Camp Dread (2014)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

People are voting emotionally.

Let's be realistic.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

After finding The Final Girls to be a surprisingly strong Slasher Comedy,I started keeping a look out for similar films. Picking up an old issue of UK film mag Empire,I read Kim Newman's Video Dungun page,and noticed a review for a similar-sounding flick,which led to me packing my bags for Camp Dread. The plot:After making his name writing/directing and producing the Summer Camp Slasher trilogy in the 80's.washed-up film maker Julian Barrett decides to revive the franchise.Wanting to keep the budget low,Barrett uses a reality TV show cover to get real troubled teens to sign up to "act" in the show/movie. Returning to the original where the films were made,Barrett covers the camp with CCTV . Revealing to his "cast" that they could get rich if they follow his directions,the group start playing around being in a Slasher,but soon find themselves giving "method" performances.View on the film:Slithering around the camp,Eric Roberts gives a marvellous slime ball performance as Barrett,whose Hollywood grin Roberts grips to keep Barrett mischievously ruthless nature just hidden under the sunglasses. Finding herself returning to the Slasher,the pretty Felissa Rose,gives a good performance as Rachel,with Rose giving the flick a comedic kick via knocking the fourth wall down in Rachel's attempt to escape the genre.Filming on a real summer camp,writer/director B. Harrison Smith & cinematographer Charlie Anderson cut a chunk of 80's Slasher atmosphere,with the fading colours of the camp giving the killings a day-glo shine. Limiting the murder set-pieces to side views,Smith cuts into the bright red Slasher gore,but stops it from covering the screen by oddly only showing the murders take place in side angles. Starting production on "Summer Camp 4" the screenplay by Smith gives the first half a wry, satirical bite slashing into washed-up Hollywood glee and reality TV desperation. Chopping up the jokes as the bodies pile up, Smith snaps the playful elements to present a straight Slasher,which whilst hitting some gory deaths,runs dry due to the sudden serious shift,as the group start to dread Camp Dread.

This one came into the library where I catalog items, and I snatched it up, since one of my favorite B actors, Eric Roberts, was on the cover. I didn't even read what it was about before popping it into the DVD player.It was an amusing throwback to the 80's slasher films, with today's technology. The opening where Eric Robert's character, Julian, and the sheriff were eating breakfast, instantly made me think of the small town I grew up in. And then when they showed the cabins it looked almost exactly like Edgewater Inn and Cabins where the yearly IndieHorror.TV Cabin Weekend takes place. I felt a kinship with the movie right away.It was very enjoyable, and the kill scenes were pretty decent. Towards the end I was lost for a second when one of the characters was attacked, but then a second later the killer was outside the door. But after I thought about it, it made sense. There was a twist at the end that I did not predict, which was nice. I would recommend this movie, especially if you enjoy 80's slashers.

A washed up director, played by washed up actor Eric Roberts, sets up a reality TV show where the contestants get murdered. A familiar and simple plot that's been used many times in the 10 years or so since reality TV was topical. But this movie is so ineptly put together that it makes less sense at it goes on.Eric Roberts may as well have been filmed actually reading from the script since he conveys no emotions whatsoever. The movie does have one intriguing idea regarding the reason the contestants were picked but fails to go anywhere with it making the already threadbare plot even less believable.The contestants are so uninteresting that you can sum them up in their entirely with a three word description. Fake leg guy. Girl in lingerie. That's not a sign of a good movie. I didn't expect much out of this but honestly my low expectations were a long way from met. Well, that's just a viewers opinion read the other reviews to see what the makers thought of their own movie. Turns out they liked it.

Camp Dread is hell of a ride for a movie, we get a washed up director Julian Barrett who made a killing with the Summer Camp movies from the 80's, but success didn't last and he wound up broke, but now he's decided to bring back his classic slasher movies in a form of a reality TV show set at a real summer camp and even roping in his former stars as councillors and take in a group of troubled teens to participate in what supposed to be a fake murder mystery movie set and the chance for one of them to win a million dollars , but things take a turn for the worse when a masked killer does actually start picking the contestants one by one for real.Well this is definitely a interesting concept for a movie and it does work for the most part, the setting at the real summer camp was a stroke of genius, as it is a beautiful scenery and the reality show setting is really fun and interesting and bringing in Eric Roberts as the twisted director was a treat as well as Felissa Rose of Sleepaway Camp fame and Danielle Harris of Halloween fame which was a great nod to the fun times. The movie itself is fairly straight forward and once we are introduced to the contestants things do pick up at a fairly even pace and the deaths aren't overly gory but are fun and nearly all of them meets a sticky end. The group of fodder we get are a dull nice guy, slutty girl, lesbian, shy loner, unhinged alpha male, disabled black guy, weird black girl and masturbator, all which makes a plea for survival but unfortunately none of them do come above they're stereotypes, and some are offed too quickly too either simply care or know anything about them, but that is the case in most of these movies. The deaths are fairly fun and quite inventive in this movie we get arrows through the throat, a guy beaten death with his own fake leg, cleaning products forced down a throat, barbed wire round the neck, but the best one is the sling shot head death which was highly fun and original. And plus the twists which you will not see coming, like I thought that this movie was going one way, but then took a total U-Turn in the other direction and simply left me gob smacked.The cast Eric Roberts was absolutely brilliant as the director, he chewed the scenery wonderfully as one of the only layered cast in the movie. Felissa Rose was also another great addition to this movie, she really hooks you in to the surroundings and Danielle Harris whose always a pleasure to watch but nothing more than a glorified cameo in this unfortunately. Nicole Cinaglia as the shy loner gave a decent performance throughout especially towards the end and her story really makes you feel for her, Joe Raffa does well as the unhinged camper Novak he really made the viewer hate his character with some serious problems.All in all Camp Dread is a good fun throwback to the good old days, it's not perfect just enjoy it for what it is.