Monday, January 31, 2011

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers


 I never went to summer camp.  We were not that kind of family (rich.)  I have a feeling I would have hated it.  See, I was a socially awkward child and would have spent the entire summer in the cabin reading V.C. Andrews.  The only part I would have liked are the scary stories told round the campfire.  Considering that I grew up in Sonoma County, the scary stories were probably about people who didn't recycle. 


 But like any good horror geek I love movies set at a summer camp.  Think about the danger that summer camp poses to a kid.  You are on your own, away from your parents.  "Counselors" are watching over you, and we all know that counselors are just horny, stoned teens that listen to bad 80's metal (I love 80's metal.)  In what kind of world is this a safe situation?  You are in the woods, miles from nowhere, with pools and campfires and bears... camp is a death trap!!!  That is why horror films set at camp are so damn good.  Case in point: Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers.  SC2:UC is a sequel to the classic Sleepaway Camp.  Unlike the original, SC2:UC is played pretty much for laughs, although it has some pretty inventive death scenes.

Angela, the very, very, messed up "girl" from the original film is back.  After years in a mental institution and a sex change, she is released.  What state is this where you can kill like 20 people, including children, and get released in under 20 years?  I am sorry, but cutting off someones penis is not going reverse the homicidal urge. 

Anyway, Angela gets a job as a camp counselor.  Again, I don't want to live in this fucking state.  Angela is quite the prude who kills anyone that:
  1. Talks back
  2. Has sex
  3. Flashes boobs
  4. Gets stoned
  5. Listens to heavy metal
  6. Talks to much
  7. Figures out that "she" was once a "he"
  8. Participates in a panty raid
  9. Runs the camp
  10. Works at the camp
  11. Drives past the camp.
Angela is basically a class-A asshole.  She is played by Pamela Springsteen, who I thought played "Wendy" in the Porky's movies.  They look exactly alike.  This is not the case. Pamela is just the little sister of the Boss.  She is very good in this film, and she has a very pretty smile.  Her sweetness makes the kill scenes all the more effective.  She smiles as she is bashing someones head in.  She smiles as she is stuffing the whore cheerleader down the port-a-potty (best death scene in the film.)  Everyone one else in this film is terrible.  But that is part of its charm.


Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers is essentially a horror/comedy and as such it works.  I would rather watch this than AntiChrist any day.  In fact, I would rather watch my cat lick himself than watch AntiChrist, but that is neither here nor there.  This chick on the poster in NOT in the movie.  Just thought I would warn you.  I love movie posters that feature someone who is not in the movie.  There is this, and the original I spit on your grave (I don't remember that ass in the film), and another I am trying to rack my brain to remember.  I can't.  I will remember it at 3am this morning when I wake up screaming the name of the film.  This is not an unusual occurrence.  My husband is pretty used to it.

UPDATE: its Valley Girl.

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