Fear Friday ~ Dear Mom And Dad... Help!!!

Welcome to another Fear Friday here at the Laughing Vixen Lounge blog. June is here and that means a new theme for the new month. It was an easy decision this time as June is the only month this year to have a Friday the 13th. That's right, school is out, summer is here and it is time for parents to ship their children off to Summer Camp! Oh camp. Is there any better setting for death and doom? Well actually, I found most of the time it makes for a pretty bad movie. But as any fan of the genre knows that is where the fun lies. So lets start it all off with a movie that has gone down in horror film history as having the most shocking twist ending. Enjoy campers!

Every Friday at the Laughing Vixen Lounge blog is Fear Friday. Fear Fridays are a celebration of all films spooky. Horror is a very broad genre and the Lounge loves it all. Each Friday you will find a review of a different film. These can range from Classic Horror (black and white and cheesy), Thrillers (suspense, jumps and a good mystery), outright Horror (chop chop, slash slash, die die) and anything else in between.

So pop some popcorn, kill the lights and enjoy this week's selection. Please feel free to share your comments on the film. Bad or good let everyone know what you thought of it but please be respectful when it comes to giving too much away. And now, my little ghouls and dolls, the Laughing Vixen Lounge blog is proud to present this week's film.


June ~ Summer Camp Blues.

Fear Friday - Sleepaway Camp

Taglines - You won't be coming home!
                A nice place for summer vacation. A
                perfect place to die!



Directed by Robert Hiltzik (Return to Sleepaway Camp) and released in November 18th, 1983 by United Film Distribution Company (rated R). After a boating accident kills her entire family, Angela is sent to live with her aunt. She is the sent, along with her cousin Ricky, to spend the summer at Camp Arawak. Swimming, hiking, campfires and some nasty murders. Have fun kids!!!

While looking for horror films with a summer camp theme, I found that there are not as many as you might think and most are not great films. That being said, many horror films are far from great but still loved by many fans. Sleepaway Camp was the first obvious choice to use after the Friday the 13th movies. I saw this movie once before at a friends house back in the late '80s but really did not remember too much about it. So here are my thoughts after re-watching it the other day.

Oh my, where to start. First, the acting here is a whole new level of bad with a specially campy performance by Aunt Martha. The filming and the sets are nothing to write home about and the story is nothing new. So why bothering watching if it is that bad?

The Eighties!!! More than the screams of dying camp councilors you will hear this film screaming "I was filmed in the early 80's". It is all there. Girls and boys are both sporting their best feathered hair and headbands. The shorts have never been shorter or tighter! One male councilor wore a pair of shorts the whole movie that seemed like a very poorly disguised Speedo that proved to be scarier than any death scene! Boys in cutoffs and girls with their waistlines up to their chest. Mean and nasty Valley Girls relentlessly bullying the strange girl. We even get to hear the classic Valley Girl slang "Eat Sh** and die" passed back and forth during a not so intense baseball game. And I am about 98% sure I saw the main nasty councilor girl wearing a swimsuit I used to have.

Aside from all that fun, this movie is probably best known for having a very shocking twist to the ending. If you have not heard what it is yet I will not give anything away. And please be respectful of this if you leave a comment below. Nothing like having the ending ruined. It also spawned about five sequels but I felt no need to explore the story any further.

So if you enjoy the fun of a bad film or just like to watch the, um, classics then this is worth a watch. The gore is fairly low compared to today's films. While it can be a hard film to find I was able to rent it on Amazon streaming.



Take a look at the original trailer. **There really are not any spoilers in this one**




Some trivia about the movie.
1. Jane Krakowski was originally cast to play Judy.
2. Director Robert Hiltzik dedicated the movie to his mother.
3. There were 3 original songs (which were not just orchestrated) used in this movie, but only 1 ever made it out to a soundtrack album.
4. Pamela Springsteen, younger sister of musician Bruce Springsteen, took over the title role of Angela after the first film.