View Feedback | Send this Article | Published 2/07/03

Graphic By: Andrew Kinback

The problem with the genre is that for the most part, if you have seen one, you've seen them all. You get so into everything and see everything that you could never imagine that you do get a bit desensitized. It gets harder and harder for a horror movie to shock you, amaze you, or dare I say it? Scare you? However, every so often you will go to the dusty horror racks of your local video store and find a hidden jewel. You will find a movie that will refresh you and remind you why you love this genre.

After watching the recent and disappointing teeny bopper horror flick "Jeepers Creepers" and watching how filmmakers of today are dropping the ball these days, I was losing a little faith in the industry. So one day I kicked back and grabbed an old 80s horror flick from the rental shelf called "Sleepaway Camp."

Director Robert Hiltzik and screenwriter Marshall Brikman made the film back in 1983. The gist of the film is that it is a complete copy-cat rehash of the more popular slasher movies of the day like "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween." It begins with a young brother and sister sailing with their father on a lake. While sailing, their boat is hit by two camp counselors who were paying more attention to each other than where they were going. The girl's father and brother are killed and the girl, Angela, is left near mute and completely shy and outcast. Eight years later, her adoptive family foolishly sends Angela (played by Felissa Rose) back to the very same camp lake where the tragedy happened for a summer of fun. She is constantly picked on for her silence and weirdness. After a while, strange "accidents" begin happening and then suddenly, murder. These events all happen to people who just abused poor Angela.

The plot is disastrous, the acting is horrible, and the kills are nothing you haven't seen before in any "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie, but this little doozy of a film has reinstated my belief in good horror movies. It succeeds in two areas: the dialogue of the film, and the darkest, most twisted ending to any movie I have ever seen.

I hate it when films these days try to act "our generation." Hollywood tries to write movies using what they think we use as "slang," in a talk-our-talk, walk-our-walk kind of way. These movies usually end up being completely laughable. As I watched "Camp," I laughed at the bad acting, but quickly realized it wasn't bad acting at all; it was just how we really acted in the 80s. Case in point--the infamous, long and dragged out "baseball game sequence" in this film. It had 12-year-old kids giving the finger and saying the dirtiest words you can think of to the opposing team. That is how everyone plays sandlot baseball. Parents really would like to believe the dirtiest thing said in an innocent game is "He's got no swing," but that is denying reality. The film really shows how rough and naive sex- craving teens were back in the days.

The ending of this film nearly made me crap myself. Forever am I cursed with the twisted, dark, images at the end of the film. I, in no way, had any preparation for the ending the movie threw at me. It was evil, dark, and horrid to the imagination. For the 80s it was something original and absolutely mind-numbing.

"Sleepaway Camp" scores huge points from this horror fan. It scores with others as well since there have been sequels, cult followings, internet sites devoted to the mythos, and the band CKY (Campkillyourself) even named itself after the movie. It is a movie that will have you laughing at how stupid you think it is, then turn around and smash you in the face with an ending of epic proportions. I will not tell what happens because it will ruin it. You will just have to see for yourself.