Absolutely Fantastic

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Red alert! Based on the period of release (1987), the prototypic title (Summer Camp Nightmare) and the cover image of the old VHS (showing a hysterically screaming young blond wench), I was all prepared for the umpteenth routine slasher movie taking place at a remote teenage camping site. But then suddenly I noticed a couple of peculiar things in the opening credits… Written by Penelope Spheeris? Based upon the novel "The Butterfly Revolution" by William Butler? What the hell … could it be I picked up a profound coming-of-age allegory instead of a slasher? They can be really great, of course, but I so wasn't prepared for that. Well, the good news is that "Summer Camp Nightmare" is not a pretentious coming-of-age melodrama, or at least not primarily so, but it's definitely not a brainless teen slasher, neither. The film is kind of a mixture between "Battle Royale" (without the extreme violence), "Lord of the Flies" (minus the island setting) and "The Most Dangerous Game". Camp North Pines is a separate sexes summer resort that used to be extremely popular until this year's edition, now that the new managing director Mr. Warren implemented a series of drastic changes to cut back on funds. When the boys' section rebels against his new policy in a playful manner, he only gets more hateful. He cuts off their nudity television shows, interrupts the Free Podium contest and even cancels the dance where the boys and girls camp traditionally come together to copulate. Some of the toughest kids decide to take over control during the annual "reversed authority" game; the day when the campers become the leaders and vice versa. Their aura of superiority quickly runs out of hand and pretty soon their "revolution" sows abuse of power, corruption, indecency, kidnapping and even murder. It's fairly easy to see how this film got catapulted into 80's oblivion between all the contemporary teen slashers, high school gang wars and vigilante movies. Nevertheless this is a modest hidden gem and I urge more people to seek it out. "Summer Camp Nightmare" benefices from a tense build-up, detailed enough character drawings and a couple of sequences that keep you on the edge of your seat. The acting performances are more than adequate, most notably Chuck Connors as the grumpy camp director and Charles Stratton as the lead "guerilla" teenager Franklyn Reilly. His looks and obnoxious attitude even reminded me of Captain Rhodes in "Day of the Dead", and horror freaks know this is a big compliment!

Can a summer camp full of fun-loving kids be run without a proper counselor? Can the love of lawless behavior create a law of the land? Would you let the inmates run the asylum? A good lesson in replacing one leadership with a much devolved leadership is taught in this flick. It runs like an after-school special of the early 1980's and makes you wonder if anyone gave a damn about rules whoever comprised any. This makes you wish Jason Voorhees would make a cameo and show the show-offs a real reign of terror.It is hard to understand that the citizens of this revolution could keep the party going day in and day out, not pursuing much in the ways of other camp activities. Probably because the heads of state can't afford winding up with outside influences killing their fun by killing them. This is why the only three people able to thwart this campy tyranny wind up on the most wanted and despised lists. Reality would have seen this film cut shorter after a couple of weeks of overpartying and the poor attitude over the guys running the camp. The happy yet sad ending conveys a meaning of life or a comparison to history. It will be clear what not to do if a filmmaker considers pulling up a bland film from a good premise.

When I bought this movie, I thought the title meant that this movie would be scary. I won't tell you what it is about (for the ones who have not seen it yet), but if you really want to see this movie, go ahead and look at it because it is not that bad. My rating on a scale of 1 to 10 is a 6.

This movie is titled and packaged exactly like a slasher flick. It's not. Which begs the question what IS it exactly? Well, think "Animal Farm" meets "Lord of the Flies" at summer camp. It's a none-too-subtle play on the old Nietzschean quip that whoever battles monsters ought to take care they don't become monsters themselves. It's probably carrying things a bit far to call this flick (I cannot, with a straight face, refer to it as a "film;" this is a flick) a satire. Oh, I suppose there's a serious message in there somewhere about power and its abuses, but mostly it's just good, campy fun. My personal favorite elements are Chuck "The Rifleman" Connors as the fascistic camp director who is quite clearly Ronald Reagan, and the camp talent show act ("The Horndogs") who perform a gleefully over the top lip synch of Fear's "Beef Baloney." A fun, fun rental.