Sleepaway Camp
(1983) 88 Min.
Rated: R (gore, nudity)
Country: USA
Director: Robert Hiltzik
Starring: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Lots of disturbing deaths are happening at Camp Arawak.
Synopsis:
The opening credits pan over a derelict camp. Garbage strewn about, and finally a sign is seen: Camp Arawak is for sale.
Flashback to a sunny day at camp with children playing. Little Angela and her father and brother Peter are playing on a boat that they overturn when they push their father overboard. Unfortunately for them, two teens nearby on a boat towing a girl water skiing decide to switch places. The girl is steering the boat and doesn’t see Angela and her family in the water. The girl on the skis screams at the other two steering to avoid hitting the boat. Alas, it’s too late. The teen boy mistakenly speeds up the boat and it flies over the people and overturned boat. Everyone just stares at the family as the girl in the skis screams for someone to help them. The body of the father floats by face down and a cut up life jacket surfaces behind him.
Eight years later….Angela lives with her annoying Aunt Martha who screams everything and her cousin Richard “Ricky”. Aunt Martha sends them away to camp.
As the children arrive at camp they are yelled at by the camp counselors. So they run across the field. Meanwhlie the cooks and other adults watch as the kids arrive. One man, Artie, commenting on how pleasing all the young ones look. An older cook Ben laughs off his comments as the redneck Artie leers at the kids.
Ricky walks Angela to her cabin and comments on how he used to date a girl named Judy last summer. Judy, however, has now no interest in him since she’s grown up a bit more and has a taste for older boys. And of course, Angela ends up in the same cabin as Judy. Meg and Suzy introduce themselves as the heads of the cabin. Meanwhile Angela can’t help but stare at Judy. Judy finds the staring offensive.
At the dining hall Judy does not talk and does not eat. This is problematic, and one of the camp leaders, Ron, gives her a tour of the kitchen. He introduces her to Artie, the creep from earlier in the film. Ron decides to take a phone call then and leaves Angela in the care of Artie. Artie decides to take Angela into the walk-in pantry alone. He’s about to undo his pants when Ricky wanders in looking for Angela. Artie screams at him and Ricky and Angela run off together.
Later, Artie is salting some boiling water alone in the kitchen. He starts pouring salt out of a can into the boiling water. As he’s distracted, pouring more salt, a point-of-view killer decides to push Artie into the boiling pot. The killer then pulls the chair out from under Artie who then splashes boiling hot (and salted!) water on himself. He then proceeds to scream for about a full minute while lying on the floor in pain.
The camp owner, Mel, talks to Ron and decides to not let any of the kids or their parents know about the disturbing accident that took place that day. Mel offers Ben and the other assistants in the kitchen extra money to keep everything hush-hush. A whole $50 extra for Ben.
Some of the boys play baseball and the cool older guys lose to Ricky and his friends. Later at an event the older guys dare each other to ask Angela out for some fun skinny dipping. Angela’s response is to stare blankly at them, which completely offends the two boys trying to ask her out. They begin to mock her as Ricky walks into the hall and sees them. He begins to fight with them and they wrestle and punch with Mel looking on. Ron pulls Ricky off the other boys and they leave.
Ricky’s friend, Paul, starts to chat with Angela. To Angela. Whatever. Paul is talking to Angela, telling her how he knows about her family and starts chatting about past summer adventures he had with Ricky. Judy looks over and is displeased at the two. Paul has to leave for bed and wishes Angela a good night, to which Angela finally speaks “Good night”.
Meanwhile, it’s night time at the lake and the older boys are having a hard time trying to convince the girls to get nude and swim with them. Finally, one of the boys, Kenny, convinces a girl named Leslie to go on a night time canoe ride with him. He proceeds to tell her about all the scary animals that are active in the water at night. He then rocks the boat until it tips over. Leslie swims to shore, but Kenny stays under the overturned boat. Suddenly someone surfaces under the boat with him and pulls him under. The rest of the kids leave without much thought given to the missing Kenny.
The next morning as Ron cleans up along the lake shoreline, he finds an overturned canoe. He angrily lifts it up only to find the bloody pale corpse of Kenny.
