Sleepaway Camp

Film review

This film is undoubtedly one for my “So bad, it’s good” category…

Low budget, a poor script and some very bad acting at times. And yet, I was thoroughly entertained. I found myself laughing fairly regularly, although I feel like many of those moments weren’t necessarily intended to be funny.

The film opens with horrific boating accident that sets up the rest of the film. The Aunt in the second scene comes across as completely deranged and this didn’t make any sense to me – until the final scene of course (and why she insisted on personally writing up reports for the children’s physicals).

I really liked the effects in the film. Some of them were actually very good for the budget and they made several moments really stand out as being shocking. I particularly liked when the nonce got melted.

There were some interesting deaths and the bees nest in the toilet cubicle was particularly good.

But I don't really know what happened with those curling tongs... I suppose that’s left to your imagination. You don’t even really know for sure if that girl is dead, although I assumed she was.

Wow... what an ending. I honestly don’t know whether I loved or hated it. And I’m still shocked and confused (if not a little traumatised). But I loved the fact that no one could ever have seen it coming, even if it was completely ridiculous.

I’m not really sure if this film is trying to convey a message about gender identity and the dangers of not raising children in the conventional manner, lest your child turn into a psychopathic killer.

But then again, I’m not sure how much of a debate that was in the early 80s. Maybe this is just a batshit crazy premise for a film, for no reason in particular.

I would love to know what people made of this film back in the 80s. Maybe I’ll see if I can dig out some old film reviews! This is not a film I’ll be forgetting in a hurry… perhaps one day I will dare to track down a copy of the 2008 sequel. But it would probably be a huge disappointment unless it has an equally surprising twist.

3 pairs of denim cut-offs out of 5