Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Angela murders some New York City girl and steals her identity in order to attend Camp New Horizons where spoiled rich kids are mixed up with some of the underprivileged for some bizarre 'experiment in sharing'.It's a perfect ground for Angela to kill as many teenagers as she can."Sleepaway Camp III:Teenage Wasteland" is extremely fun slasher comedy with some very entertaining characters and pretty high body count.The killings including the lawnmower and the flagpole deaths are violent and creative.Several characters for example Michael J.Pollard are truly weird and memorable.If you enjoyed "Sleepaway Camp" and "Sleepaway Camp II:Unhappy Campers" you can't go wrong with this silly but enjoyable kill fest.8 slashed teens out of 10.

Well, of course all Sleepaway Camp movies are pointless ones but at least they still followed a story. This movie is just about Angela killing another bunch of campers one by one. As a sequel it just isn't adding enough to the series, though the genre fans will see some redeeming qualities within this movie.The killings are still nice and original. You have to hand it to the Sleepaway Camp movies that they often managed to come up with some original and gruesome killings. Not the the movie is very graphic though. More gets implied than actually shown on screen, which is a bit odd, since none of the previous Sleepaway Camp movies were holding back. Looks like the uncut version of this movie was never released, probably because the production company went bankrupt a couple of years after this movie got made, during the production of the fourth, never finished, Sleepaway Camp movie called "Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor".The movie perhaps at points turned too much into a comedy and it didn't took itself serious enough. When an horror movie starts to do this it's often a sign that the movie isn't going to be much good, since it needs its campy humor and quirkiness to compensate for what it's lacking in story and horror.The movie got shot at the same time as Part II, yet the movie is quite different from it. As if they spend more time on filming and putting part II together than they did on this one. The movie feels like it got done in a rush and the overall movie feels like an in between movie, the studio made to cash in more on the Sleepaway Camp movies. Not that it helped much, since the production company Double Helix Films went bankrupt, only a couple of years later.I guess its watchable enough for the fans of the genre, though it's also a movie you can easily do without, even when you loved watching the previous two Sleepaway Camp movies.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Production of the second sequel to 1983's surprisingly good slasher Sleepaway Camp began immediately after production finished on the first sequel, and sees director Michael A. Simpson, writer Fritz Gordon and star Pamela Springsteen reunited. Sleepaway Camp 2 took me by surprise; not being a fan of the slasher genre in general, I didn't go into it with high hopes; but found it to be a very fun and worthwhile entry into the overpopulated slasher genre. This sequel is at least as good as the second part; if not slightly better! The plot is somewhat more unbelievable...but who cares? We once again focus on homicidal transsexual Angela Baker. She's not given up on her life mission of murdering kids that go to camp, and thus the opening of Camp New Horizons; on the same site where she murdered a bunch of kids a year earlier, does not escape her attention. Angela manages to secure the identity of one of the kids due at camp; and doesn't waste any time upon her arrival as she immediately gets to work dispatching her fellow campers.Undoubtedly the main reason why the two Sleepaway Camp sequels work so well is due to the lead performance from Pamela Springsteen. Obviously, it's not exactly a heavyweight role; but Springsteen takes to it with relish and actually manages to be somewhat believable in the role. She's very entertaining too - her voice and demeanour are often captivating. The most important thing for a lot of people going into slashers will be the kill scenes; and this one isn't a let down in that respect; as Angela utilises a variety of weapons to dispatch her victims - the best of which include a flag pole, a lawnmower and a rap tape! The body count is nothing to sniff at, either. The film puts together a good support cast too; the idea of the camp bringing together rich kids and poor kids is put to good use with an assortment of interesting and amusing characters. It all boils down to a suitably amusing ending and while this film is not exactly life changing; it does represent a good fun time and I'm sure it will be enjoyed by anyone that liked the earlier films in the series.

Tongue-in-cheek slasher spoof, made back-to-back with the previous installment, Unhappy Campers, from director Michael A Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon, has serial killing transsexual Angela Baker(Pamela Springsteen)assuming the identity of Maria, a street kid she plows through with a garbage truck, so she can infiltrate a new Summer Camp near where she was once counselor. The camp is an experiment where underprivileged and rich youth join together in a unified setting proving that "we all can get along" no matter what kind of family and locale we come from. It goes horribly wrong when Angela, under wig, returns to her "Angel of Death" role murdering those she considers morally corrupt. Three wilderness groups are formed with the various youth camps spreading out with a counselor assigned with Angela wiping out one set of victims at a time, moving to the next one when she's finished. Before you know it, there are few left to slaughter.Cute red-head Tracy Griffith(Skeeter;The Final Power)as a suburban band student, and potential boy-toy, East LA Latino "thug-with-a-heart-o-gold", Tony(Mark Oliver) soon find themselves baring witness to Angela's rampage perhaps doomed to the same fate. Kooky B-movie character actor Michael J Pollard has a funny role as one of the founding counselors, with a Playboy bunny belt buckle, who tries landing a wealthy "skank" in a tent, actually succeeding before Angela corners him for execution, sickened at his fornication. Cliff Brand is a cop, Barney Whitmore whose son was beheaded by Angela, the third counselor hoping to someday catch and kill the murderess responsible. Sandra Dorsey is lazy counselor Lily who has her campers performing menial tasks for her such as taking away the trash and bringing her bug spray. Her demise, through the use of a lawnmower, is rather unique. The other victims are the same clichés paraded out for Angela to dispatch in one way or another. Those who either rent or purchase the DVD should check out the raw gore footage included in the special features. While most of them pretty remain intact within the finished product, there's a beheading from Angela's ax(..showing hands still moving with gushing blood flowing)and a nasty aftermath of a victim hoisted by Angela up a flag pole falling head-first splatting to the ground, that are rather memorable. While the sequels to the franchise have a fervent cult following(..Angela using various methods to destroy human lives, following up each murder with a type of witty/witless one-liner)who embrace them as cheesy 80's slasher flicks, I really find them rather joy-less exercises, with most of the murders cheap and clumsy. They are really no different than those repeated Friday the 13th sequels, with Angela assuming Voorhies' role, with the exception of her being a chick and alive. The idea that Angela can kill so many without being discovered is a stretch, to say the least, especially with all the screaming. And, while many love the warped humor Angela provides, this sequel even strains to deliver in that category, giving us something to smirk at here and there because most of the characters are developed for us to despise so that we can giggle when she destroys them in *creative* ways. One victim has his arms removed by a rope tied to a jeep Angela drives. An ignited fire-cracker is used on a practical joker's face. Angela uses a stick to pummel victims across the head. One is shot several times by a gun into the chest. Tent spikes are hammered into a victim's hand and head. But, even though they sound gruesome, director Simpson shies away from displaying the gory goods for the audience clamoring for such violence.