The ambulance and a police officer arrive on the scene. The police officer stating that he believes Kenny drowned. Mel encourages him, saying that Kenny probably hit his head. The officer disagrees saying that there were no bumps or bruises on Kenny. (Though that doesn’t explain why Kenny’s corpse was covered in scratches and bloody….) Mel insists it was an accident.
Later as the girls are playing volleyball, Angela sits on the sidelines watching them play. Paul walks up to her and asks her to see the movie playing tonight. She agrees to go together with him. Judy continues to be jealous of Angela getting any attention from a boy.
After the movie, Paul walks Angela back to her bunk. He sneaks two kisses from Angela in. She seems rather non-reactive and decides to go inside. Judy tries to tease/flirt with Paul but he ignores her and walks away.
The next day, Angela is watching the other kids play in the lake. Paul starts to talk to her, then Judy comes around, but Paul tells her to go away. Meg gets angry with Angela for not getting into the water. Meg starts shaking Angela violently for not responding. Ron runs up to them and pulls Meg off Angela.
Judy starts getting angry at Angela for getting Meg in trouble. She starts yelling at Angela for not showering at the same time as the other girls. Suzy tells Judy to stop and finally slaps Judy. Angela decides to go and see her cousin. As she’s walking to Ricky’s cabin, a few boys on the rooftop are playing with water balloons and throw one at her. This enrages Ricky who walks out just in time to see her get hit. Paul also comes out to help Angela.
Mel walks over and tells the boys to get off the roof and punishes both the boys and Ricky.
As the boy who hit Angela decides to go to the bathroom while he is alone in the cabin, someone opens the screen behind the toilet and sticks in a hive of bees. The boy is locked inside and tries to break open the door as loud buzzing can be heard. Finally the door bursts open and the boy is seen fallen on the floor dead, with bees covering his face.
Mel is upset upon learning about the new death. He’s ready to close the camp. Ron tries to reassure Mel that they can stay open if they consolidate the bunks. Mel says that he’s known all along who the killer is.
Angela and Paul sneak off at night to make out. Paul tries to touch Angela’s chest but she has a flashback to her father and his lover. She’s a child with her brother, giggling as they spy on her father in bed with his male lover. Then another scene appears where her brother is pointing at her chest as they both sit up in bed. This flashback makes Angela push Paul off her and she runs away.
During a game of capture the flag, Paul and Angela discuss last nights events and Angela brushes off Paul. Judy walks up to Paul and flirts with him. Ricky runs up to Angela and tells her about his plan to capture the flag. Angela reluctantly agrees to play. As Ricky wanders through the forest he stumbles upon Judy and Paul making out. Angela also sees the couple making out. Paul calls out to Angela in surprise, but she runs away.
Back at the lake, Angela sits at the sidelines as the other kids play in the water. Paul walks up to her and tries to talk to her, but she doesn’t respond. Then Judy walks up to them, mocking them and telling Angela that Paul called her a prude, to which Paul responds “I’ve got to go” and he walks away.
Meanwhile, Detective Mel starts to talk to Ricky and asks him how his summer has been. Meg and Judy start to harass Angela. Meg lifts Angela up and carries her screaming to the water. Mel is still talking to Ricky, ignoring Angela’s screams and preventing Ricky from helping her. Mel accuses Ricky of killing the other campers. Meg then throws Angela into the water. Ricky tears away from Mel’s grasp and helps Angela out of the water. Ricky promises her that they won’t get away with it.
Meg has the night off and decides to spend it with old Mel. She gets excited about this date and decides to take a quick shower in another cabin. The killer stabs her through the shower stall, killing her.
Paul walks into Angela and asks her to forgive him. She tells him to meet her after the social.
Camp counselor Eddie takes some of the younger boys camping. After a few boys complain about being cold, he takes them to his car, leaving four sleeping boys alone.
Judy is back in the cabin making out with a random guy. Mel walks in looking for Meg, but Judy tricks him into thinking she’s alone and tells him Meg took a shower in the next cabin. After Mel leaves, the guy Judy was making out with wants to leave. Judy calls him a chicken shit and he leaves.
