Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Also known as "Nightmare Vacation"
...you won't be coming home!
Starring: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet, Mike Kellin, Katherine Kemhi, Paul DeAngelo, Tom van Dell, Loris Sallahian, John Dunn, Willy Kuskin, Desiree Gould, Owen Hughes, Robert Earl Jones, Susan Glaze, Frank Trent Saladino
Director: Robert Hiltzik
Running Time: 84 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 15
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
On DVD After a father and one of his young children are killed in a freak boating accident, the surviving child is sent to live with kooky Aunt Martha (Desiree Gould). Cut to eight years later, and Angela (Felissa Rose) is growing into a problem teenager, uncomfortable in her own skin and almost mute with shyness. Shipped off for the summer to Camp Arawak with her protective cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten), Angela has to endure the unwanted attentions of sleazy chef Artie (Owen Hughes), the bullying of counsellor Meg (Katherine Kemhi) and vicious teasing from bitchy Judy (Karen Fields) and the other children. As Angela begins to come out of her shell, and has her first awkward experiences of love with Ricky's friend Paul (Christopher Collet), children and staff at the camp start dying one by one at the hands of a mysterious and inventive killer.
If you were to create a map of movie massacres, its most popular sites would inevitably be Crystal Lake and Elm Street - but even if Camp Arawak, also from a horror franchise launched in the eighties, has been visited less often than these locations, sometimes, as any camper can tell you, it is necessary to venture a little off the beaten track in order to find the best spot. The point-of-view killings in 'Sleepaway Camp' might recall the earlier
DVD Extras: Animated menus; scene select (useful for revisiting key scenes once you have seen the twist); choice of Dolby 2.0/5.1/dts; original theatrical trailer; film notes (9 pages on the 'Sleepaway Camp' franchise and its context); bios on stars Felissa Rose and Jonathan Tiersten (who have both reunited for 2004's 'Return to Sleepaway Camp'); a hidden 'thumbprint' on the main menu which leads to an edited selection of clues and red herrings sprinkled through the film that allude, however cryptically, to the solution; full audio commentary (not particularly informative but quite entertaining) by writer/director Robert Hiltzik (who is amiably dry) and star Felissa Rose (who talks almost exclusively about the different guys she kissed or fancied on set, and who steadfastly fails to appreciate Hiltzik's irony), and moderated by Jeff Hayes (who runs 'Sleepaway Camp - the website' and contributes virtually nothing to the conversation).
Note that this is now also available from Anchor Bay as a box set, together with 'Sleepaway Camp 2' and 'Sleepaway Camp 3'.
It's Got: Desiree Gould's wonderfully weird aunt, a portentous score by Edward Bilous, a mode of murder that earns the film a true bee-grade, Owen Hughes' brilliantly sleazy performance as a paedophile cook ("Look at all that young fresh chicken"), guys in crop tops and tight pants, and of course baseball, volleyball and canoeing.
It Needs: The best psychiatric therapy that money can buy.
Alternatives: Halloween, 'Friday the Thirteenth', 'The Burning', 'Tenebrae', Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
Summary: Camp eighties slasher classic with a well disguised twist.
External Links
Official Web Site
Sleepaway Camp at the IMDB
Comments1 Comment |
| bestest film ive ever seen |
| Comment by:- steven | | 26 July 2004 | ip: logged |
