Sleepaway Camp The ultimate summer camp horror film is Friday the 13th but a few years later writer/director Robert Hiltzik came up with a more disturbing vision of summer camp whose shocking ending set up twists in such films as The Crying Game....not to say that Sleepaway Camp was the inspiration, but it certainly came first. The story revolves around a young girl Angela played by Felissa Rose (Zombiegeddon, Satan's Playground) who was involved in a boating accident with her brother and her father, who both died. She goes to summer camp with her cousin Ricky. While at camp she meets Ricky's friend Paul played by Christopher Collet (The Manhattan Project, The Langoliers) and falls for him. Also, several of the girls and guys begin teasing her due to the fact she is shy, and one by one the ones who make fun of her begin to drop like flies at the hand of an unknown assailant. Sleepaway Camp is cleverly crafted, and it keeps you guessing up until the very end. The death sequences are well done. It is not better than Friday the 13th but it does hold a close flame to it. This film was followed by a series of campy horror sequels which have a much more comedic element, and Angela returns in them played by Pamela Springsteen, sister of "The Boss" himself. Some may debate that the sequels are better due to their black comedy element, but I find the original to be simplistically satisfying. But if sequels are what you're after, the writer/director of the original has returned to bring us all his definitive sequel to the original, Return To Sleepaway Camp, which seems to ignore the previous sequels and is a direct sequel to original. Some of the people from the original return in the cast, but as for whether Angela return, only time will tell. The film is set for release sometime in 2004. If it's anything like the original, we're in for one hell of a ride. Contributed by Royce Freeman. >>Back<< >>Archive Index<<