By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Summer Camp Nightmare has been a guilty pleasure of mine since I was a child. I hadn’t seen it in ages, but found it at a horror convention a few years back and was thrilled.
The movie opens as a bunch of eager kids and teenage counselors are brought to camp. Much to the chagrin of the teenagers, Mr. Warren (Chuck Connors) a new camp director enforces strict rules including only allowing a religious channel on the rec room TV.
When campers disobey they are placed in the “meditation room”. Camp counselor Franklin Reilly (Charlie Stratton) notices that the campers and other counselors are not happy with Warren. Seeing his chance to take control, he tells his gullible friend Stuart aka Runk the Punk (Stuart Rogers) that Warren molested one of the boys. Though this is a blatant lie, Runk believes him and cheers Franklin on when he tells the rest of the campers that they need to take over the camp.
Franklin starts a revolution and locks the adults in the meditation room. He goes to the girls camp and does the same to their counselors allowing the girls and boys to mingle.
Initially, everyone is into it except Heather (Melissa Reeves) and our protagonist Chris Wade (Harold Pruett). They are called out as traitors and everyone is told to ignore them.
Soon, things get out of hand. John (Tom Fridley), one of the camp counselors, rapes Debbie (Samantha Newark) a girl he had been casually dating. John is brought in front of Franklin who decides that the punishment is for him to cross a wooden bridge which is broken when he returns without any problem, the women are dissatisfied and punish him their way.
Many of the campers begin to see that Franklin has taken his power too far. They secretly team up with Heather and Chris to contact the authorities.
I have to admit when I was a kid I had a huge crush on Franklin. I always was angry and Chris and Heather for going against him. I was a messed up kid!
This isn’t really a horror film though it is advertised as such. It reminds me of the book and movie, The Wave. It’s a fun movie and definitely something I can watch over and over again.
I was shocked to learn that Heather was Melissa Reeves. I absolutely loved her as Jennifer on Days of Our Lives. Her love affair with Jack is one of the greatest love stories in daytime history.
Sadly, when reviewing this I found out that Harold Pruett died of a drug overdose at the young age of 32. It’s so upsetting to learn such a talented individual died from something that could be avoided. So many stars have been lost. I do hope that his friends and family have found peace and that Pruett too is now at peace.
I do highly recommend Summer Camp Nightmare. It’s one of my favorite films! I would be scorned by my husband if I didn’t mention that the great song Beef Bologna by the Punk band Fear is in the film. I always loved the song and when the hubby heard it, he bought it immediately.
Scared Stiff Reviews: 9.5/10
