A horror with that little bit extra.... (Sleepaway Camp (DVD))

Member Name: seth1970

Product:	Sleepaway Camp (DVD)
Date:	29/05/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good example of the 80's slasher genre. Very original ending

Disadvantages: Poor acting, has been copied thousands of times, so nothing new for a first time viewer.

Saw this originally back in 1985, at the height of the stalk and slash craze started by Friday 13th.

It is a familiar story, set in a US holiday camp for young people, and centres around young Angela, a shy girl who is bullied by the more dominant kids there.

I am not spoiling anything by saying one by one her campmates come to sticky ends in some quite inventive murders for the time, including death by hair-curler - a first as far as I know!

The film is well shot, giving a creepy atmosphere that is soeley lacking in most filme of this type. The sexual subtexts in the script and storyline made the film ahead of its time in that aspect. The acting in general is very poor, apart from Angela (played by Felissa Rose, who thanks to this film has become somewhat of a horror icon), who gives a genuinly creepy performance, and has got the "Evil Stare" routine down to a fine art.

This film is mostly known for the shock ending, which is difficult to describe without giving the whole thing away, but it has been copied a million times since, and is a real eye opener. Watching it with my friends in the mid 80's, the screams and shouts that shot out at the end woke the neighbours up on both sides!

When I first watched it, it stood out enough as different to the other films of that genre. It had enough of a shock factor to keep it entertaining, and fun. Re-watching it nearly 25 years later, it does come across as quite a cheap, amatuer movie. As I said above the acting is terrible, and now we are accustomed to better special effects, the gore scenes seem very fake.

If you have never seen it before, there is nothing new here that you have not seen in thousands of horror films sincethis was made, including the shock ending. But please remember, this was one of the first, and if you view it that way, yo may be pleasently surprised.

Summary: Fun 80's horror from a more innocent time