Let us ponder the cult majesty of Sleepaway Camp, the slasher era's most bizarre and wondrous footnote. Writer-director Robert Hiltzik, a young NYU film-school grad seeking a path of least commercial resistance, opted to hop on the bandwagon by doing his own twist on the typical kids-getting-hacked-up-in-the-woods scenario. The key word there is "twist": Before it even reaches one of the most sublimely nutty endings in cinema history, Sleepaway Camp keeps defying every possible expectation of how a slasher movie is supposed to behave. It isn't really scary or atmospheric, but the implements of death, from a curling iron to a beehive, are exceedingly gruesome and unprecedented. It doesn't announce itself as a horror-comedy, but the laughs come early and often, without a hint of self-awareness on the filmmakers' part. Its summer-camp setting features actual teenagers, not overdeveloped twentysomethings masquerading as teenagers. And it has a psychosexual backstory like no other -- one that not only accounts for the ending, but determines the hysterical pitch of the whole movie.
| Directed by | Robert Hiltzik |
| Written by | Robert Hiltzik |