Sleepaway Camp (1983) Review ​

 

Spoilers! 

A quiet young girl sent to a summer camp , the bullies become the least of her worries when the camp becomes site of a series of murders.

 Sleepaway Camp is well filmed by director Robert Hiltzik and has a fresh crisp feel thanks to Benjamin Davis’ cinematography. Hiltzik’s uncomfortable deaths and pedophile (Owen Hughes’ Artie) opening gives the film some weight even if skin crawling.

Hiltzik’s script also adds camp owner Mel’s (Mike Kellin) cover ups which gives it an air of eerie truth. The cast are primarily made up of adolescent actors, as opposed to adults portraying youth, that makes it different from its contemporaries, the theatrical offbeat acting (memorably by Desiree Gould’s as Aunt Martha) gives it a surreal quality, compounding its cult status. Notable is Felissa Rose as Angela. Along with Karen Fields’ Judy and Katherine Kamhi’s Meg. 

 Although comparable to Friday the 13th; mainly due to is setting, it’s closer to such slashers as Happy Birthday to Me (1981) and April Fool’s Day (1986) to name a few. Some may take offence at the underage relationships, foul language, unspeakable teen pains, anxieties, trauma and gender-bending story, but it is of its time, touching on a number of sexual taboos, debatably in some ways ahead of its time. 

For a low-budget slasher with a whodunit plot and solid makeup effects it hold up for the most part, there’s enough scalding, beheadings, stabbings and summer camp teenage antics and mayhem to hold interest. 

Overall, with its staple 80s pace there’s enough creative killings and interesting plot twists to justify viewing for sub-genre fans.