Fuck the critics!
Written and Directed by: B. Harrison Smith
Cast: Eric Roberts, Felissa Rose, Danielle Harris, Joe Raffa, Montana Marks, Nicole Cinaglia
Disclaimer: I have been Twitter friends with Director B. Harrison Smith (BHS) for awhile, but I will try to be as impartial as I can. I actually reached out to him and asked him which one of his films I should definitely check out . . . and review. Camp Dread from 2014 was his pick.
Swift shot: Forget everything you think you know about horror movies. Take all your little formulas and theories and shove them up your dick hole! Camp Dread will disturb you, disgust you, and thrill you. Ignore the “verified critics” who forgot how to enjoy horror movies, because this was actually a really entertaining movie.
At the onset the film teases that it is going to be a found footage flick but quickly shifts gears. Thank God, as I think too many times filmmakers worry about the mechanics of making that believable within the framework to their detriment.
Camp Dread is about pitching a reality show at a famous horror location, from a franchise called Summer Camp which is clearly a direct allusion to the Sleep Away Camp series. And this is no doubt why they cast infamous Felissa Rose as Rachel, the actress turned camp counselor.
“Camp Sunfish” is the last resort for our delinquent campers who each have secret sins that landed them at the mercy of washed-up director, Julian (Roberts). He was the original director of three of the Summer Camp movies, but the fourth one was denied to him for some unscrupulous activity on set.
Julian has gathered together the miscreant malcontents in a contest pitting them against each other to earn the grand prize of one-million dollars. And because many of these kids adults are morally apathetic, they’re more than happy to play. But not all of them want to be there.
Julian has given a heads up to local law enforcement, Sheriff Donlyn (Harris) who assures Julian that he won’t have any problems running his weird reality show, and the locals seem happy to see the old campsite getting some visitors too.
There’s ten contestants, and each one is a potential suspect.
If you’re like me, you immediately start to try to guess whodunit, or what clever twist you might miss if you aren’t paying attention. Right away, seeing Felissa Rose kept me charged up for something shocking. Granted, it would be nearly impossible to top “that scene” from Sleepaway Camp!
Because I don’t want to give away the killer, I guess I will have to go through all ten players.
You have the weird fangirl, Missy (Gnomi Gre) who is obsessed with the Sleepaway Camp, err, I mean Summer Camp movies and is all up Rachel’s ass.
There’s the narcissistic jock, Novak (Raffa) who is really eager to win the million dollars.
There’s an amputee, Calvin (Angel Marrero) who isn’t really sure what to make of all this, but is willing to endure for the chance at the prize.
There’s Adrienne (Cinaglia) who clearly doesn’t seem to have her shit together. Think a more fucked up version of Ally Sheedy’s character, Allison Reynolds from The Breakfast Club, with a hoodie to boot.
There’s Matty (Mandell) who reminded me a lot of Meat from Porky’s — but sorry ladies, you won’t get to see his little meat head.
The guys get two pieces of eye-candy in Katie (Marks) and Sarah (Ashley Summer) who the fellas definitely get to see more of. I mean, this is a slasher flick after all, some things are sacred!
A doofus named Vinny (Davy Raphaely) who can’t figure out how to wear his fucking hat!
Rounding out the suspect list is Jerry (Kyle Patrick Brennan) a backpack toting guy who actually doesn’t want to be there or to play the game.
Finally, there’s Ming (Angel Sanchez) who pulls kitchen duty.
Oh, that’s right, there’s a catch. They all have to do chores and have different activities. As long as they are engaged in these activities, they can’t be killed. Talk about incentive to do your chores!
And when you are “killed” Julian explains, you (and the audience at home) will know it. The victim will be removed from the game, and their cabin door will be adorned with a black sheet.
The dialog in this movie is pure BHS, if you follow him on Twitter, you know he isn’t worried about being offensive. So if you are a delicate type, this movie is bound to really bother you. But, isn’t that the point of a slasher flick? So if the many kills don’t mentally fuck you up, the stuff that comes out of the mouths, and orifices, from these players certainly will.
The kills are clever, not predictable, and shot in a way that I could viscerally feel. Where other effects people might have been tempted to go for more gore, I felt just the right amount was used in Camp Dread. I am not a huge fan of gore for the sake of gore. If it fits in the context of things, great, but you should always be genuine in your kills. Which BHS certainly took to heart.
Every time I thought I had things figured out, I was wrong. When it comes to movies, I fucking LOVE being wrong!!!
I am sure I join the chorus of whiners when I say that I wanted far more Danielle Harris, I mean, who wouldn’t? And I think I recall hearing people put this movie down when it came out, because of that one factor. This was before I knew BHS, or I probably would have caught it back then, regardless of the Harris deficiency.
Seeing it has a 3.9/10 on IMDb is bullshit. Clearly anyone who gave it such low marks either wanted to be spoon-fed baby slasher formula or just had it out for a certain actor or filmmaker.
Shit, I am no fan of Eric Roberts, I think he is certifiably insane. But I have to admit, in this movie, he actually acted like he cared. And my typical criticism of his “obvious acting” was nowhere to be found. It’s funny, I kind of think BHS was projecting with the Julian character, so I kept picturing BHS in these scenes. BHS directing the actor playing the director in a meta (physical) method acting sense.
Anyway, I am just saying, if you overlook this movie because of the critics who are putting it down, realize they probably have an agenda. And if you have followed me for any amount of time, you know MY only agenda is to be enter-fucking-tained. And Camp Dread was damned entertaining!
Last word.
