Sleepaway Camp is an unusual film in that it contains a great deal of homo erotic overtones. It may very well be the only trash horror film from the '80s where the boys show more flesh than the girls. From the numerous shots of shirtless men in shorts that would make Brazilians embarrassed, to the overt cheapening of the girls, director Robert Hiltzik is throwing the entire slasher genre into an uproar by mixing his messages on the kind of gender proclivity that gets you killed in such a scenario.
One could easily say it's a cheap Friday the 13th knock-off, but with good 'camp' value. So, therefore, the story is rather familiar. When Ricky and his slightly off-kilter cousin Angela visit Camp Arawak for the summer, they're hoping to spend some quality time away from home. But wouldn't you know it, the place has a problem all its own - a serial killer is on the loose, one who is slicing and dicing his way through the campers.
It sure is, however, worth it, though only because of the ending. Angela is really Peter and that Aunt Martha inexplicably decided to raise him as a girl after the accident that killed his sister and hunky dad, a series of flashbacks sheds light on the identity crisis of the film's killer: two men (yes, the hunky guys in the film's opening scene) caress each other in bed, and after witnessing this '50s-PSA spectacle of queer petting, two siblings reach for each using an E.T.-phone-home-pull-my-finger gesture that seems to imply that they're going to "desire" each other (in the butt perhaps?).
With that being said, sure, the film mimics Friday the 13th's (not entirely the most original film either) summer camp setting, but because it's so hilarious, and the final money shot is so damn creepy, Sleepaway Camp has a string of mysterious bloodshed.
One could easily say it's a cheap Friday the 13th knock-off, but with good 'camp' value. So, therefore, the story is rather familiar. When Ricky and his slightly off-kilter cousin Angela visit Camp Arawak for the summer, they're hoping to spend some quality time away from home. But wouldn't you know it, the place has a problem all its own - a serial killer is on the loose, one who is slicing and dicing his way through the campers.
It sure is, however, worth it, though only because of the ending. Angela is really Peter and that Aunt Martha inexplicably decided to raise him as a girl after the accident that killed his sister and hunky dad, a series of flashbacks sheds light on the identity crisis of the film's killer: two men (yes, the hunky guys in the film's opening scene) caress each other in bed, and after witnessing this '50s-PSA spectacle of queer petting, two siblings reach for each using an E.T.-phone-home-pull-my-finger gesture that seems to imply that they're going to "desire" each other (in the butt perhaps?).
With that being said, sure, the film mimics Friday the 13th's (not entirely the most original film either) summer camp setting, but because it's so hilarious, and the final money shot is so damn creepy, Sleepaway Camp has a string of mysterious bloodshed.