“Sleepaway Camp” an American horror slasher, is terrible enough to keep you up at night. Robert Hiltzik, who also served as executive producer, wrote and directed the film in 1983. The Sleepaway Camp franchise began with this picture, which was followed by Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers in 1988, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland in 1989, and Return to Sleepaway Camp in 2008.
Another film, Sleepaway Camp: The Survivor, was released in 2012, and it was planned to be the fourth sequel, but filming began soon after the third. However, only half an hour into filming, the production firm went bankrupt, forcing the film to be canceled. After a decade, some fans completed the film by combining existing material with portions from the prequel.
The first film is about Angela Baker, a psychologically troubled girl who arrived at a summer camp with her cousin, and soon after, the campers began to be brutally murdered one by one. Felissa Rose, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Mike Kellin, and Christopher Collet star in the film. Fritz Gordon wrote the second and third sequels, which were directed by Michael A. Simpson.
Angela, a serial murderer who works as a counselor at a summer camp, murders any teenager who misbehaves or goes against her wishes in the second film. Angela is played by Pamela Springsteen. Renee Estevez, Tony Higgins, and Valerie Hartman are among the other cast members. The third installment follows Angela, the same transgender serial killer, as she continues her murder spree at a different summer camp.
Tracy Griffith, Mark Oliver, and Michael J. Pollard co-star alongside Pamela Springsteen in the film. In 2008, Robert Hiltzik returned to direct the fourth sequel, which is actually the fifth in the franchise due to the postponement of the fourth film, as previously noted. So, let us take a short look at the movie plots in order of release date.
A Nice Place for Summer Vacation – Sleepaway Camp Released in 1983
The film’s first few minutes disclosed a gruesome boat accident in a summer camp killing John Baker and his son Peter. His twin sister Angela survived the accident and was brought up by her Aunt Martha. Eight years had passed, Aunt Martha sent her son Ricky and Angela to Camp Arawak in summer. In the camp, introvert Angela was constantly bullied and ridiculed by the campers, especially Judy and Meg.
Only a few persons protected her, including her cousin Ricky, his friend Paul and counselors Susie and Ronnie. Three days had passed and Angela still didn’t talk properly or didn’t participate in any activity. In the dining hall, Meg informed Ronnie that Angela hadn’t eaten anything. Ronnie took Angela to the kitchen to see if she found anything she’d like to eat.
But as soon as Ronnie left, the head cook Artie started molesting Angela. Fortunately, Ricky burst into the kitchen and fled with Angela before something serious happened. Soon after this incident, Artie was thrown off a chair with a huge boiling water pot and severely injured.
Eventually, the older boys Kenny and Mike started bullying Angela and mocked her for being silent and weird. Ricky and Paul put up a fight with them, while Paul tried to befriend Angela by talking to her, and finally, she smiled and spoke for the first time by saying “Good Night” to Paul. Later as Kenny and Leslie went for rowing and Kenny overturned the boat.
Being irritated, Leslie swam back to the shore, but someone pushed Kenny underwater, and his decomposed body was discovered in the morning. As Angela started getting close to Paul, Judy and Meg increased their taunting.
As Angela walked towards Ricky’s room, she was hit by a water balloon by Billy. Soon someone locked Billy inside the toilet and threw a hive of bees as the sting of bees eventually killed Billy. By this time, the camp owner who had deemed the killings as accidents grew suspicious of Ricky for the murders. Paul tried to make out with Angela and was rejected every time.
Paul grew frustrated and was quickly seduced by Judy as Angela and Ricky found them kissing. Paul tried to apologize and get close to Angela again, but Judy and Meg continued ragging Angela by pushing her into the lake. On a funny note, Angela, Judy, and Meg were such good friends in real life that they had a tough time pushing Angela into the water.
Back to the story, soon Meg and Judy were found murdered brutally by the killer. Furious Mel attacked Ricky as he was sure that he was the murderer. But soon, he faced the real killer as an arrow shot him in the neck. A panic broke out into the camp while Ronnie called the police. As Ronnie and Susie looked for Angela, they heard a humming sound.
As they followed the sound, they discovered naked, blood-covered Angela with the severed head of Paul in her hand making a growling sound. They were also shocked to see that Angela was a boy. A flashback revealed that Angela was killed in the boat accident, and Peter survived. Aunt Martha, who already had a son, wanted a girl, and so she brought up Peter as a girl.
