Summer Camp Destroys Horror Clichés in The Name of Fun and Fear


Summer Camp is a rollicking horror film that swiftly and cleverly destroys every cliché it seems to embrace. Suffering from a ill-fitting title, Summer Camp leads you down a familiar path then sucker punches you with a thrill ride of twists, turns and sneak attacks that move quickly to a hysterically fun ending.

The film is directed by Alberto Marini (screenwriter of 2011’s very creepy thriller Sleep Tight) with extreme confidence. He is smart enough to realize that his characters will keep the audience engaged through a frantic series of role reversals and plot twists that provide huge thrills as the story races forward. Don’t expect any “exposition dumping” here, folks. Summer Camp is a fast train. Just hold on.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… a summer camp is about to open, kids are going to arrive tomorrow, the creepy old local guy offers a warning that the camp should not be here, and the night before it all begins camp counselors show up to get things ready. The counselors, at first, seem cliché as well. Antonio, the sexy counselor who’s good friend, Will is the sensitive type. (He wears glasses and is very handsome – he must be sensitive.) Will’s encounter with a wounded animal early on cleverly sets up basic information that keeps coming up as the film progresses. Of course, we get two opposites for the females, Michelle is a spunky “can-do” type and Christy a privileged socialite who wears fancy dresses and high heals to a summer job in the woods.

Luckily, within minutes of the films opening “trust excersizes.” (A trust exercise that seems rather risky involving running through the woods blindfolded with hands tied and which, I must admit, made me wonder how I would do in such an experiment.) As soon as the personalities are introduced and we settle in for the obligatory night of adults-only partying, the film suddenly jumps into overdrive, destroying every cliché that it has embraced along the way. Will (Diego Bonito, recently seen in Scream Queens) takes the lead early – realizing that something is wrong but unable to quite pinpoint why his best friend might be turning into a vomiting, raging monster. Moments later he’s fighting for his life, and we are off on a rollicking ride that is at times clever, at times shocking and also, somewhat familiar. Some of the writing and producing talents behind the [REC] series have a hand in this production and the influence shows in the transformations and movement of the “infected” characters. That is a plus.

 

Deftly maneuvering through the clichés and then deliberately undercutting them with moments of humor and tension, this becomes a cat-and-mouse game on steroids. Very smartly the movie decides to avoid any stops in action to attempt explaining the transformations in detail. Quite often, you will find two characters look at each other and roughly stating, “I guess this is happening,” and the other character agrees and then everyone just keeps running. Somehow in the midst of all this I never felt the movie was being stupid. The theories of each character keep changing as more and more ground is covered, it works well in this fast-paced structure. There are many fun moments in this movie, and I cannot discuss any of them because it will start ruining surprises.

One of the joys of being a horror fan is discovering a film that just makes you smile and laugh and gasp and, yes, scream a few times. That’s what Summer Camp did for me. The movie smartly keeps the characters guessing as to what exactly the trigger might be for these transformations. Summer Camp also smartly gives you the chance to see these characters react believably as they unravel the mystery and deal with each other – sometimes as raging maniacal killers, then sometimes as a person they want to save and have on their side.

There are several truly exciting sequences. An RV attack stands out as particularly tense while revealing much about the characters and their willingness to sacrifice themselves… or others. Also, a sequence in a barn which you think is going to be a safe rest spot, but turns into quite the dilemma for the character of Michelle (Maiara Walsh) and leads to one of many surprising choices we see made. This is a film worth checking out in the theaters if you can find it. (As of this writing it is getting a small theatrical release.) The unfortunate generic title does not hint at the fun and cleverness on display.

It should be noted one of the main reasons this film is engaging is the top notch performances of the entire ensemble. As Christie, the socialite you really want to hate, Jocelin Donahue delivers a finely calculated turn that lets you sense there is good within – and completely pays off in a shocking decision during the climactic scenes. The character takes you by surprise, in the end, for sure. Andrés Velencoso, as Antonio, delivers the perfect combination of charm. It is his innocent discovery of something in the basement that provides the opening gunshot of the race to the finish.

Go along for this ride, your inner action-movie fan and horror-movie fan will leave equally satisfied. Sit back, relax and enjoy the fun.

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