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Hello Fellow Spooks and Creeps!
The 80s knew how to make camps scary, that's for sure. Between Crystal Lake and Arawak, nowhere was safe for counselors. Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 cult horror movie, about the deaths of anyone at Camp Arawak with less than good intentions. I had meant to watch it sooner, but wasn't able to find it anywhere. Luckily it was on Shudder, so I was able to finally sit down and watch it. The movie definitely screamed 80s all throughout it, with the clothing, and all around cheesiness. If I hadn't already known it was from the 80s I would have guessed it myself. I've never really heard anything bad about the movie so I went into it expecting to enjoy it, and I was not disappointed.
"Johnathan Tiersten was given the role of Ricky after an unusual audition where the writer/director, Robert Hiltzik, asked Jonathan to cuss him out." -IMDB
The movie circles around Angela, and starts out with Angela and her family (Twin and Dad) out on a boat and a few teens water skiing. The teens decide to be stupid and not look where they are going and crash into the boat that Angela is on, killing her twin and Dad. She is then moved in with her Aunt Martha and her Cousin Ricky. We cut to years later when she is going to camp with her cousin and her aunt is acting very strange, constantly telling Ricky to look out for her "little girl". We don't hear Angela talk for the majority of the movie and she tends to just have this very blank look on her face. She is constantly picked on, but it seems after she is picked on that person tends to end up dying or getting hurt majorly.
"Eat shit and die, Ricky!" -Bill (Loris Sallahian)
"Eat shit and live, Bill!" -Ricky (Johnathan Tiersten)
The first is the Head Chef who tries to rape her but get's caught by Ricky before he can. He ends up getting boiling water spilled all over him. Next, is Kenny who is saying that she isn't "playing with a full deck". He ends up getting attacked by Ricky until the two are pulled apart. That night he is drowned in the lake. Next is Billy who hits Angela in the face with a water balloon. Ricky flips him off and walks Angela away with the help of Paul. Later that day Billy has to "take a wicked dump" and someone locked his door shut, cuts open the screen above him, and showers him in bees, causing his death. Next is Judy and Meg who have been making Angela's life a hell this whole time, but goes a step too far when they pick her up and throw a terrified Angela into the water. Ricky sees it and tries to stop them, but the head of the camp is convinced that he is the one killing everyone. I would like to say that they did a good job making you believe that it could be him. Since he is there for each time Angela gets bullied or hurt. If I hadn't already known the truth I might have assumed it was him. Anyway, as Ricky brings Angela back to the benches a bunch of kids start throwing sand at her, causing Ricky to tell them to stop. This is quite a few people that die. First is Meg who ends up with her back getting split open while she's in the shower. Next are 4 of the six kids who threw sand at Angela, they are found hacked up. Finally there is Judy who is
smothered with a pillow while a curling iron is put somewhere... probably the absolute worst place to have it put... if you know what I mean. The head of the camp is next too die, but really it's just bad timing on his part. The movie ends when Angela is found to be sitting naked on the beach singing to herself holding the severed head of Paul. She is revealed to not only be the killer but also a boy, she is Peter. As it turns out when her aunt got custody of him, she thought that having 2 boys wouldn't do and decided to raise Peter as Angela.
"The climactic scene was accomplished by using a nude man wearing a mask cast from Felissa Rose's face. There were talks, and even molds created for a strap-on prosthetic penis for Felissa herself to wear, but the idea was ultimately scrapped. The thin man who stood in for Angela in this one scene was a college student who needed to get drunk before he was able to do the scene." -IMDB
Obviously that is a very simple plot synopsis that just focuses on the kills. As I have previously mentioned, I love the way they framed Ricky during the movie. He just happened to be there to see his cousin bullied, but by default it would make sense that he was the killer. I really wish I had been able to go into this movie completely unaware of the ending, because the twist is so amazing. Sadly, I knew it was Angela that was killing the people because that ending scene is so iconic I have seen pictures for it everywhere. I also figured out that Angela was actually Peter because of movies like Insidious Chapter 2, where the same thing has happened.
"For Artie's severe burn sequence, the actor was propped up on a fake floor and underneath, liquid gelatin was pumped through the blisters giving the impression that they're pulsating." - IMDB
The acting in the movie was so... 80s. Not that the acting in 80s movies is bad, it was just so over the top sometimes. That is how it felt with some of the characters in Sleepaway
Camp. Aunt Martha is the best example in my opinion. She definitely seemed crazy, she just also was so exaggerated. Every movement and those moments where she seemed to agree with herself were almost worse. It all just seemed like so much. Mel (The camp head) was another one that was like this. Felissa Rose did so well as the quite Angela. I am still confused by the sound she was making at the end though, like how would you make that sound?
" A shot of dead Judy was cut by the MPAA for being much too grisly." - IMDB
Overall the movie was quite good. I liked almost all of it, even the over the top acting. I say almost because I know there were parts of it I didn't like, I just can't quite remember them. Either way thank you so much for reading, and remember...
STAY CREEPY!!
References
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086320/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv