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Sleepaway Camp - Blu-ray Review

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3 stars

Writer/director Robert Hiltzik’s notorious slasherfest has returned to stalk the shelves right in time to celebrate the summer season. No need to pack your overnight bags, though. There’s no coming back from this batshit crazy camping experience. What will be seen can never be unseen in this demented romp through one killer kid’s troubled gender-bending mind.

Filmed almost six years after the slasher genre caught fire, Hiltzik takes his camp to the extreme with gore, sex, and violence. It begins on a lake – no, not Crystal Lake – and it ends in tragedy. Angela (Felissa Rose), after losing her father and her brother in a freak accident, lives a dissaciative existence. Raised by her over-protective aunt Martha (Desiree Gould), her only connection to normal is through her cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). But even the new normal gets turned upside down when the kids are sent to summer camp.

She doesn’t know exactly what to do except stare off into the distance. Ricky’s friend Paul (Christopher Collet) might find her attractive and she might be excited by his presence, too. It’s just making a lasting connection is hard for her. Especially in a creepy place like Camp Arawak which is staffed with a load of crazies. Some – like the cook are molesters; some are tweakers; most just want some form of sexual satisfaction.

Fellow camper Judy (Karen Fields) and camp counselor Meg (Katherine Kamhi) bully Angela to no end and then – as if that wasn’t enough – some crazy ass person is going around dropping beehives in bathroom stalls, pushing people into boiling water, and slashing victims through shower curtains. That’s right…through the shower curtain. The girls show less skin than the boys at this camp and that’s the sexually confused point of the picture.

Oh, yes, you will be disturbed. And, no, you can’t look away; the ending is far too shocking for any of that chicken shit behavior. Sleepaway Camp takes you there with an ending that still scars the eyes with its twisted perversion as an 8-year-old mystery is, for once and for all, solved.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Sleepaway Camp - Blu-ray ReviewMPAA Rating: R
Runtime:
88 mins
Director
: Robert Hilzik
Writer:
Robert Hilzik
Cast:
Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
Sleepaway Camp has never been so scary!
Memorable Movie Quote: "She's a real carpenter's dream: flat as a board and needs a screw!"
Distributor:
United Film Distribution Company (UFDC)
Official Site: http://www.sleepawaycampmovies.com/
Release Date:
April 26, 2004
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
November 18, 1983
Synopsis: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Sleepaway Camp - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - May 27, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

The new 2K scan of the original camera negative is fiercely solid with a stunning array of color and solid blacks. Some shoddy filming techniques are still visible but, overall, the texture shines through with a good layer of grain. Flesh tones are appropriately saturated. The original mono mix is presented quite faithfully on the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix included.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • There is a newly-recorded commentary track with stars Felissa Rose and Jonathan Tiersten as well as the older commentary featuring director Robert Hiltzik, Rose, and the president of the Sleepaway Camp appreciation society.

Special Features:

Aside from a nice new 2k transfer from the original camera negative, which Shout is now famous for, as well as gorgeous new box art, the Blu-ray/DVD set features a 45 minute making-of and retrospective featuring a lot of the main cast and crew which almost as twisted as the movie.

  • At the Waterfront After the Social: The Legacy of Sleepaway Camp (45 min)
  • Judy (12 min)
  • Princess - A Music Video by Jonathan Tiersten (4 min)
  • Camp Arawak Scrapbook
  • Theatrical Trailer

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