By Melissa Antoinette Garza
When I was 12 years old, this was my jam! I’d rent this and SLEEPAWAY CAMP III: TEENAGE WASTELAND (1989) all the time. I had virtually no friends so I had plenty of time to watch cheesy silly horror flicks. Being a loser loner wasn’t all bad!
As a woman who loves horror movies, I want some women to play as dirty as the boys. Nearly every great 80s horror icon is male. You can look at Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Pinhead, The Tall Man, Chucky, Billy from SILENT NIGHT, DEADY NIGHT (1984), and Cropsy (Lou David) from THE BURNING (1981) for some of the most prevalent examples.
Women antagonists were typically sensual vampires, temptresses or creepy elderly women. Female psycho slasher are few and far between. That said, SLEEPAWAY CAMP II and III rock a hardcore killer in Angela (Pamela Springsteen).
Angela was released from a mental institution after having surgery and becoming a full woman. For those unfamiliar with the first, she was born male but at a young age raised as female by her eccentric and awesome Aunt Martha (Desiree Gould).
Now, Angela returns and gets hired as a camp counselor. She’s a bit of a prude and doesn’t like girls sexing it up or doing drugs. She’s a proud virgin who believes in wholesome values. Angela is a glorious parody of all those who hate films like this. She is a caricature of every bible thumper condemning nudity and every intellectual chastising the brazenness of it all. I love the fact that she enacts revenge on characters the censor nuts loathe in a manner that makes the censor nuts even more furious.
Angela doesn’t hate and kill all of the campers. Molly (Renée Estevez) is a good girl. She’s a virgin who doesn’t do drugs so Angela likes her. Those two should have gotten together. They had so much more chemistry than Molly’s other love interest, Sean (Tony Higgins).
Only Molly is spared however as Angela runs wild. The girls who flash their breasts, have sex, smoke pot or have the misfortune of catching Angela in a compromising situation end up on the hit list.
SLEEPAWAY CAMP II: UNHAPPY CAMPERS understands exactly what it is. It was a FRIDAY THE 13th style slasher. It even paid homage with masks representing Leatherface, Freddy and Jason. There are plenty of winks at the camera as the production doesn’t take itself seriously.
Still, it’s a fun film. Pamela Springsteen is terrific in the lead. She makes the character her own and gives it a confident spin that made it unique. There’s a little bit of Norman Bates thrown into her performance for good measure. Just as I sympathize with Norman, I too find myself feeling badly for Angela. She’s crazy but she’s not intentionally cruel. She thinks she has the moral high-ground. She believes she’s doing the right thing. Also, I have a thing for crazy chicks.
Overall, I highly suggest watching this one. AMAZON subscribers have fun with PRIME because the first three SLEEPAWAY CAMP films are available to stream.
SCARED STIFF RATING: 6.5/10
