Camp Dread (2014)

Simply A Masterpiece

Fantastic!

As Good As It Gets

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Don't go into "Camp Dread" with expectations of something new. This is a by-the-books slasher, and all the rules are respected (for a reason). Dumb and horny teenagers, a cabin by the lake, a mystery killer, gory offings every 10 minutes or so, down to the finale where the survivor keeps running into the dead bodies of her former inmates as he/she tries to escape the killer.References abound in more than just the tired, if necessary, format. Felissa Rose plays the star of a slasher 80's trilogy, much like she did in real life as the cult hermaphrodite killer in "Sleepaway Camp". Most murders are recreations of classic offings from previous slashers, like "Friday the 13th" but also "Psycho". Of course, this all fits into the script, since this tells the story of a twisted slasher producer experimenting on a new reality-TV format for the 4th installment of his long-forgotten horror franchise.Bodies are dispatched at a slower rate than usual, which is the movie's main setback. Unlike successful slashers of yore, most of the offings happen after the 40 minute-mark, with a crescendo during the last 20 minutes. For that reason, there's no real final girl, or suspense for the climax.Although villains are a-plenty in this amoral marathon, the movie succeeds in keeping the audience wondering who is the killer, and a few final twists will actually keep you off-guard. That and a fair amount of blood should satisfy any slasher fan's basic needs.

The fact that Eric Roberts seems to be one of a few competent actors in this movie should tell you something about the quality of acting in Camp Dread. To be fair to the other 'actors' in Camp Dread, I should say that they didn't write the screenplay and the cringe-worthy dialogue by themselves. Someone else did. Director/writer Harrison Smith did. And he botched it. Also the stretch from a has been actor to a has been director is not that big of a leap for Mr. Roberts. He really didn't have to act in this one and collected a paycheck for it. Well played, Mr. Roberts, I guess.The plot is pretty simple as it should be in a slasher movie. A washed up and penniless horror movie director Julian Barret (Eric Roberts) decides to dabble in reality TV to make some money. He enlists the help of his former scream queen, who is now conveniently a licensed youth counselor, and another old friend of his who gets killed off in about 20 minutes into the movie. I can only assume because he seems like a decent actor and they were going for total incompetence or bust. Add about a dozen stereotypical youngsters as cannon fodder. Explain the rules of the Summer Camp reality show. The fake killer, the insane amount of money that goes to the winner, drop a hint or two about the presence of a real psycho killer and we should have a solid setup for a fun slasher movie.If you are a horror fan you've probably seen worse ideas turned into good movies and vice versa. You've seen this done before, right? Summer camp, lots of young good looking people and a psycho killer on the prowl. The movie has some good gory kills and a bit of a surprising twist at the end but it still fails to deliver.The movie is just dull. The setup is solid but once Summer Camp starts, boredom ensues. The kills are few and far between, the fights between the contestants are long and boring. The director tries to generate tension using gimmicks like strange noises outside the cabins, doorknobs jiggling for what seems like an eternity, wrong people showing up in wrong places, etc. I didn't expect any deep character development in this one but it would have been nice if they'd make decision based on logic and common sense. Instead they all seem to have left their brains at home. I've touched the subject of acting already and it seems the big chunk of the acting budget went to Mr. Roberts and Danielle Harris for her ten minute cameo appearance. Some gore and the surprise ending, which really isn't that much of a surprise, don't fix that. The characters just seem to have the memory of a goldfish because they seem to keep forgetting what happened just a few seconds ago. The acting is atrocious at times. The cast is comprised of scrapings from the bottom of the barrel of acting talent. Add a bad screenplay that makes the characters utter some dumb and corny lines and the whole thing results in some cringe worthy dialogues and sometimes monologues. So bad that I had to pause it, rewind and cringe again just to make sure I wasn't hearing things. Annoyed the heck out of me. Even if I'd start to follow the plot and get involved into the story a bit something dumb happened or being said and it just snapped me right back to reality. This is a horrible movie.Camp Dread doesn't have a lot going for it. It seems like its banking on having two known names in Eric Roberts and Danielle Harris, who's in it for about 10 minutes, to lure people in. Then it just goes through the motions of slasher horror until it ends with a surprise twist. And it isn't much of a surprise anyway. A fun throwback horror movie? Just throw it in the trash. That's exactly where it belongs.

Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai, voila ladies and germs, that should be my review. Do I need to say more? Guess you want to know why I'm saying those words.This is a throwback to the slashers from the eighties but then done in a bad way. First the positive news, it's great to see Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp (1983) back here. I knew she was to return to the genre after the Blu Ray release of Sleepaway Camp. And in fact, this story do talk about her history in a film franchise, only with another title so far so good, and she even didn't act that bad at all.The bad things are the facts that Danielle Harris (the sheriff) is used to promote this flick, and face it, she's only in it for a few minutes. On the other hand it could have been a really good flick but before things go wrong it's rather a boring flick with a lot of talking going on. When the first killing happens it was rather well done. It's messy and gory an I thought, hell, this is going to be good after all. We also have sexy chick who happens to be lesbian so they do talk a lot about sex and doing it but it never happens and can someone tell me why one of the girls is wearing a towel because when she suddenly drops it she's still wearing her underwear. The only tittie shot happens due a sex scene boy girl; It's rather funny because the are doing it, with their underwear on. The funny part lays in the fact that we do see the cum on her body and watch closely, she never wipes it from her body when her lesbian friend enters, funny is the fact that she says, hmmm, it do smell sex here.But look, I'm telling about the funny parts and not about the horror and it isn't even a comedy. When killings are done they are on-camera and are in fact gory but even there it becomes a bit ridiculous that a severed head can decapitate another human. How, well you must see it.I guess the director went for PG-13. If it was unrated it could have been a lot better, so many shower scene's are involved here only showing...water. You know, if you want to return to the eighties then you know nudity has to be involved. An ideal flick to start the evening and to see Felissa again. And for the not intended funny moments.Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Eric Roberts plays washed-up filmmaker Julian, director of the "Summer Camp" movies, a trilogy of wildly successful horror films from the 80s. He has recruited a bunch of young wayward delinquents who have pssed off their parents, to have them attend his summer camp in lieu of jail or rehab. The camp is covered in cameras, and so are the young adults, as they are told that they will be participating in a reality series, where one by one they will be participating in a series of challenges, and "fake killed," with the last one standing winning a million dollars. There's more to the story but it doesn't really make a difference in the film. It's so convoluted that none of it really does. Felissa Rose (of Sleepaway Camp fame, get it?), plays the washed up star of Julian's famed trilogy who is now a therapist, and as head counsellor seeks to rehabilitate these wayward youths. This being a horror movie of course, they start getting offed for real, as they slowly begin to discover the truth of why they are there. There are a few decent kills here but nothing much new. The gore and effects are pretty standard. One character in particular is killed with an object I won't name, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time put to film. You'll know it when you see it near the end. One of the things that drew me to watch this film was the supposed starring role of scream queen Danielle Harris, who started in horror films back in 1988, has been in 4 Halloween films, and has always been a favourite actress of mine. She has SECOND BILLING in the credits and everywhere else but only appears IN TWO BRIEF SCENES FOR A TOTAL TIME OF UNDER 5 MINUTES. Obviously she was attached to this movie just to sell tickets, and cash a paycheck. All in all a sub-par effort.