Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Robert Hiltzik
"Yes, I've always dreamed of a little girl just like you."
I like to strut around, a cock of the walk if you will, with my knowledge of horror movies. There's nothing that I haven't seen done differently before, and nothing that could truly surprise me, especially in a teen slasher from the 80's.
Then I watch something like Sleepaway Camp because it was in the first few suggestions on Shudder and is only 80 minutes long, and I'm left staring at the TV in slackjawed awe.
What a weird movie! I was expecting a cheapo knock-off of the Friday the 13th series, and in some cosmetic ways it is (naughty campers and counselors get sliced and diced), but there's a weird creative energy flowing through it that's lacking in other teen slashers. I have no idea if the energy is genius or madness, but I don't think that matters in the end. Sleepaway Camp is right on that line between insane nonsense like The Pit, and more conventional slashers.
We need to dive right in.
What's it about: I mean, at first glance, the synopsis is going to sound incredibly familiar: naughty teens at a New York summer camp start dying left and right at the hands of a mysterious killer. But it's also about trauma, and gender, and sexuality, and softball. Way too much about softball.
What was interesting: There's no good way for me to discuss the most interesting thing about the film without spoiling an ending that is tremendously fucking weird, so I'll do my best to talk around it.
First of all, about the ending, I don't think I can convey just how bizarre it is. And not even necessarily the topic of it, which Emily and I both sort of figured out along the way, but the way it was filmed makes it so weird. It's...yeah. I don't know. We had to go back and watch it two or three times. It's less "oh wow what a twist" and more "oh no somehow I got transported back to a spooky 1930's traveling geek show."
Along the way to this weird ending, we're treated to scenes that flip between banal and humdrum to 'David Lynch but with rabies' so abruptly that your head starts to swim. This is a film that has, no joke, a full seven minute scene devoted to a softball game featuring Ricky (the main male character) and 20 other kids we have never met before and are never given names. This scene shows up shortly after a scene where a pedophile cook has his flesh boiled away after trying to rape a 10 year old girl (which at least 6 other adults witness).
Sic semper rapists
There's so much time devoted to this rivalry between Ricky's group (which appears to be him, his best friend, and his depressed and traumatized cousin Angela) and some other unnamed camper's group. They throw water balloons at each other, scuffle at the ice cream social, and are constantly saying they're going to "get them back" about the other side. It's incomprehensible, especially since it cuts from this camp nonsense to a scene of a guy getting stung to death by hornets while taking "a wicked dump." My suspicion is that they had about 40 minutes worth of actual plot, and needed to pad it out to make it into theaters.
Sleepaway Camp is a lot less heteronormative than you'd expect. I don't recall seeing a single boob, but there's an army of dude butts. There's even a trans woman playing the character of Ricky's mom that is never explored or focused on, but she absolutely shouts out her lines and is dressed like Jackie Kennedy on acid.
There's also a whole plot line about Mel, the greasy, cigar chomping, lecherous old man who owns the camp. As bodies start piling up, he tries to cover up the truth from the parents of the campers, so he won't lose out on money. But without any lead up, he swears a blood oath over the freshly slashed body of a random female counselors who had become inexplicably attracted to him just two scenes before.
The movie has no problem staying weird enough to keep you sucked in.
Other films I thought of: I mean, obviously Friday the 13th comes to mind, what with all of the teen summer camp slashing. But there are other parts that feel looser, almost like a John Waters film. It's a mish mash.
Miscellany: My favorite scene in the movie is when Ricky and his friend go to the rec hall to hang out with other cool teens and do cool teen stuff. They walk in full of BDE and for some reason Ricky is wearing a cowboy hat that he's never worn before this scene (halfway into the movie).
Shortly after they arrive, the rival group of campers confronts them, and one of them slaps the hat off of his head to start a fight. And thus the reason for the hat...
Also, this film has a serious problem with waists. Everybody has their pants hiked up to their boobs, and it makes them look like people who had to have the middle 12 inches of their bodies removed for some horrible reason:
Recommendation: If you are looking something that is goofy, but watchable, and you don't mind putting up with about 20 minutes of filler nonsense, check out Sleepaway Camp. The ending more than makes up for any earlier sins, and there's enough zaniness along the way to keep you entertained.
Remarkably Bad
I like to strut around, a cock of the walk if you will, with my knowledge of horror movies. There's nothing that I haven't seen done differently before, and nothing that could truly surprise me, especially in a teen slasher from the 80's.
Then I watch something like Sleepaway Camp because it was in the first few suggestions on Shudder and is only 80 minutes long, and I'm left staring at the TV in slackjawed awe.
What a weird movie! I was expecting a cheapo knock-off of the Friday the 13th series, and in some cosmetic ways it is (naughty campers and counselors get sliced and diced), but there's a weird creative energy flowing through it that's lacking in other teen slashers. I have no idea if the energy is genius or madness, but I don't think that matters in the end. Sleepaway Camp is right on that line between insane nonsense like The Pit, and more conventional slashers.
We need to dive right in.
Then I watch something like Sleepaway Camp because it was in the first few suggestions on Shudder and is only 80 minutes long, and I'm left staring at the TV in slackjawed awe.
What a weird movie! I was expecting a cheapo knock-off of the Friday the 13th series, and in some cosmetic ways it is (naughty campers and counselors get sliced and diced), but there's a weird creative energy flowing through it that's lacking in other teen slashers. I have no idea if the energy is genius or madness, but I don't think that matters in the end. Sleepaway Camp is right on that line between insane nonsense like The Pit, and more conventional slashers.
