‘Sleepaway Camp’ is a horror treat not to snooze too

Released in during the peak of the “Friday the 13th” craze of the 1980s, 1983’s “Sleepaway Camp” is another slasher movie venture that made an attempt to ride the ever successful coattails of Jason Voorhees. Does this 80s cult classic have something more up its sleeve?

Years following a tragic accident, two children, Angela and Ricky, are sent to a summer camp known as Camp Arawak. Being Angela’s first time at such a place, the young girl finds it incredibly awkward and difficult to socialize, leaving her to the scrutiny of bullies left and right. However, when a series of grizzly murders begin to pop up at the camp, secrets are revealed that will change these campers for good.

For a film of its kind, “Sleepaway Camp” manages enough to help it stand out from the vast crowd of slasher flicks from its time. The time given to having the audience sympathize with Angela is well done. Both Felissa Rose’s performance and the way her problems are portrayed prove effective, drawing us into her struggle. The summer camp is pulled off in a similar manner, with the various other child and teen actors doing a solid job at bringing the environment to the rambunctious, chaotic life we can identify in summer camps.

This plausibility makes the horror elements all the more effective. While the build up to kills is often easy to see coming, there is still enough solid direction and pacing present to make these moments work. The kills themselves get rather creative and may surprise those expecting a film that may hold back from the violence to some extent due to the presence of children.

What many may know this film for, however, is its shocking final twist. Without revealing anything, this twist and its buildup is a mixed bag. The twist itself is built up well enough and the final reveal has a certain element to it that does prove shocking. However, the movie never does much with this and ends abruptly after it is revealed, leaving the film feeling somewhat empty-handed by the end.

At the end, there isn’t much else to say about “Sleepaway Camp.” While not a horror masterpiece by any means, the film makes for fun viewing during either Halloween or even an impromptu summer horror binge. So warm up just as its starting to get cold and don’t sleep on “Sleepaway Camp.”