Return to Sleepaway Camp
It's summer camp as usual at Camp Manabe where the kids torment each other for fun while the underpaid camp staff provides as little supervision as possible. Greedy camp owner Frank and junior partner Ronnie do their best to keep everyone in line, but something sinister is about to put a slash in the roster. When campers and staff mysteriously begin disappearing and turning into gruesome corpses, paranoid Ronnie can't shake the memory of a series of grisly murders that took place at Camp Arawak. As the paranoia worsens, Ronnie's list of possible killers starts growing just like the body count. Only one thing is for certain, something is carving a bloody new trail at Sleepaway Camp where kids can be so mean and surviving this summer is gonna be a real killer!
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- Cast：
- Vincent Pastore , Jackie Tohn , Isaac Hayes , Felissa Rose , Lenny Venito , Adam Wylie , Kate Simses
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Reviews
Thanks for the memories!
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
The image was a bit messy in places, generally fine. Luckily there were no bad CGI effects to contend with. The dialogue sounds scrappy, hard to hear. Also it is not very involving to listen to. It reminded me of Hostel (2005) and Saw (2004) and all those eighties slasher movies. It was cheesy and stupid. They managed to create the most despicable cinematic characters of all time which I liked! This has the worst and least satisfying ending I have possibly ever seen. Believably horrible characters cannot save a dull and mostly forgettable sequel.
Ummm. Errrr. Uhhh. Okay, so I only kept watching to see how Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten and Paul DeAngelo would do at reprising their roles. Sadly, for them and everyone else in the film, they were stuck in a pile of crap so deep their talents couldn't shine through anywhere. Tiersten, who was a standout in the original and seemed to have natural acting chops, has nothing to go on. What was Hiltzik thinking? Our hero of the first film has grown up to be an obnoxious backhoe operator with a bad attitude and the apparent IQ of a mosquito? Huh? That actually describes everyone in the film: obnoxious and stupid. There's not a hint of character development. Everyone is so unlikable, you want them to get killed off as soon as they make their initial appearance. They're loud, can't stop screaming, personality conflicts to the hilt. The only saving grace would have been if Teirsten's clothes fell off somewhere along the way. But no! LOL. Seriously. It's like watching a train wreck in slo-mo. If there was an "in" joke, it flew over my head by a mile.And what was that last, post-credit scene supposed to be? Jeez, Louise. Why?Hiltzik, please, we know there's talent there. Make another film ASAP and be redeemed!
"Return To Sleepaway Camp" isn't as much a real movie as it is a joke that got a bit out of hand. Apparently there's a website entirely devoted to 80s slasher gem "Sleepaway Camp", and they moved heaven and Earth to get some of its cast and crew back together for a sequel. They even got Robert Hiltzik back in the director chair, even though he retired from filmmaking decades prior. Sadly though, that totally shows. Hiltzik has forgotten pretty much everything that made his first movie such an underground classic. The first one thrived on its inventive kills and compelling mystery (with an amazing conclusion). In this one, the kills just make no goddamn sense (the bed of spikes!?) and you've figured out the twist well before halfway. Even worse though is the handling of the characters. When someone teased cute innocent kids in the original, you were glad they died minutes later. In this one the protagonist is a teen that picks on little kids in the cruelest ways possible, and then gets picked on by adolescents in the cruelest ways possible. You just can't sympathize with anyone in this movie, which makes you indifferent to all the deaths. The biggest difference is in the acting though. Why is everyone acting so tongue-in-cheek all of a sudden, why the sudden shift in tone? I don't remember wanting to punch Jonathan Tiersten in the face any time he opened his mouth in the original, what happened? This movie was released four years after completion: that's rarely a good sign.
I was truly looking forward to this being a HUGE fan of the original and was devastated once the DVD had reached the five minute mark.I kept checking the box to make sure I had been sent the right movie. A $4 million budget, what the hell did they spend it on - catering???!!! - ços the money sure isn't up there on the screen.Cheaply shot, badly graded, sloppily edited, appallingly scored, a script that sounds like it was scratched down quickly on the back of a piece of toilet paper and the piece de resistance is the DIABOLICALLY BAD performances by a truly inept cast of nobodies.What was Robert Hiltzik thinking? He should have just left well enough alone and not tarnished the reputation of the ground breaking original.Avoid at all costs.