Mel wanders into the next cabin looking for Meg. As he wanders around the shower area, Meg’s corpse leaps through the curtains and falls on the floor causing Mel to say “Oh my God.”
Mel then laments on how he had “him”, the killer, and let him go. He repeatedly asks Meg’s lifeless corpse for forgiveness and swears to it that he will get the killer. “He won’t get away, Meg!” he takes one last look at her corpse and exits the murder scene.
Judy is fixing her hair in the dark alone. Someone opens the door and comes in. Judy warns them not to turn on the light, lest she be forced to go to the “stupid social”. The figure walks up to Judy and punches her in the face, knocking her out. The figure then covers Judy’s hair with a pillow, raises her curling iron, then does something that causes Judy to scream into the pillow. This kills Judy, and the bed is moved over her corpse.
Eddie returns to check on the boys left by the campfire, but finds them all dead. Their sleeping bags are all cut up. he instantly vomits upon seeing this and starts to cry for help and runs into the woods.
Ricky makes his way to the hall to get some food. As he wanders in the dark, his hands full of junk food, Mel grabs him by the neck and carries him into the woods. He slaps Ricky who falls on the floor confused. Mel proceeds to beat on Ricky. “I got him, just like I promised Meg,” he says. Then he runs off into the night. he pauses in front of an archery range. He’s surprised by the figure holding an arrow. The killer shoots an arrow through Mel’s throat.
The police arrive… well, one cop shows up after hearing about the death of the boys. The camp leaders are told to stay with the children and stay in pairs. Suzy and Ron go off together.
Meanwhile, Paul is waiting for Angela. She shows up and tells Paul that they’ll go swimming and to take off their clothes. Paul excitedly removes his shirt.
An officer and a counselor find Ricky’s beaten body. Ricky is bruised, and stirs a little, coughing. “He’s alive!” exclaims the camp counselor, with all the enthusiasm of an excited child.
Ron and Suzy find Angela stroking Paul’s hair and humming while sitting on the beach.
SPOILERS!!
The ending has a huge plot twist, which some may not wish to read, so read on if you wish, but be warned!
Then a flashback scene plays where Aunt Martha is speaking to a bandaged child. Telling the child how lovely it will be to have a girl in the house, and how dearly she wanted a girl but she is divorced. She smiles and assures the child, Angela. “I know you’re going to like that name. Won’t you, Peter?”
The scene changes back to Angela, now rising to her feet. She is naked and bloody. Her mouth is open and Paul’s bloody head rolls onto the floor, a serene smile still on his face. Ron and Suzy are shocked. Angela is not female. The camera pans back to reveal Angela’s nude and bloody body, her penis can be seen.
The movie ends.
END SPOILERS!
Comments:
Something should be said for this film and its desire to show people screaming for far too long than is needed. Also, this was late 70’s early 80’s and short-shorts on men was all the rage, or a requirement. There are male cameltoes as far as the eye can see. Add to that, a soundtrack that is very TV-movie by today’s standards. The movie plays almost like a tv-murder-mystery, except that there is some gore, swearing and of course, the nudity in the last scene. There is New York written all over this movie. The accents are thick and strewn about.
It was overall kind of a bad movie. The killer’s identity could be guessed by anyone, but what confused me was the extra padding. The pointless baseball scene. The added scene of Angela and Peter and Angela’s fathers. What’s the point of that?
The odd “death by curling iron” and “death by being stabbed through a wall”. They don’t make sense, and I guess we’re not supposed to care. We’re just supposed to go with it and enjoy the scariness of the KILLER. I suppose that’s fine for some people, but I think the shots that stay on people who scream and talk to corpses so long is just so distracting. It’s so silly that I can’t help but laugh at the majority of this movie. Even the hammy acting by the aunt.
So sure, this movie resulted in a few sequels being made, but ultimately it’s kind of bad. Ok, it’s really bad. But it had one thing going for it, and in the horror genre, sometimes one thing is enough to make sequels.
Notes: Mike Kellin (Ornery camp owner, Mel) died the year this movie was released.