By Melissa Antoinette Garza
The bitch is back with a frizzy rocker hairdo and a much sassier bad-girl attitude. Pamela Springsteen returns as Angela in the third SLEEPAWAY CAMP entry and just like the others, I enjoy it immensely.
As the movie opens, we see Angela murder Maria (Kashina Kessler), dispose of her body and steal her identity. She poses as an under-privileged troubled teen going to reform camp. Though now known as Camp New Horizons it was previously Camp Rolling Hills, the same place Angela originally ran wild.
Angela doesn’t waste any time and starts dishing out punishments quickly. A TV tabloid newscaster (Randi Layne) makes the mistake of asking Angela for some cocaine. Angela takes joy in giving her some cleaning compound that is actually some instant death in a baggie. See naysayers, horror films have morals. Don’t do drugs given to you by reform school camp kids in their 30s. I’m proud to say that is a lesson I still live by! Thank you, SLEEPAWAY CAMP III.
The good news is that Angela is given a bunch of people worthy of being killed. Some of them are racists, some are homophobic, some are named Snowboy (Kyle Holman) and some are lovable (admittedly pervy) camp directors portrayed by the undeniably charming and adorable Michael J. Pollard.
Pollard portrays Herman who is a goof that loves the ladies. To be clear, by “loves them” I mean that he has wrong and inappropriate relations with camp counselor Jan (Stacie Lambert). Let’s Go, Herman! Admittedly, I have had an oddball crush on Pollard since I saw him in AMERICAN GOTHIC (1987) so I always root for him.
That said, I am still very much #TeamAngela. She doesn’t like cheaters and Herman was cheating on his wife and co-director Lilly (Sandra Dorsey) so I guess he had it coming.
Lilly is catty, lazy, bitchy and apparently not putting out for Herman. She reminds me of some women in my family. That said, her husband was a louse – a cuddly louse with an “aw shucks” smile – but a louse!
As much as I enjoyed the second one, I like this one a bit better. Angela has a wild style to her, but there’s still the underlying goodness that comes out. She’ll violently kill someone and then join a camp circle and talk about her love for E.T. (1982).
During the fun movie talk, racist bitch Cindy (Kim Wall) decides to switch her hatred from Tony (Mark Oliver) and Mexican Americans to Riff (Daryl Wilcher) and African Americans. Riff is one of the only characters that I genuinely feel for in this movie. Yes, he makes the mistake of pulling a gun on Angela, but he starts off as just a black guy from Detroit who likes rap music and gets shit on for it. It isn’t until he’s terrorized and wants to be left alone in his tent listening to some tunes that he finally blows his top off. That said, he doesn’t die first; and this was long before filmmakers admitted the black guy dying first was a fucked up horror trope. So…… YAY for Riff?
Whereas I feel badly for Riff, watching Cindy die was very satisfying. How can I not be Team Angela when she’s killing a caricature of every girl I hated in high-school? I will fully admit to cheering “Get that bitch, Angie” during the scene. Some people call that behavior insane. I say it’s therapeutic!
Another person I don’t mind seeing die is Bobby (Haynes Brooke). Seriously, fuck Bobby! His character is a representation of the crazy self-righteous censorship hypocrites.
Bobby pretends to be nice and a gentleman with political aspirations. In public, he’s very respectful towards Angela and makes nothing more than a kind comment or two, but when alone he’s all paws! Openly, he condemns all the fun stuff, but in reality he’s a dirty douche-bag who wants to be tied yo and screwed on a tree. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that part. God knows, SECRETARY (2002) with Maggie Gyllenhaal expressed that perfectly; but the dirty lies and facade makes Bobby a scumbag!
There are several awesome parallels this draws to the first and second. It really does try to connect some dots,even if loosely done. It’s a B horror sequel and it’s entertaining as hell. What more can you ask for?
The protagonists of this film, Tony and Marcia (Tracy Griffith) are great in their respective roles. They’re sympathetic and have great chemistry with one another. That said, this is Pamela Springsteen’s movie and she is marvelous. She has so much fun with it.
In the end, Angela makes a macabre game where the survivors are forced to find Marcia and Springsteen’s reactions are priceless. It’s amusing and she’s a lunatic in it. Springsteen is sensational as the psychotic, homicidal Angela. She’s hilariously evil and wears it phenomenally well.
I highly suggest this one. This movie got me thru many shitty lonely weekends when I was a kid and it brings back a bunch of great memories. I remember hitting the video store and renting 7 movies,7 days for 7 dollars. I had my coupon in hand when entering and was immediately drawn to the glorious horror section with the one or two other freaks searching shelves for hidden gems like myself. I miss that! I learned far better social skills talking to weirdos about horror films in video rental shops than I ever did in school.
One thing everyone loves pointing out and I’ll say it quick is kudos to the filmmakers for paying homage to John Hughes characters in the second flick and THE BRADY BUNCH characters in this one. Nice touch.
Like the other SLEEPAWAY camp classics, this too is on AMAZON PRIME so get on it subscribers.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