The film was unexpectedly very successful as it earned more than 30 times its budget. The murders and weapons were horrible, while the mystery associated with it makes it a rare slasher. It is also seldom seen that most of the victims of a slasher are between twelve and fifteen years.
Felissa herself was only thirteen years old at the time she acted in the movie and was too young to watch the movie in the theatres. If you are a horror fan, this high drama summer camp movie should be a part of the horror slasher watch list.
This Year’s Camp’s a Scream – Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Released in 1988
Peter, who was living the false life of Angela, underwent gender reassignment and became a counselor at Camp Rolling Hills. One night, the campers enjoyed the campfire with head counselor T.C. as one of the campers, Phoebe, narrated the gruesome killings of Camp Arawak five years ago. Soon counselor Angela ordered Phoebe to return to her cabin.
After they left, Sean revealed that his father arrested Angela at Arawak, and she had converted herself to a female. Angela eventually hit Phoebe with a log and cut off Phoebe’s tongue for narrating her story while she pretended to the remaining campers that she had been sent back home.
Angela received the counselor of the week award from Uncle John, while she was reluctant to discuss anything with T.C. about sending Phoebe home. Soon she found Schote sisters engaged in prohibited activities, and she burnt them alive. The next night the boys raided the girls’ cabin till Angela came and asked them to leave. But as soon as she left, the girls raided the boys’ cabin, and Angela caught Mare flashing her breasts.
She had been warned by Angela about this before, and consequently, she was murdered by Angela using her power drill. Soon Angela found Charlie and Emilio fiddling with nude photos, which included her picture too. She wanted to send them home, but T.C. assured her that he would handle the situation while he warned her that the boys had planned to scare her as she and her girls had planned to spend the night in the woods.
Anthony and Judd dressed up like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees to scare her, but Angela, dressed as Leatherface killed them. Ally was getting out of control as she fooled around with Rob Darrinco, targeted Sean, and bullied Molly. So, Angela lured Ally into an abandoned cabin, stabbed her while pushing her into a hole full of urine, feces, and leeches.
Eventually, Demi revealed that she had been calling the campers who were sent home, but none of them seemed to reach their homes. After realizing the threat, Angela killed Demi by strangling her with a guitar string and stabbed Lea as she was too talkative. Uncle John and T.C. fired Angela for sending so many kids home without informing them.
Molly wanted to cheer Angela before she left the camp, but as she and Sean reached her hiding place, they found the corpses of all the campers she had killed. Angela tied them up and killed T.C. mercilessly. Sean realized that she was the murderer Peter Baker from Camp Arawak, while Angela revealed that after electroshock therapy for two years and a sex-change operation, she was released on account of good behavior.
Sean was beheaded, and Angela decided to kill each and everyone before she left the camp. Eventually, she left the camp and met a foul-mouthed truck driver who was also killed. Molly surprisingly survived and limped away to save herself. As she stopped the first vehicle for a lift, Angela greeted her from the driver’s seat.
Pamela Springsteen, in a psycho-killer role, was impressive. She never revealed during her shooting that she was Bruce Springsteen’s sister. The movie, released direct to video, was shot in six weeks, the venue being YMCA Youth Camp in Waco, Georgia.
Felissa Rose was requested to star the role of Angela, but she refused as she couldn’t relate to the script. Moreover, she was preparing for college. The movie is all about different methods of murder and nudity. It practically has nothing else to offer.
She’s back for More – Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Released in 1989
One year had passed after Camp Rolling Hills massacre. Maria headed towards Camp New Horizon when she was run over by a garbage truck by Angela, who took her identity and reached the camp. Camp Rolling Hills had been converted to Camp New Horizon by owners Lilly and Herman Miranda, where they were running an autumn retreat on “an experiment in sharing.”
Teens from different backgrounds were supposed to live and work together in the camp. T.V. reporter Tawny Richards interviewed the owners and the campers one by one and then revealed all about Camp Rolling Hills and its conversion to Camp New Horizon. Angela told Tawny that she was a drug addict, and Tawny asked her to arrange for some cocaine as it had been a long day for her.
Angela gave some poisonous powder to Tawny, and as soon as she smelled it, she was dead. After settling down, the campers were divided into three groups under the three counselors, Herman, Lily, and Officer Barney Whitmore.
Angela, Peter, Jan, and Snowboy were put under counselor Herman. While fishing, Angela returned to the tent and found Herman and Jan making out. Angela killed them both and hid their bodies. At night, Angela killed Peter with his own firecracker. Then she killed Snowboy by beating him unconscious and burning him alive.
