Sleepaway Camp (1983) review

18. Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Directed by: Robert Hiltzik

Produced by: Jerry Silva, Michele Tatosian

Screenplay by: Robert Hiltzik

Starring: Felissa Rose, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Mike Kellin

When you look at a horror film with a title like “Sleepaway Camp,” coupled with the decade it came out, your first thought is, “cheap ‘Friday the 13th’ knockoff.” Hell, the plot at its bare bones is about a series of murders at a summer camp for teenagers, and the mystery of who the killer is; what’s special about it? There’s at least some merit to that sentiment; the acting is hokey, the cinematography is amateurish, and the tone is scatterbrained like nobody’s business. And yet…there is this curiously innate quality that elevates it slightly; I don’t think it’s in league with the big slasher names, but it has personality, impressive craft for its budget, and some genuinely surprising twists thrown in there. It’s one of the more secret underground classics of the 1980s.

The movie opens with a speedboat accidentally killing a father and son in a lake near Camp Arawak, leaving young Angela (Colette Lee Corcoran) as the lone survivor. Eight years later, Angela (Felissa Rose) now lives with her weird Aunt Martha (Desiree Gould) and cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten); Martha sends her to Camp Arawak for the first time with Ricky. Almost immediately, Angela’s quiet, introverted nature makes her a target for bullying from their campmates and even her counselor Meg (Katherine Kahmhi). But before long, the tormenting parties of the camp start getting killed in bizarre and sometimes gruesome ways; who’s doing this, and how does it relate to Angela?

Like I said, the plot is pretty simple and stupid when you really think about it, and the characters have motivations and storylines to match. Ricky mopes about his previous camp fling Judy (Karen Fields), who now acts like a bitch. Angela bonds with Paul (Christopher Collet), and it’s…cute, I guess, even if Paul acts a little overbearing. There’s a weirdly long scene of a baseball game that admittedly features some good trash-talking. But the majority of the downtime is spent on Angela getting tormented for really no reason at all; she barely says anything, yet is constantly hounded, getting thrown into the lake, being pelted with water balloons, and even getting outright sexually harassed by the creepy cook Artie (Owen Hughes). It gets uncomfortable, but it establishes the intended mindset; as someone who was bullied in his adolescence, kids can be relentlessly cruel to someone they see as an easy target. Something worth mentioning is that most of the young cast is actually played by kids and teenagers, instead of the usual adults dressed down to look younger. Felissa Rose, meanwhile, gets plenty of emotion across in just her stares; you really get a feel for her sense of isolation. By the way, personal shout-out to Felissa, who recently helped make my first horror convention a great time; she’s a beautiful soul.

Thankfully, the movie is smart enough to not take itself too seriously, or it at least has a mixture of horror and irreverent comedy that begins the moment you see Martha briefing Angela and Ricky about the camp; she’s one memorable nutcase. The most enjoyable character is probably Mel (Mike Kellin), the owner of the camp who callously tries to cover up the deaths just because he doesn’t want the bad publicity; when he finds who he suspects is the killer, he actually accuses them of doing it for the sole purpose of making him look bad. I’m not going to lie; it’s kind of hilarious how stupid he is, perhaps a deliberate send-up to the mayor in “Jaws” played with wonderfully cynical wit by Mike Kellin. Sadly, he passed away from lung cancer less than three months before the movie’s release. Here’s a bit of trivia for you; the other cook Ben is played by James Earl Jones’s father Robert, one of the first prominent Black film stars in history, while the paramedics were played by real paramedics.

If you had a chance to make a movie at the place you went to camp as a child, would you? Well, that’s exactly what director/writer Robert Hiltzik did; this was shot near Summit Lake in New York at a camp formerly known as Camp Algonquin. I have to say, for a first—and for a long while, only—time director, the ambition is impressive, using a budget that was basically his entire inheritance after his mother passed away. The practical effects by Edward French make for a guerilla, homemade style that makes it feel unique. On the other hand, while there are some nice tracking and point-of-view shots, the camerawork itself is shoddy at best; it’s especially aggravating how many times they leave so much head room in a shot. However, the music by Edward Bilous gets pretty dramatic, especially in the climax when things really ramp up.

French shows a variety of tricks during the kill scenes, especially when the victims get scalded by boiling water, set upon by bees, or speared by an arrow. The most disturbing death that I’m actually thankful it happens off-screen involves a curling iron being used in a truly vile way; honestly, this film gets uncomfortable at times. Oh, and I can’t go without at least mentioning the twist ending, which is probably what most people remember about the movie, and was maybe one of the most shocking since “Psycho.” The mystery regarding the identity of the killer isn’t especially strong, but the actual surprise is something else entirely. I had accidentally been spoiled the twist, but without revealing it, I find it very cleverly set up; the movie drops a couple of hints as to what it’s leading up to, but you think they’re for a totally different reason. I’m not entirely sure how well it would be received today, but the context is pretty disturbing when you consider the circumstances.

So don’t be fooled; aside from the setting and the nature of some of the kills, there isn’t much linking “Sleepaway Camp” with any of the “Friday the 13th” movies. After all, only one of the sequels actually features kids attending camp; the original had the counselors getting the camp set up, and most of the others just take place at a house by Crystal Lake…and Manhattan, but let’s not get into that. For whatever reason, this movie really found an audience, grossing $11 million off a $350,000 budget, leading to a very peculiar horror franchise; there were two sequels, a third that got started, halted filming because the production company went bankrupt, then sort-of finished 20 years later, and one called “Return to Sleepaway Camp,” Hiltzik’s only other movie, that ignores everything but the original, much like what 2018’s “Halloween” went on to do. We’ll cover them another time; overall, this is one I more appreciate than actively like, although there is a charm to it, even if it’s just for how prototypically ‘80s it is—I mean, just look at the clothes, for instance. It’s not that scary, but there’s a certain degree of—dare I say it—camp that makes it worth watching with the right mindset.

My rating: 7.5/10