November 13th, 1999"SUMMER CAMP BLUES"
The Winter season is soon to be upon us. Those cold days of snow, sleet, hail and rain will soon be here (unless of course you happen to live in a place that's sunny year-round). We can all dream of the summer and of romping in the sun. We don't have to worry about huge credit card debt because of Christmas. And we can enjoy ourselves with many outdoor activities. But what if summer didn't turn out to be so peachy after all? What if you went to camp, only to be killed? In tribute of the summertime, we offer three separate films that gives us all a very good reason not to go to camp... The Burning [1980] just so happens to be an early effort from the Weinstein brothers (those who head Miramax and genre division Dimension). It also happens to have early appearances from such celebs as Oscar winner Holly Hunter and Seinfeld's George Alexander (who has hair here!). It starts off as you'd expect with a slow-minded camp janitor falling victim to a prank and being disfigured by a campfire. Well years later guess who's back and wielding hedgeclippers! In some circles this slasher has a good reputation, and I'm one of the people who think it's an entertaining time that trots out all the cliches but at the same time has some pretty cool murders. If you don't dig the massacre on the raft, you don't dig slasher films. Friday The 13th [1980] to be sure was made only to cash-in on the success of Halloween. But who knew it could spawn eight (soon to be nine) sequels? This one is also responsible for the slasher sub-genre of summer camp as a bunch of people out to fix-up a camp are murdered in multiple ways by a psychopath, who it turns out happens to be a quite demented older lady taking revenge for the drowning death of son Jason (sans hockey mask and machete). Well made by director Sean S. Cunningham and featuring a young Kevin Bacon, this is actually a moderately suspenseful effort with some decent deaths, a somewhat effective musical score and the infamous "arrow through the throat" murder. Much better than most of the sequels that came after it, and now a "must" for anyone who wants to consider themselves a horror movie fan. Sleepaway Camp [1983] is included here just for its outright hilarity and badness. Plus let's not forget that much talked about closing shot. The set-up it typical. A bunch of kids head-off to camp and find themselves being murdered after they pick-on the shy girl Angela. There's a big pot of boiling water poured on the camp chef, there's a beehive stuffed in a washroom stall and there's the aways offensive "hair curler in the privates" death. Sure, the film is shit, but it's got one Hell of a stupid ending that guarantees its spot in a horror fans heart. At least they managed to make two way better sequels. |
