“A Nice Place For Summer Vacation – A Perfect Place To Die!”: Sleepaway Camp’s 30th Anniversary

“A Nice Place For Summer Vacation – A Perfect Place To Die!”: Sleepaway Camp’s 30th Anniversary

“Dear Mom and Dad,

You’ve got to get me out of here right away!!! There’s a crazed killer on the loose and kids are being scared to death and a girl was brutally stabbed while taking a shower- and nobody is doing anything about it!!!

Your “peaceful, perfect place to meet girls” has become a slaughtering ground for a bloodthirsty, murdering monster.

Wait a minute, I think I hear someone coming up b-”

1984 was a magical year for the horror film industry for a couple of reasons, but a little film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik will forever be remembered not only for its atmosphere and gore, but for a twist ending that to this very day is damn near impossible to top. I was 8 years old when Sleepaway Camp was released, and it would be another 4 years until I saw it, but it will always be a film that will be burned into my subconscious until the day I die…

Lots of films in the early 80’s have covered the whole “campers go into the woods and get slaughtered by a maniac” theme, but Sleepaway Camp (aka Nightmare Vacation) really took it to the next level. Even to this day, many people debate about the importance (or lack thereof) of the homosexual father and his lover at the beginning of the film as well as what, if any, importance there is to the fact that Angela (played fantastically by Felissa Rose) is in fact not a girl, but Peter (Frank Sorrentino), the little boy at the beginning of the film. After he was taken in by his Aunt (Desiree Gould in a really creepy and memorable role) she decided to raise Peter as the girl she always wanted, already having a son and coming to the decision that another boy “simply would not do.” Through the film, “Angela” is nearly molested by the camp cook, tormented by most of the other kids, shares two kisses with Paul (Christopher Collett) and has flashbacks to seeing her/his father embracing another man in bed, leading to the speculation that the events had damaging results on the psyche. Arguments on both sides still debate to this day on whether the forced transgenderism by Aunt Martha in the film was exploitative or not and what effect did it have on how people of different sexual orientation in cinema then and now, but it can’t be argued that it had one hell of an effect on the viewing audience and the horror genre as a whole…

The murder scenes and FX work in the film were something to behold back then as well. Ed French did an amazing job with such gruesome scenes as Artie the head cooks (Owen Hughes) scalding, Billy’s (Loris Sallahain) demise in the bathroom stall by bees, Meg (Katherine Kamhi) getting killed with the hunting knife in the shower, Kenny’s (John E. Dunn) death by drowning, the four little kids hacked to death with an ax on a camping trip, Judy’s (Karen Fields) horrific rape with a hot hair straightening iron, Mel (Mike Kellin) getting an arrow through the throat and Paul’s decapitation by knife. The film certainly did not shy away from the blood and gore, and for that both Robert and Ed should be commended. According to IMDB “A shot of dead Judy was cut by the MPAA for being way too grisly” and to the best of my research, was the only murder scene that had any kind of editing due to content. Richard is on record several times stating that there are no missing scenes anywhere for the final cut of the film…

As with any iconic horror film, a franchise was born off of the amazing Sleepaway Camp, with four films to date and rumors of two more. Michael A. Simpson directed 1988’s Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and 1989’s Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. Sadly, while Angela (now played by Pamela Springsteen, Bruce’s sister) came back posing as a camp counselor (with a full sex change operation!), the two films never reach the tension and storytelling of the original as they had decided to go much more comedic with the delivery. The saving point of the two films are the fact that they kept Angela’s mean streak and delivered the goods in many of the death scenes. In 2002, as part of the INCREDIBLE box set released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, Jim Markovic’s at the time uncompleted Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor was included on a fourth disc. The film was later completed and released in 2012 on DVD and other formats. Magnolia/Magnet Pictures picked up Richard Hiltzik’s 2003 film Return to Sleepaway Camp in 2008. The film had problems getting distribution early and had digital effects added in 2006-2008 before being released. It completely ignored the other sequels and took up where the first left off. Robert does have plans to finish the trilogy with a rumored title of Sleepaway Camp Reunion (possibly in 3-D!), while Michael A. Simpson is rumored to be doing Sleepaway Camp: Berserk…

Sleepaway Camp has inspired several bands to do songs based off of Angela and the film series. Punk band The Blood Brothers titled a song Meet me at the waterfront after the social”, metal band Fright had a song called “Angela”, Senses Fail had one entitled “Angela Baker and my obsession with fire”, post hardcore band These Arms Are Snakes had two songs entitled “Shit Sisters” and “Angela’s Secret”. There are several websites as well, with the most popular being Jeff Hayes’ Official Sleepaway Camp Site (www.sleepawaycampmovies.com/) and John Klyza’s Official Sleepaway Camp Sequels Site (www.sleepawaycampfilms.com/)

But the true question that remains is what happened to the cast and crew of the original Sleepaway Camp? Well, these days Felissa Rose is back in acting after taking time off and reprised her role of Angela in 2008’s Return to Sleepaway Camp and is rumored to return to the role in Sleepaway Camp Reunion. Mike Kellin (Mel) sadly passed away not long after Sleepaway Camp finished production from lung cancer. Christopher Collet (Paul) went on to star in more films and television, and later went on to be a Pilates instructor and co-owns a Pilates boutique with his wife. Jonathan Tiersten, who played Angela’s cousin Ricky in the original and reprised his role in Return to Sleepaway Camp, got into the music industry and fronted for several bands, at one time even opening up his own music venue. He now also continues to act. Robert Hiltzik is a partner in a law firm and is looking to continue the Sleepaway Camp series. The original Sleepaway Camp and Return to Sleepaway Camp are his only two films to this date…

So what is the lasting legacy of Sleepaway Camp? Is it a cult film for all times in the horror genre that all film makers should be forced to watch before they pick up a camera? Is it a piece of pure schlock and exploitation that belittles the plight of people who are transgendered and/or mentally unstable? Or is it simply just a mean spirited film that takes jabs at everyone it can and relishes in the lowest common denominator of gore and sleaze? The answer to that depends on who you are talking to, but in my eyes it will always be a film that shook a 12 year old boy down to his core, but kept him glued to the screen and helped him to become the horror fan he is today. Many thanks need to go out to the cast and crew of this film for showing the nerve to make something that shocked, repulsed and delighted us to this very day. Could you even imagine our beloved genre today without this groundbreaking and historic film? As Aunt Martha would say “that simply would not do!”