my own experience they certainly got the mean spirited bullying kids part right and the kids feel like actual teen's and not 20 somethings Also I liked the gore effects I think most people know by now about the notorious ending But because It slipped under my radar for so long and I try to to avoid spoilers when watching something for the first time As usual I never saw the ending coming.
This is 80's American Cheese at it's greatest! The cast does a great job and the script is actually really good. If you're a fan of cheesy slasher flicks this is one you should certainly check out...and absolutely DO NOT MISS THE ENDING!!!! One of the creepiest endings I've ever seen in a movie which is sure to give anyone the chills. A truly wicked low budget horror flick.
"Sleepaway Camp" had been talked up to me by friends and associates as a unique entry into the slasher film sweepstakes, and they're right. Never before do I remember slasherfilmvictims being so mean, foul-mouthed, and spiteful. Not a single character in this film exists above redemption. And most of them get killed off.
There's an uneasy sexual undercurrent plodding about this film, from the camp chef (who calls the kids "baldies") to the treatment of homosexuality to the shot of a dozen bare-assed guys going for a night swim ... to a teenage counselor going on a "date" with the old, crusty camp owner. Perversions run high here, and not on a level that most will enjoy. The killing scenes are inventive, plentiful, and happen on a regular basis throughout the movie, and the reaction shots to these killings seem to go on forever, which make them all the more difficult to endure.
There's an uneasy sexual undercurrent plodding about this film, from the camp chef (who calls the kids "baldies") to the treatment of homosexuality to the shot of a dozen bare-assed guys going for a night swim ... to a teenage counselor going on a "date" with the old, crusty camp owner. Perversions run high here, and not on a level that most will enjoy. The killing scenes are inventive, plentiful, and happen on a regular basis throughout the movie, and the reaction shots to these killings seem to go on forever, which make them all the more difficult to endure.
This was part of a Cheesy Horror night and most of the time my friends and I were just amused by the funny 80s hair and clothes but the ending freaked us out, it is really creepy! And, they freeze it on a freaky image for nearly(if not all) the whole credits. Ick. Nobody expected the ending to be what it was. Most of the film is your standard summer camp horror movie - though the body count is rather high - kids getting it on, pranks etc.
I recommend this film for its 80s value AND shock ending, though now everybody has told you the ending is shocking then you will probably spend the whole movie trying to figure out what it is.
I recommend this film for its 80s value AND shock ending, though now everybody has told you the ending is shocking then you will probably spend the whole movie trying to figure out what it is.
Did you know
- TriviaThis is Mike Kellin's final film. He was sick during filming, but did his best to conceal it. He died of lung cancer in August 1983, three months before the film's release.
- GoofsThe cop at the end of the movie has an obviously fake mustache.
- Crazy creditsAt the end when all the credits are finished, the freeze-frame of Angela stays onscreen for about 10 more seconds.
- Alternate versionsThe 1986 UK video was cut by 57 secs by the BBFC with edits to repeated shots of Meg's stabbed corpse. The cuts were restored in the 2004 Anchor Bay DVD.
- ConnectionsEdited into Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor (1992)
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- Also known as
- Campamento del terror
- Filming locations
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $350,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $770
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