By Geno McGahee
When you talk about strangest ending in horror history, I don’t think that any can compare to the conclusion of the 1983 classic, Sleepaway Camp. This, like many 1980’s horror films, took place at a campground and an unknown killer going on a spree of violence, but this does not fall into the category with Madman and The Burning. This is a unique film and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should…or maybe you shouldn’t. This is an odd one people.
We begin with Angela (Felissa Rose) and her cousin, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) leaving for camp. Angela is the survivor of a terrible boating accident where her brother and father were killed, and now lives with her wacko aunt, Ricky’s mother, who is very odd. She is only one of the many odd characters in this film. We also have the most despicable character in horror film history, Artie (Owen Hughes).
Artie is the cook and doesn’t hide his pedophiliac tendencies, calling the very young girls “baldies.” He even stated that “they are never too young.” He is slimy and what is nearly as bad as Ben (Robert Earl Jones), a fellow cook, who just laughs and shakes his head at the comments of Artie. I think that most people who know a bragging pedophile would not laugh at their audacity, but Ben does. Artie follows through on his promises to go after the young girls when he drags Angela into the walk in freezer, unzipping his pants before being walked in on. Don’t worry people, he don’t last long…
Artie’s (spoiler) death scene is one of the best I’ve seen. He is cooking his gigantic pot of corn in boiling hot water, when he is tipped off of a stool and doused, burned from head to toe. For quite a while, he just lays there and screams. The screams seem excessive, but excessive can be good and it is very good. I wish this happened to all child molesters.
Mel (Mike Kellin) is a really old prick that runs the show at camp and he is getting more and more irritable as the bodies begin to pile up at his place. He focuses all of his attention on Ricky, and I can’t say that I blame him…anything to get your attention away from those horrible half shirts and shorty-shorts that the men were wearing. Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) is wearing the tightest and most revealing speedo type shorts of all time. If I were dropping my son off at camp and saw a guy from bulge city, I would turn the car around. And what the fuck is the deal with half shirts? Rocky Balboa wore them all of the time. They were popular in the 1980s for some reason.
All of the deaths seem to be revolving around Angela. When somebody picks on her, they end up dead, and with Ricky always coming to her rescue, he is the top suspect, but we also have Paul (Christopher Collett), a dude that desperately wants to make it with Angela. He is also a suspect in this deal, and there are many more, and you may guess the killer, but you won’t guess the ending.
There is a lot of charm to this movie. The acting is very good and the characters are memorable, and there are also some funny scenes that you’ll remember like when Mozart (Willy Kuskin) does a sit up right into a bare ass. Mozart gets picked on a lot in this movie. I found it pretty amusing when he grabbed a knife and chased Ricky around the room before one of the half shirt goons broke it up.
If nothing else, watch this movie for the ending, but if you are a true fan of the 1980s, then you will love this film. I won’t give it away. This is something that you should probably discover on your own.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10.
