31 days of horror day 15 extra 02

Sleepaway Camp series overview


I didn't see the original Sleepaway Camp until the early 90s. I had already seen part III. And when I finally found a store with the original for rent I had to see it. Thankfully no one had spoiled the original for me. Since then I have searched out and seen every film in the series.I find it to be one of the more under-rated series of films in the slasher sub-genre.

Sleepaway Camp-Made back in the early 80's this was one of the many films that copied the Friday the 13th formula. Basically have a bunch of kids/teens being killed off in the woods/a summer camp. But this film has a raw edge to it that makes it stand out among all the other Friday clones. Then there is the ending. Now warning I am about to spoil it. But I figure that most people reading this already know about the ending. We find out at the end that little Angela is not only the killer,but Angela is actually a guy. This ending has shocked people for years. A-.

Sleepaway Camp II-Made quite a few years after the original. Parts 2 and 3 were filmed back to back and went DTV. Angela is back,but now she is a young adult.We get lots of comedy and some great cheesy gore.And instead of Felissa Rose as Angela we get Pamela Springsteen. B+.

Sleepaway Camp III-Made at the same time as part 2,but released the next year. This entry isn't near as good as the first 2.You can tell they must have spent most of the budget on part 2. Plus the MPAA caused their to be many many cuts to this film. Thankfully the DVD release has most of the cuts as an extra. C+.

Sleepaway Camp:the Survivor-Rumored for years this is the uncompleted 4th entry in the series. As far as I know the only way to see what was filmed is to get the Sleepaway Camp boxed set that was sold only at Best Buy. This edition has an extra disc with about 20 minutes worth of footage from part 4. Since the film wasn't completed there really is no way I can rate it.

Return to Sleepaway Camp-Finally after many years the directer of the original film came back and made his official sequel to Sleepaway Camp. The film was finished back in the early 2000s. But sat on the shelf for what seemed like forever. Then finally sometime in 2008 it was released. What we got was a decent film,but it can't compare to the original. C+.