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Sleepaway Camp Poster (1983)

Title: Sleepaway Camp (AKA 'Nightmare Vacation')

Budget: $350,000

Tagline: "... You won't be coming home."

Release Date: November 18th, 1983

Plot[]

The film opens in summer 1975, with John Baker and his two children, Angela and Peter out on a lake. After their boat flips, John and the children head ashore, where John's lover, Lenny is calling. They try to swim back, but are stuck. While unoccupied, a motorboat accidentally runs them over, killing John and Peter.

Eight years later in 1983, Angela is now living with her eccentric aunt Dr. Martha Thomas and cousin Ricky Thomas. Angela and Ricky are sent to Camp Arawak. Due to her introverted nature, Angela is bullied, her main tormentors being fellow camper Judy and camp counselor Meg. The head cook, Artie attempts to molest Angela until Ricky interrupts, and the two children flee. While Artie is boiling water for corn, an unseen figure knocks him off the chair, scalding him with the water. Ben eventually storms in, to the sound of Artie's terror-filled screaming. He is shocked by the chaos casted. Artie's incident is deemed accidental by camp owner Mel Costic.

Campers Kenny and Mike begin to mock Angela, prompting Ricky and his friend Paul to get into a fight with them. After the brawl is broken up by Gene, Ricky and the rest of the boys involved in the fight leave, while Paul stays behind and befriends Angela. Later, Kenny is drowned by an unseen figure, his body found the next day and his death also ruled accidental by Mel. Campers Billy and Jimmy also pick on Angela, pelting her with water balloons. Billy is killed as well by a mysterious assailant who locks him in a bathroom stall and drops a beehive inside it, leaving him to be stung to death.

The relationship between Angela and Paul grows strained when Paul kisses her twice as a goodnight kiss, causing Angela to have a flashback to her youth when she and her brother witnessed their father in bed with Lenny. Paul is then seduced by Judy, who lures him into the woods and the two are found kissing by Angela and Ricky. Guilty, Paul attempts to explain himself to Angela while on the beach. As Paul talks to Angela, he is shooed away by Judy and Meg, who throw Angela into the water. After being taken out of the lake by lifeguard Hal and having sand flung at her by several small children, a clearly disturbed Angela is comforted by Ricky, who swears revenge on her aggressors. After the affair at the beach, Meg prepares for a date with Mel. During her shower, she is killed by the unseen killer, who slices down her back through the shower stall with a hunting knife.

Meg's disappearance goes largely unnoticed and a social is held. At the social, Angela is approached by Paul, whom she tells to meet her at the waterfront after the social. The six children who threw sand at Angela are taken out to go camping with counselor Eddie. When two of them ask to go back, Eddie takes them back to his car and drives back to the camp. The other four children are hacked to bits with Eddie's axe when he returns. Soon after, Judy is killed by being raped with a lit straightening iron. The camp is thrown into a panic when Eddie announces the deaths of the four children. Ricky overhears this news before being attacked by Mel, who had discovered Meg's corpse and blames Ricky for her death. After beating Ricky mercilessly, Mel stumbles into the camp archery range, where he is shot in the throat with an arrow by the killer.

As the counselors and the police scour the camp, they discover Ricky, unconscious but alive, and Angela meets Paul on the beach, suggesting they go for a swim. Ronnie and Susie find a naked Angela humming to herself and clutching both a large knife and Paul's severed head in her hands. They are shocked to discover that "Angela" is actually Peter, her thought-to-be-dead brother. It is revealed that the real Angela died in the accident and Peter survived. After Martha gained custody of him, she decided to raise Peter as the girl she always wanted, already having a son and coming to the conclusion that another boy "simply would not do." It's also implied that Peter/Angela was mentally affected by seeing his father sharing a homosexual embrace with another man. The film suddenly ends with the nude and blood-covered "Angela", (male genitalia in full view) standing before Susie and Ronnie who discover that she is the killer and letting out an animalistic hissing sound. The image freezes on Angela's face, which fades to green over the course of 10 sec., then the credits roll.

Notes[]

Villain[]

Felissa Rose as Angela Baker

"Angela" is actually Peter, her thought-to-be-dead brother. It is revealed that the real Angela died in the accident and Peter survived. After Martha gained custody of him, she decided to raise Peter as the girl she always wanted, already having a son and coming to the conclusion that another boy "simply would not do." It's also implied that Peter/Angela was mentally affected by seeing his father sharing a homosexual embrace with another man. - from wiki

Review[]

Credits & Cast[]

Directed by Robert Hiltzik
Produced by Jerry Silva
Michele Tatosian
Written by Robert Hiltzik
Starring Mike Kellin

Katherine Kamhi Paul DeAngelo
Jonathan Tiersten Felissa Rose Karen Fields
Christopher Collet

Music by Edward Bilous
Cinematography Benjamin Davis

David M. Walsh

Edited by Ron Kalish
Ralph Rosenblum
Sharyn Ross
Production
  company
American Eagle Films
Distributed by United Film Distribution Company
Release date(s) *November 18, 1983
Running time 87 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $350,000
Box office $11,000,000
  • Felissa Rose as Angela Baker
  • Jonathan Tiersten as Ricky Thomas
  • Karen Fields as Judy
  • Christopher Collet as Paul
  • Mike Kellin as Mel Costic
  • Amy Baio as Brooke Warner
  • Katherine Kamhi as Meg
  • Paul DeAngelo as Ronnie
  • Susan Glaze as Susie
  • Tom Van Dell as Mike
  • Loris Sallahain as Billy
  • John E. Dunn as Kenny
  • Ethan Larosa as Jimmy
  • Willy Kuskin as Mozart
  • Desiree Gould as Aunt Martha
  • Owen Hughes as Artie
  • Robert Earl Jones as Ben
  • Frank Trent Saladino as Gene
  • Rick Edrich as Jeff
  • Fred Greene as Eddie
  • Allen Breton as Frank the Cop
  • Michael C. Mahon as Hal
  • Dan Tursi as John
  • James Paradise as Lenny
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