Old School Summer: Sleepaway Camp

Status: Own (I reviewed this movie back in 2005 but I've recently rewatched it. I plan on doing the sequels soon.)

After hearing about 3 million people tell me "YOU GOTTA SEE 'SLEEPAWAY CAMP'!! IT'S FUCKED UP, IT'S TWISTED, AND IT'S UP YOUR ALLEY!!" After I thank them for such a compliment I said hell with it and got it. And, dear readers, was I in for a treat.

We see a dad and his two kids out on a boat in a lake while some teenagers zip around in a speedboat. Because they're stupid clumsy anteaters, I mean teenagers, and they don't know how speedboat's work, they kill Dad and one of the kids. The other kid is basically just scarred for life and pretty much never wants to see water or teenagers ever again.

Jump to eight years later and we see Aunt Martha getting Angela, the surviving kid, and Ricky, Martha's actual son, ready to go to camp. She's really weird and tends to say "No...that wouldn't work at all!" a lot. And the chick playing her tends to way overact. She actually says it like, "NO!!! THAT wouldn't work AT ALL!!" It is hard to describe.

Anyway, off they go and everyone realizes that Angela is kind of on the creepy and quiet side. And it's at this point you think to yourself, "Oh, this is your typical horror slasher movie and Angela is going to redeem herself and everyone is going to like her." Yeah, that's what I thought too. But nope.

This movie is just loaded with creepy characters, like Artie, who comments on the kids running in a way that make you throw up for a good five minutes. We learn that he really is a creep when he tries to corner Angela and starts disrobing. Thankfully, Ricky shows up and saves her.

No one likes Angela's quiet nature and I thought she was going to go the entire movie without a single line, cause all she does is stare at people really creepy like. It's only a matter of time before Judy and Meg start picking on her. Even some of the councilors are like, "Hey Creepy Girl, eat something, ya jerk!".

After the whole encounter with Artie, we soon realize that his number is up when he's in the kitchen with an insanely large pot that is just full of boiling water. And of course we get the killer's point of view so we see the killer push the insanely large pot of boiling water on him. Then we're treated to a nice 5 minute scene of Artie screaming his head off while Mel tries to cover it up, telling the semi-retarded old guy Ben that he's now the main cook AND to tell the kids Artie "moved to an animal farm where he'll be happy".

Then we get about twenty more minutes of scenes where other campers, and councilors pick on Angela while Ricky defends her. Ricky's friend Paul decides to make his move and Angela actually likes him and this is when we realize that she has a voice.

Later, some kid named Kenny gets killed. Those bastards!

Now, I got why Artie got injured. As far as I could tell he wasn't going to die, just be in pain for the rest of his life and he deserved it, so I was on the killer's side here. But I didn't get what Kenny did that was so horrible where he died. Maybe the killer was just sick of hearing nothing but mumbling.

Mel really freaks out but tries to keep everyone calm but continuing with camp activities like normal. Meanwhile Angela and Paul's relationship is sort of getting rocky when Paul is trying to make out with her but she has some odd flashbacks that we're not quite sure what they mean and she freaks out and runs away. The next day, Paul is quite mad with her and starts making out with Judy. Angela sees this and gets quite upset and goes back to her usual way with Paul.

We get more teasing of Angela and a few campers here and there are killed and Mel suspects Ricky for some odd reason. Then when night hits, the killer goes on one big killing spree. Not only is Meg stabbed in the shower, but Judy gets a pretty horrible killing. Let's say it involves a hot curling iron and a, ah, body part where such things can fit.

I can hear women all over reading that just cringing.

Mel, who finds Meg dead, thinks Ricky did it and beats the shit out of him, until the killer kills him with an arrow. After finding a good amount of other campers dead, we get the shocking of all shocking endings.

Now, I know I have written somewhere on the site that if you don't want to have anything spoiled for you, you shouldn't be reading my reviews since I go into extreme details and give away the ending. People usually complain if you don't give them such a warning, so you have been warned TWICE! So I don't wanna hear it. Ready? Here we a-go!

Yes, Angela is the killer. BUT!!! GET THIS!! When Aunt Martha adopted Angela, she decided that one boy was quite enough, so when the suriving BOY from the first scene in the movie moved in, Martha turned him into a girl AND named him Angela. Now, how do we know this? Well, we get an oddly placed flashback explaining Aunt Martha doing so, but we also see Angela standing over Paul's dead body naked and we see her/his/whatever wee-wee. And she gives the creepiest stare yet. I actually shuddered. And I don't shudder.

The first 85-89 minutes of the movie is honestly horrible, with horrible acting, worse dialouge, and just fucked up storytelling. But that last minute, let me tell you. It's really, really...something. I'm just at a lost for words here. I say just put up with the horribleness of it all to see the ending, Angela's creepy stare, and weird ass song at the end for yourself. And because of all that I give this movie

-Jason