Review of Sleepaway Camp

A truly enjoyable early eighties horror gem, Sleepaway Camp navigates a tried and true slasher formula, but offers enough surprises along the way to keep audiences alert and guessing all the way through. I was stunned and impressed by how dark a lot of the material is in this film. Elements of child molestation and incest are but two of the stickier subjects that are at play here, often overtly, while other morbid sugestions are raised in clever, more subtle ways. But for all the unexpected, this movie employs plenty of unabashedly cliched teen-scream devices as well. Fortunately enough laughs (derived more so from the ridiculous summer of 83 attire than the script) interrupt the eyerolls to keep things moving along. And trust me when I say that this film provides a payoff as strong as anything released in the era. A truly creepy and unnerving ending like no other stamps an all too memorable exclamation mark on this over-looked and under-appreciated horror flick.