02/01/2012: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers [1988]

The cult classic Sleepaway Camp had one of the most memorable and shocking endings ever, leaving us with one image burned into our eyes. Sleepaway Camp II brings Angela back to camp, after years in a mental ward, as a camp counselor.Of course this is the last place the transvestite serial killer should be.

The movie is short but takes no time. With all of the mystery removed in the first movie, Angela dives right in bringing the body count to 4 in the first half hour. It seemed to me that the movie had definitely toned down the blood and gore of the first movie. However they had become much more creative with the killings as Angela, burns, stabs, strangles, and drowns in an outhouse.

It is also noteworthy to say that those horror fans who keep hoping for a Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Myers, can find it here, in what was one of my favourite scenes of the movie.

Overall it seems campers are divided on the series. Most who like the original don't like the sequels and vice-versa. However Sleepaway Camp II checks all the boxes of a slasher movie and doesn't disappoint.

Link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096118/

28/12/2011: The Burning [1981]

Wow every movie I watched today was titled The _______. Also 2/3 where from 1981, what a year that was for horror. The Burning is a classic slasher movie that helped start the 80's slasher craze. Unfortunately it shares a lot of similarities with Friday the 13th which was released earlier that year, and while it claims to have been written first The Burning can come off as a Ft13 copycat.

As a slasher movie however the movie succeeds, taking a while to build up to the slashing, but this allows for the characters to actually develop, something rarely seen in most slashers. The fact that the characters aren't just obvious meat makes you care what happens. Interestingly this is Jason Alexanders first film (George Costanza), and he's not bald! The movie throws in the necessary scares, creepy camera angles, building music, and random sex that we later come to expect in a slasher movie.

The Burning is a great start to the slasher genre, and while a little over shadowed by Friday the 13th deserves acknowledgment for its roll.

Link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082118/