Sunday, May 21, 2006

Camp Slaughter – 2005 – aka Camp Daze

     This low budget, shot on video quickie was supposedly an effort of love. They wanted to bring back the slasher-type movie of the 80’s with modern sensibilities. And they had 11 days to do it. To their credit, the soundtrack really sells it. It sounds like Friday the 13th. However, having a love for the genre and an ernest cast does not guarantee success. You also have to have an element that is TOTALLY missing from this movie. A talented crew. A good sound man could almost have saved this game. Instead, it just adds another irritant in a movie that’s already irritating.

So, what was wrong? Let’s take a look, shall we?
Comedy/Horror – strike 1
Not too subtle homoerotic subtext – strike 2
No nudity – strike 3, you’re out of here.

Plus, the audio is all over the board. Some sounds like it was recorded with the built in microphone on a camcorder. And of course, they couldn’t be bothered to subtitle the movie, so there are times when it’s too soft to hear, but don’t turn up of the volume or the next scream or sound affect will destroy your ears.

The basic concept of kids stuck in 1981, reliving the same slaughter night over and over is clever. Although why some counselors know that they’re looping is not explained (and is a huge logic hole), as is the handheld pacman that a kid is playing on the dock. Needless to say, that could NOT have existing in 1981.

There is one clever death. Be sure to watch the death by bathroom stall door scene. Nice.

The disc does have some extras. No commentary, no subtitles. There is a Behind the Scenes that’s 13 minutes long. There was also a 5 minute Behind the F/X that wasn’t too bad. Then there was 4 extended scenes (all good choices to trim down), and 4 deleted scenes.

But, between the homoerotic subtext (WAY TOO MUCH male on male touching going on here) and the crappy audio, I was totally put off by this film. As said in the comments on IMDB “I would rather watch fat render than ever see this movie again”

That sums it up nicely.

Two beers out of five. I mean, how can you have slasher flick without boobage?