Thursday, February 4, 2010

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Although I'm dying to display the iconic shot from this movie as the review photo, it sort of gives away the ending to this movie.  But the box cover is pretty lame, so I'm going to split the difference and go with a random picture from the movie.

Sleepaway Camp has one of the best twists of any horror movie made in the 80s.  It's literally right at the end of the movie and you do not see that coming at ALL.  However, one of the best parts of the ending is that it doesn't ruin future viewings...it just makes them all the more hilarious ;o)

Sleepaway Camp is the story of Angela and her cousin Ricky.  Angela was enjoying life as a kid with her father and his gay partner (this is actually a relevant fact to the movie) when there is a tragic accident, leaving Angela orphaned.  She is sent to live with her Aunt Martha and cousin Ricky.  Now they're off to summer camp, which Angela is none too thrilled about.  She is shy, awkward, and relucant to participate in activities at camp.

Ricky tries hard to protect Angela, but the other girls tease her relentlessly and she is unable to make friends.  However, she finds a love interest, Ricky, who likes her but is frustrated with her unwillingness to go further than kissing.  Meanwhile, campers and staff are dropping dead left and right.  The seedy owner, Mel, is determined to keep police out of the situation and parents calm.  But the killings continue, with no suspect in sight. 

The shock ending is both surprising and unnerving, and I haven't seen too much like it in subsequent horror flicks.  You won't be kept up with nightmares about this movie, but it's an awesomely bad classic.

Also, random shoutout, this movie was filmed in the Fort Edward/Lake Luzerne area, about an hour from where I grew up!  This is the second horror movie I've written up on this blog that was filmed in that area. 

photo source

2 comments:

sc83x said...

sleepaway camp was actually filmed on and around summit lake in argyle new york.

i appreciate the positive review. so unlike the usual negative garbage people try to peddle.

The Scream Queen said...

@sc83x: Thanks for the comment! We're both right -- IMDB lists filming locations as Argyle, NY, Fort Edward, NY, Lake Luzerne, NY, and Glens Falls, NY.