We need to dive right in.
What's it about: I mean, at first glance, the synopsis is going to sound incredibly familiar: naughty teens at a New York summer camp start dying left and right at the hands of a mysterious killer. But it's also about trauma, and gender, and sexuality, and softball. Way too much about softball.
What was interesting: There's no good way for me to discuss the most interesting thing about the film without spoiling an ending that is tremendously fucking weird, so I'll do my best to talk around it.
First of all, about the ending, I don't think I can convey just how bizarre it is. And not even necessarily the topic of it, which Emily and I both sort of figured out along the way, but the way it was filmed makes it so weird. It's...yeah. I don't know. We had to go back and watch it two or three times. It's less "oh wow what a twist" and more "oh no somehow I got transported back to a spooky 1930's traveling geek show."
Along the way to this weird ending, we're treated to scenes that flip between banal and humdrum to 'David Lynch but with rabies' so abruptly that your head starts to swim. This is a film that has, no joke, a full seven minute scene devoted to a softball game featuring Ricky (the main male character) and 20 other kids we have never met before and are never given names. This scene shows up shortly after a scene where a pedophile cook has his flesh boiled away after trying to rape a 10 year old girl (which at least 6 other adults witness).
There's so much time devoted to this rivalry between Ricky's group (which appears to be him, his best friend, and his depressed and traumatized cousin Angela) and some other unnamed camper's group. They throw water balloons at each other, scuffle at the ice cream social, and are constantly saying they're going to "get them back" about the other side. It's incomprehensible, especially since it cuts from this camp nonsense to a scene of a guy getting stung to death by hornets while taking "a wicked dump." My suspicion is that they had about 40 minutes worth of actual plot, and needed to pad it out to make it into theaters.
Sleepaway Camp is a lot less heteronormative than you'd expect. I don't recall seeing a single boob, but there's an army of dude butts. There's even a trans woman playing the character of Ricky's mom that is never explored or focused on, but she absolutely shouts out her lines and is dressed like Jackie Kennedy on acid.
There's also a whole plot line about Mel, the greasy, cigar chomping, lecherous old man who owns the camp. As bodies start piling up, he tries to cover up the truth from the parents of the campers, so he won't lose out on money. But without any lead up, he swears a blood oath over the freshly slashed body of a random female counselors who had become inexplicably attracted to him just two scenes before.
The movie has no problem staying weird enough to keep you sucked in.
First of all, about the ending, I don't think I can convey just how bizarre it is. And not even necessarily the topic of it, which Emily and I both sort of figured out along the way, but the way it was filmed makes it so weird. It's...yeah. I don't know. We had to go back and watch it two or three times. It's less "oh wow what a twist" and more "oh no somehow I got transported back to a spooky 1930's traveling geek show."
Along the way to this weird ending, we're treated to scenes that flip between banal and humdrum to 'David Lynch but with rabies' so abruptly that your head starts to swim. This is a film that has, no joke, a full seven minute scene devoted to a softball game featuring Ricky (the main male character) and 20 other kids we have never met before and are never given names. This scene shows up shortly after a scene where a pedophile cook has his flesh boiled away after trying to rape a 10 year old girl (which at least 6 other adults witness).
Sic semper rapists
There's so much time devoted to this rivalry between Ricky's group (which appears to be him, his best friend, and his depressed and traumatized cousin Angela) and some other unnamed camper's group. They throw water balloons at each other, scuffle at the ice cream social, and are constantly saying they're going to "get them back" about the other side. It's incomprehensible, especially since it cuts from this camp nonsense to a scene of a guy getting stung to death by hornets while taking "a wicked dump." My suspicion is that they had about 40 minutes worth of actual plot, and needed to pad it out to make it into theaters.
Sleepaway Camp is a lot less heteronormative than you'd expect. I don't recall seeing a single boob, but there's an army of dude butts. There's even a trans woman playing the character of Ricky's mom that is never explored or focused on, but she absolutely shouts out her lines and is dressed like Jackie Kennedy on acid.
There's also a whole plot line about Mel, the greasy, cigar chomping, lecherous old man who owns the camp. As bodies start piling up, he tries to cover up the truth from the parents of the campers, so he won't lose out on money. But without any lead up, he swears a blood oath over the freshly slashed body of a random female counselors who had become inexplicably attracted to him just two scenes before.
The movie has no problem staying weird enough to keep you sucked in.
Other films I thought of: I mean, obviously Friday the 13th comes to mind, what with all of the teen summer camp slashing. But there are other parts that feel looser, almost like a John Waters film. It's a mish mash.
Miscellany: My favorite scene in the movie is when Ricky and his friend go to the rec hall to hang out with other cool teens and do cool teen stuff. They walk in full of BDE and for some reason Ricky is wearing a cowboy hat that he's never worn before this scene (halfway into the movie).
Shortly after they arrive, the rival group of campers confronts them, and one of them slaps the hat off of his head to start a fight. And thus the reason for the hat...
Also, this film has a serious problem with waists. Everybody has their pants hiked up to their boobs, and it makes them look like people who had to have the middle 12 inches of their bodies removed for some horrible reason:
Also, this film has a serious problem with waists. Everybody has their pants hiked up to their boobs, and it makes them look like people who had to have the middle 12 inches of their bodies removed for some horrible reason:
Recommendation: If you are looking something that is goofy, but watchable, and you don't mind putting up with about 20 minutes of filler nonsense, check out Sleepaway Camp. The ending more than makes up for any earlier sins, and there's enough zaniness along the way to keep you entertained.
Remarkably Bad
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