Angela moves in with her aunt Martha after that her family has been killed in a boat accident. One summer, Martha sends Angela along with her cousin Ricky to Camp Arawak. Shortly after their arrival, strange and bizarre accidents and murders start to occur around the camp. Who's killing off the kids and people working at the camp?
Only reason why I chosed to re-watch Sleepaway Camp now, is because I'm a big sucker for nostalgia. I quite recently re-watched some of the movies in the Friday the 13th series, and while I thought that they were quite bad when watched them now, Sleepaway Camp still makes for a great 80's slasher flick. The two of course has a few things in common; They are slashers, someone's killing off innocent campers, and they both deal with camps. But while the Friday the 13th flicks are more straight forward slasher flicks that deals with vengeance and that has spawned many clones, Sleepaway Camp is different, and I would say, more inventive.
Angela and her cousin Ricky arrives at the camp, and while Ricky starts to get along fine with some of the people there, Angela has problems adjusting. Time goes by, and more and more kids become irritated with Angela since she doesn't speak a word, and just sits by herself while the other kids participate in different activities. The camp is divided, and the boys and the girls sleep separated from each other, and some of the girls keeps giving Angela a hard time. First of to go is some fat dude who works in the kitchen and seems to have a thing for minors, so when he's almost burned to death, it's no big loss. Then other people start to go as well, and while the manager's trying to keep everything a secret not to cause panic among the kids and parents, eventually it's too much even for him.
Expect your typical kind of slasher flick, that has some murders that are a bit cool, but quite often they're just too lame. The movie has a great 80's feel to it, and while it's not a comedy, it's still funny and really campy at times. The storyline and the plot is thin, and while it seems like nothing really happens, except for that someone dies every now and then, it's still fun to watch and never feels like a snooze-fest. But the coolest thing, and that's the thing that makes this movie different, is the actual ending which is something very different from how these types of flicks usually ends. Naturally I can't give the ending away, but it's cool so trust me on that.
Someone over at Imdb wrote that the ending for Sleepaway Camp was one of the coolest endings in movie history. Well, that might be true if you've seen ten flicks all in all during your entire life. It's a good and very cool and different ending, but don't expect miracles. The acting is not bad nor good, it's what you'd usually expect when it comes to these types of flicks. But even if it's not that great, it's never so bad it feels irritating.
Sleepaway Camp is a pretty fun movie, and while it might be tacky and campy, it has a great 80's feel to it, and if you're into slasher flicks it's well worth watching. No real gore, and the killings are far from great, but it still manages to do the job with being entertaining, and the ending is pretty cool as well. Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Nightmare Vacation
MOVIE YEAR: 1983
DIRECTOR: Robert Hiltzik
WRITING CREDITS: Robert Hiltzik
GENRE: Horror, Slasher
CAST: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Christopher Collet
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 88 min
RATING: 6/10
Sleepaway Camp Website/IMDB Click here
Sleepaway Camp Trailer Click here
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