Sleepaway Camp
In preparation for Halloween last year, I picked up the DVD box set of the three installments of teen slasher movie Sleepaway Camp and finally got around to watching the first one on Sunday night.
It seems to have a bit of a cult following, and I really didn’t get it until the end - it’s a very basic Friday 13th rip-off with really quite shocking pacing. The kills are relatively inventive, and they don’t always go for the obvious choice of who to kill next (I thought the slutty bully would get it much sooner), but I saw nothing to make it stand out from the crowd of summer-camp killing spree movies begotten by F13 in the early 80s. And then I got to the ending.
I have to admit that I knew what the twist was - the DVD packaging sort of assumes you already know, which is a bit like having a credit of Keyser Sose on the box for Usual Suspects. I won’t spoil it here in case the film once agains becomes a Halloween candidate (and if you Google it to find out then you only have yourself to blame). What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the unrelenting disturbingness of the reveal. The tone of the final 30 seconds of the movie is so very, very dark in comparison to what’s gone before, I wasn’t sure I hadn’t accidentally switched onto something else.
Apparently the sequels have a more NOES3-style comedy-horror element. Might give part 2 a go tonight.
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