“Oh
I’m a happy camper; I love the clear blue sky! And by the grace of God, I’ll
camp until I… DIE!” – Angela Baker singing ‘The Happy Camper Song’
The first Sleepaway Camp (1983), directed by Robert Hiltzik, was an
innovative low-budget shocker that got by with a healthy dose of originality, a
few well-placed special effects, and a gender-bending twist ending for the
ages. It arrived near the end of the early-80’s slasher boom kicked off by Halloween (1978), following a slew of
slayers that saturated screens to the point of overflow. Though the slasher
genre created and maintained a dedicated fan base, the audience majority was
certainly beginning to show fatigue with the concept. By the time Sleepaway Camp rolled around, there had
already been three Halloweens, three Friday the 13ths, and
countless other imitations in a span of about four years. In fact, the previous
autumn even saw the slasher get its first real parody with Slumber Party Massacre (1982). Boasting a tagline like “You bring the pizza… I’ll bring the drill…”
it was obvious that the genre was becoming humorously aware of its own
limitations. The self-referential comedy would hit a peak nearly fifteen years
later with Scream (1996), but until
then the horror faithful would have to endure the increasing ridiculousness of
franchise sequel mania.
Sleepaway
Camp is actually a quite refreshing departure from the typical tropes seen
in the genre. In spite of taking place at a summer camp and revolving around a
rising body count, the film showcases a remarkable energy evident not only in
the creativity of the murders, but in the zeal of the teenage cast and also the
darker, more serious tone the story takes towards its end. Director Hiltzik
drives his creation from its early focus on adolescent hijinks straight into an
abyss of sexual confusion and psychological trauma. The ending offers no
catharsis whatsoever and forces the audience to confront in their own way any
number of social constructs attacked or commented on throughout the course of
the picture. Bullying, sexuality, childhood trauma, and social identity are all
touched on brilliantly in the disguise of a slasher flick.
Perhaps these themes were too much
for audiences in 1983. Or maybe it just came at the exact wrong time, and
movie-goers were just too tired of masked serial killers to pay it much
attention. Whatever the reason, Sleepaway
Camp did not find its fan base on the big screen. Where it did find it,
however, was the small screen. Like most
low budget slashers of the time, home video was the market that brought the
numbers studios wanted to see. Maybe Halloween
and Friday the 13th could duke
it out with E.T. the Extraterrestrial
(1982) and The Empire Strikes Back
(1980) in the great battleground of the box office, but they were the
exception. For the majority, success meant home video sales, and that is
exactly where Sleepaway Camp found
its niche.
For many fans, the term
‘direct-to-video’ is up there with the worst of the bad words you can’t say on
television. In light of damning evidence such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The New Generation (1994) and the
entire Wrong Turn series, one would
be hard pressed to disagree. However, the late 1980’s offer up a charming array
of exceptions to the rule, and standing out as the cream of the VHS crop are Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)
and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
(1989).
Filmed back to back from summer to
fall in 1987, the two pictures are great examples of what it looks like when
direct-to-video sequels do almost everything right – almost. Make no mistake; this is not Citizen Kane (1941) we’re talking about here. These are cheeky
horror movies made for next to nothing in the VHS era. Stood up next to others
of their kind though, (Slime City [1989]
anyone?) they are practically masterpieces! Just enough energy and production
value married together can make something great.
Robert Hiltzik originally wrote a
script for the second Sleepaway Camp
film. The producers he gave it to supposedly declared it too dark and instead
offered to buy the sequel rights from him in order to make their own. He agreed
and the project was immediately given to writer Fritz Gordon who in turn penned
the script for producer/director Michael A. Simpson, and thus Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers was
born. Angela was back!
Sleepaway
Camp II unfolds at Camp Rolling Hills; set six or seven years and about
sixty miles away from Camp Arawak (the setting of the first movie). Angela,
apparently “cured” through therapy and surgery (and now played by Pamela
Springsteen, younger sister of one Bruce!!!), has assumed a new identity and
somehow that was enough for her to land a job as a summer camp counselor! Unfortunately,
her campers just can’t seem to be good! So, in a hilarious twist on the
vigilante justice of the first film, she begins cheerily “sending them home” in
various, increasingly creative ways – with a heavy branch, a chainsaw, battery
acid, and even an old outhouse…
Sleepaway
Camp III: Teenage Wasteland was filmed literally as soon as part 2 wrapped,
and is essentially a direct continuation of the story with new victims for
Angela to discipline. This time, Camp Rolling Hills has been renovated
(somewhat) and renamed Camp New Horizons. Angela runs over an inner city teen
with a garbage truck in order to assume her identity and go to camp where upper
class and lower class kids are forced to work together as ‘an experiment in
sharing’. After seeing the poor behavior of her fellow campers, she laments
“Why did I think this year would be any different?” and sets about once again
punishing everyone for the slightest infractions!
