Painfully shy Angela Baker is sent away to summer camp with her cousin. Not long after Angela’s arrival, things start to go horribly wrong.
Well here is the start of my “Sleepaway Camp” franchise review, I’m seriously excited to be reviewing this franchise, so lets get on with it!
The 80’s was seriously packed with an abundance of Horror films, some have long been forgotten but others have stood the test of time and gone on to be cult classics. “Sleepaway Camp” is one of them and for very good reason. For those of you who have seen the film you’ll know it’s remembered for it’s shocking and now pretty iconic ending, problem is the film is overshadowed by that ending.
The films characters are all great, from freaky ‘Aunt Judy’ to bitchy ‘Judy’ to ‘Ronnie’ and his short shorts, each character is rememberable and even though they maybe one dimensional they play to their strengths. Talking of ‘Judy’ though, her end scene is highly memorable as it only plays out in shadows, plus it leaves you with the thought of “is she really dead?”. A shot of dead Judy was cut by the MPAA for being way too grisly and it actually worked in our favour.
The film contains even more great horrific scenes, my favourite being the one with the paedophile chef, you can feel the pain he’s in and even though he deserves it , it still makes you cringe and you’re once again left with “What happened to him?” because he isn’t shown dead. Yes, it is a slasher film but it has so much more going for it than that.
It has a few subtle undertones that ultimately help enhance the film and move it up a level above the rest of it’s kind, it also helps beef up the ending of the film, an ending that still shocks people to this day who know nothing about the film. I’ve introduced people to this film and still love seeing their reaction to it, I won’t ruin it for those of you who have yet to see it.
“Sleepaway Camp” is a film I consider essential viewing for any Horror fan out there, if you haven’t watched it you’re truly missing out on something very special.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Director Robert Hiltzik dedicated the movie to his mother.
Jane Krakowski was originally cast to play Judy.
Some of the campers seen getting off the buses at the beginning of the film are relatives of the cast and crew.
There were 3 original songs (which were not just orchestrated) used in this movie, but only 1 ever made it out to a soundtrack album.
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