Sleepaway Camp - So bad it's weirdly good

Ever since the 'Friday 13th' movies kind of set the benchmark for what a 'horror/slasher' movie should be back in the 1980s, even to today they haven't changed that much.  In 1983 'Sleepaway Camp' decided to capitalise on the genre by having a bunch of teens go to a summer camp (only not 'Crystal Camp' this time!) during school holidays and get picked off one by one.

So, it's you usual 'who-dun-it' where there are all manor of weird and bizarre characters - many of which with various anti-social personality disorders - who could have snapped and decided to hack up the rest of the cast.

Now, besides the fairly bog standard plot summary, I'm being rather vague about the film's story.  That's because at least one of its main selling points is the overall 'twist' (if you can call it that), or rather motivation/reveal of the killer.  You'll only get the one chance to watch this film without knowing anything other than it's a 'slasher' film and I recommend you don't read up on too many spoilers.  Personally, I managed to guess what was going on about three quarters of the way through, but the person I watched it with was suitably shocked by the outcome.

Anyway, for us seasoned horror fans, we normally want one thing from our 'Friday 13th' rip-offs - the gore.  And, for a low budget film, the kills are actually pretty gruesome.  That's one of the major plus points.  I guess however, what they spent on make-up they saved on acting talent.  I couldn't quite work out whether the actors were told to 'ham it up' in order to almost make this some sort of early 'parody' of the genre.  Either way, it really gives it a laughably-funny kind of overall feel, perforated with the gruesome murders.

There's not an awful lot you haven't seen here before (with the possibly exception of the final scene!) in a 'slasher' film, but, if you're into your old horror films, this one is definitely entertaining - you'll notice I use the word 'entertaining' rather than 'good.' If it is 'good' then it's definitely 'so-bad-it's-good.'

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that