Humor had been seeping into horror
films in one way or another since the genre was conceived. In the 80’s it was
humor that was often paired closely with gore as in Stuart Gordon’s Reanimator (1985) or Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II (1987). Generally, the
attitude seemed to be ‘the more bombastic the better’ and that is the direction
producers wished to take the Sleepaway
Camp series. The dead-serious tone of the first film was eschewed in favor
of planting tongue firmly in cheek.
Most surprising is that the films
are actually funny! Angela’s one-liners are much, much better than the ones
spouted Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare
on Elm Street series, while her obvious insanity manages to make the movies
at least a bit scarier than most body count flicks. But more than any other
famous slasher villain, you really just want to root for her! Angela just wants
one really nice camp experience, and everyone keeps trying to ruin it!
Unlike the first feature, which was
filmed in upstate New York, both Unhappy
Campers and Teenage Wasteland
were filmed at an abandoned summer camp in Bremen, Georgia. Seen in the present
day, the camp is completely overgrown with all sorts of ivy, bushes, trees and
the like. The buildings are all but caved in and there are no signs of the dirt
roads that once connected them to civilization. The swimming pool is still
discernible, but only because natural ponds don’t come in perfect L-shapes. In
part 3, Angela is told that the abandoned cabin where she stored her previous
victims has been torn down. Ironically, that is the only building currently
left intact!
The southern location certainly
provides a more woodsy setting with a surplus of trees and undergrowth to make
the surrounding forests more foreboding than the tall and spacious evergreens
found in northern New England. Unlike many famous 80’s slashers, here it isn’t
so difficult to believe that our killer could successfully hide the mounting
numbers of dead teenagers’ corpses until the final reel.
And about said dead teens… perhaps
the biggest direct carry-over from the first Sleepaway Camp is the creativity put into the kills. Let’s face it, if
you’re watching these movies this is
what you’re here for anyway! The first installment featured bees, boiling
water, and a curling iron, but the sequels make it look downright boring in
comparison. In Sleepaway Camp II
Angela seems to really take joy in her work, using as many different implements
as possible. She uses a battery-powered drill, a barbecue pit, and even dresses
up as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface
for a sidesplitting sequence that lampoons not one, not two, but three major horror franchises at once!
Sleepaway
Camp III continues to up the ante on the ridiculous factor, giving Angela
plenty of horrible characters to do away with by her own uniqueapproach. Here
we get a racist dropped from a flagpole, a firecracker up the nose, and even
death by lawnmower! Pretty much, the Sleepaway
Camp movies deliver the red stuff with the wild imagination audiences
should have been getting from A Nightmare
on Elm Street episodes, but weren’t.
Though the third film was butchered
by the MPAA in order to receive an ‘R rating’, it still manages to display
enough effects to be worth watching. And now, thanks to the recent blu-ray
release, fans can see the cut sequences in their entirety! Thankfully, part 2
suffered no such setbacks, and the fake blood flows freely from reel-to-reel!
The final piece of the success
puzzle is the delightfully kooky performance by the Boss’ sister Pamela
Springsteen. Though the producers wanted Felissa Rose to reprise her role as
Angela from the first film, she was unavailable due to responsibilities at
college. A casting call landed Springsteen the part. From her very first
appearance, it’s easy to see why she fits the character so well. She is
unfailingly spunky, cheery, and one hundred percent into the summer camp vibe
24/7. But on the edges of every line she delivers and every smile she gives is
a hinting glimmer of psychotic neurosis.
Especially in Sleepaway Camp II, Springsteen all too convincingly demonstrates
halting speech patterns, almost undetectable nervous tics, and a terrifyingly
real ultra-conservative brainwashed morality. What at first seems like hammy
acting starts to look more and more like it isn’t acting at all until, by the
end, you’re not sure where the line between the actress and her character is.
All the same, you kind of want to go insane with her…
Ultimately, that is the appeal of
these two films. Together, both Sleepaway
Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway
Camp III: Teenage Wasteland represent the best kind of escapist cinema.
They invite the viewer to switch off for a little while, and get caught up in
the sheer zaniness they have to offer. So let’s go and join Angela as she takes
care of business!
