By Geno McGahee
I am a huge fan of the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise. Jason Voorhees is the man. I even love the films that are like FRIDAY THE 13TH that people shit on, like the BLOODY MURDER movies. So, if you’re making a film that has a Jason vibe, you usually got a few points with me going in. Matt Frame has written a love letter to the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise and has done it without apologies. CAMP DEATH III in 2D is a film that may not resonate with many considering the fragile, easily offended society that we seem to have, but if you are an asshole like me, you may find some joy in this.
We begin with the Jason-like killer, Johann (Terry Mullett), a mentally challenged killer trying to kill a young woman. He chases her down and much like FRIDAY THE 13TH part II, she tricks him into thinking that she’s his mother, but she uses a puppet to trick him…a bright pink puppet. When I saw this, I began to think…man this is going to suck, but I don’t give up easy and I’m happy to say that it greatly improves, and I fucking hate puppets.
Camp Crystal Meph was the location of the murders and it has been re-opened by Todd (Dave Peniuk), but it’s owned by his asshole Uncle Mel (Darren Andrichuk) and he has a no nonsense approach to this reboot. Uncle Mel is hilarious, although, once again, I can picture people getting offended quickly at this. He calls the place a “retard petting zoo”, referring to the challenged people that are coming there to stay, but in these types of movies, you have to create bad guys that deserve to die…and he was funny. I can’t help what I laugh at. Don’t judge me.
Helping Todd is the head counselor, Rachel (Angela Galanopoulos). They need all the help that they can get with the busload of campers that they are getting shipped in. The best character in the film is Verta (Katherine Alpen). The bus drives up and she’s licking the window and then she takes the window down and just looks with this grin, only to erupt with unusual laughter. Alpen was so hilarious in this. I found myself rewinding some of her scenes along with Andrichuk’s. Very funny stuff.
We learn of the history of the killer, which is the same as the Jason lore, give or take. I did like how they designed the signs to look nearly identical to the FRIDAY THE 13TH signs and how many scenes were designed to be close to how the original series was set up and shot. As I said, I’m a huge fan and I give them big props for attention to detail.
The unfortunate thing about this film is that it had great momentum and seemed to run out of steam in the final third. There was just something with the pacing and I wasn’t a huge fan of the overuse of the CGI, but I think the point was to be as bad as possible in certain areas.
CAMP DEATH III in 2D is the FREDDY GOT FINGERED of the horror world. I love FREDDY GOT FINGERED, by the way. That’s a compliment. CAMP DEATH III in 2D is not trying to make a good movie. It’s trying to do the opposite but to make one that’s so bad that it’s good. It achieved that to a great degree. I laughed a lot, but I found myself sort of losing the love in the tail end of this. Make no mistake, I love the unapologetic courageous approach to this movie. This is what indie film is about.
In the end, despite the film running out of gas, I highly recommend this one. How can I give a bad rating to a film that I rewound so much? Big props to the cast on this one, especially Alpen and Andrichuk. It was a fun film overall and I think that most people not looking to be offended will find some laughter and joy in this.
