Spirit Camp

Here we go with yet another teen slasher movie with the usual wooden acting by a bunch of bimbos who obviously won't be doing Shakespeare in the park this summer. A troubled adolescent is sentenced by a kangaroo court to be punished by spending her days at a cheerleader camp. I can't make this sh** up.

Roxy Vandiver "stars" as Nikki, the goth bad girl who has a resemblance to the singer Pink. She is immediately despised by her fellow pom pom girls as they make fun of her for being different. The killings start quickly, and in between are some drills on the correct way to lead a cheer; go team go; ra ra ra, and praise the lord and pass the ammunition. Spirit Camp is about as bad as it gets, so do yourself a favor and avoid this movie.

Plot-Think Friday the 13th meets The Breakfast Club with cheerleaders. Roxy Vandiver and Julin, among others in cheer leading outfit trying to not be killed by a slasher in the woods at Spirit Camp. This film really just sells itself.

Review-Kerry Beyer is truly a fan of horror. With references in this film to genre classics such as Halloween,( camp director's name is Miss Haddonfield)and kills very much like Friday the 13th. Spirit Camp is a prime example of what an indie film can do right, and a Hollywood film will always screw up. Kerry is another example of the talent that is coming out of Texas right now. Texas has become a hotbed for horror in the last few years, pretty much like when Nirvana put Seattle on the map. Where people will look at the cover art of this film and have their minds made up before even attempting to give this film a shot. I can tell you that this film delivers a very solid story, very well written characters, a decent amount of kills, and a huge amount of nudity. Make no mistake about it, this film was created for a certain demographic, and that is male between the ages of birth and death. You have Julin, Roxy Vandiver and etc running around in cheer leading outfits while being chased by a killer. Who else could you market this film to? Churches? What it lacks on kills, it makes up for with the ladies. And the shock, what it lacked on ladies and kills, it made up for with a well written script. Kerry actually made a smart script from a type of genre comic film that a smart script should not work on, and it worked. Look at Roxy playing Nikki, where most directors would be content letting Nikki be the bad ass misunderstood rebel. Kerry, as the film went on made her character a "don't judge a book by the cover" character. This is another example of the brilliance of this film. He lets the actors own their characters, instead of playing against the tongue and cheek feel of the film. He made them seem serious, funny but yet sympathetic that you would not want to watch anything bad happen to them.

This film has such a dark humor and very fan written script, that you cannot hate this film. It was made by a fan for the fans. You almost feel as though, Kerry had a proverbial check list as to what to include in this film. We have to have the male characters that have the appeal of someone from Porky's. We have to make a death scene even worst, why not get a snake to crawl on the girl while she is in fear. This film is such a fresh breath of air to the horror genre. Spirit Camp is a great example of how far indie films have progressed in the last few years. How are Julin and Roxy Vandiver not more famous by now? This film shows what these ladies are capable of, and shows you what Texas is becoming very well known for releasing. Spirit Camp is a fun time. This film is an example of do not judge the film by the box art. It is so much more than fun and exciting than the cover art shows you. This is definitely a must watch.

This movie is listed as a Horror/Comedy and it is a perfect blend of both. The comedic parts are actually really funny and the horror side of the film is a perfect slasher flick. The ads for the film describe it as "Friday THE 13th meets BRING IT ON" which is a pretty good comparison. Although there were actually more similarities and nods to the film HALLOWEEN than there was to Friday THE 13th (the action takes place at Loomis Lake and the camp director is named Mrs. Haddenfield). You will also see some more subtle nods to HALLOWEEN if you watch close enough...I won't ruin them all for you here.

The acting is the movie is superb. There is not one bad performance in the group. A few performances that really stuck out as really great were the part of Sheriff Todd played by veteran actor Brandon Smith, the part of Rachel played by Julin, and the character of Missy played by Megan Moser. These were great performances, but really all the actors did a great job.

The gore scenes is the film are great too. One thing this Horror/Comedy didn't do was skimp on the blood. There are plenty of great kills to satisfy even the most die hard slasher fans. This film is definitely one to watch again and is going on my list of favorite slasher flicks!

Be sure to watch the behind the scenes documentary on the special features. Beyer talks about making this movie with such passion, you can tell he really loves the genre and film making in general, and it shows in his final product. Also, during this behind the scenes look, we get a very personal glimpse of a tragedy that struck his family, as during shooting his mother had to undergo brain surgery to remove a brain tumor. Mrs. Beyer was did all the catering for the film and was very involved and supportive of her son and this project. There is a very touching interview with Beyer's mother and even footage of her right after having been through the surgery. This was a very interesting behind the scene featurette with a lot more substance than most of the making of documentaries we are used to on every other Horror DVD. I hope Beyer sticks with the Horror genre and I look forward to seeing future projects from this amazing filmmaker.

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-

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.