The next day, Angela reached Lily’s camp, stating that Herman had asked her to switch with one of the campers of Lily’s group. She said she needed to switch with Arab while she took her to the wood and beheaded her with an ax.
Cindy was next as she raised her up a flagpole and dropped her from the top. Next, it was Lily’s turn as she was pushed into a hole full of garbage, and Angela ran a lawnmower over her head. Later, Angela killed Bobby by tying him to a tree and hitting him with a jeep while she finished the group by hitting camper Riff with a stick and stabbing him with the tent spikes.
The following day, Angela visited Barney’s camp and repeated her story that she had to replace Marcia. As they walked through the woods, Angela sprained her ankle and was taken to the main cabin for first-aid. Soon Angela shot Barney with a gun and captured Marcia. Later, Angela approached Tony, Greg, and Anita, asking them to meet Barney and Marcia at the main cabin.
At the main cabin, she tied them together pretending to play a trust game and revealed that she had already killed Barney while they had two minutes to find Marcia. Even after the group found Marcia, Greg and Anita were killed in a trap.
Angela congratulated Tony and said that all phone lines had been disconnected and the nearest phone booth was three miles away. Soon Angela was attacked by Marcia, who stabbed her in the stomach. When Angela was being taken in the ambulance, she killed the paramedic attendant and the officer, and when the driver asked her, she said,” Just taking care of business.”
There is a million-dollar question asked in the film by Barney, “How many did you kill this time?” That is what the last two sequels are about. How many murders? How are they murdered? It’s only worth watching if you are trying to keep track of the murders and noting the weapons associated with the murder. Pamela Springsteen is back as Angela though Tracy Griffith gave an audition for the leading antagonist role before being cast as Marcia. This film was shot back-to-back with the second sequel, and the same set was used.
Kids Can Be So Mean – Return to Sleepaway Camp Released in 2008
Twenty years had passed since the massacre at Camp Arawak. The film commenced at Camp Manabe, where we were introduced to Alan, immature, entitled, and enjoyed bullying the weak. He even hated the camp food and was taken to the kitchen by counselor Ronnie to find something he would like to eat. He got into an argument with assistant chef Mickey, as the camp owner Frank, Sherriff Jerry, and Ronnie stormed into the kitchen, where Alan threw a knife towards Mickey.
Frank ordered Alan’s step-brother Michael to bring him back. Michael found Alan in his favorite spot in the woods as he declared that frogs were his only friends as they didn’t care about his brain damage due to rheumatic fever.
Later at night, someone entered the kitchen and killed Mickey by forcing his head into the deep frier, and the body was thrown in the trash compactor. After the social, Alan was pranked by campers Weed and Stan, who made him smoke-dried cow manure instead of weed. Soon camper Weed was tied to a chair while gasoline was forced down his throat and lighted to explode his body.
Ronnie tried to connect the murders with the massacre of Camp Arawak, but Frank thought that they were mere accidents. The sheriff met Angela’s cousin Ricky and confirmed that she was in Mental Institute. Later, Michael, T.C., and Marie tied Alan’s arms, blindfolded him, and pushed him in front of the entire camp. Everyone laughed at Alan until Petey rescued him.
Soon a series of grisly murders followed, killing Frank, Randy, Linda, and Bella. After finding Bella’s body, Karen held Alan responsible for the murders and ran away to the woods, where she collided with the killer and fainted. As she regained her consciousness, she found a rope around her neck hanging from the basketball hoop.
She was about to get killed when Michael burst in, forcing the killer to escape. Considering Alan responsible, Michael reached his hideout and continued thrashing him, till the real killer appeared behind him. Ronnie, Ricky, and Jenny found Alan injured, and soon the killer revealed himself or rather herself.
Sheriff Jerry was found to be the true Angela Baker, who had miraculously survived the boat accident that had occurred in the original film. Michael was found to be skinned alive. The film concluded with Angela bursting into a roar of laughter like a maniac before staring devilishly into the camera.
The post-credit scene showed a flashback about how three weeks ago, Angela had escaped from the psychiatric clinic. She caused a brake fluid leakage in the Sheriff’s car and murdered him before taking his identity and becoming the new Sheriff.
Return to Sleepaway Camp was the concluding film of the Sleepaway franchise where writer-director Robert Hiltzik was back along with Felissa Rose as Angela. The movie was supposed to be released between 2004 and 2006, but Hiltzik was not at all happy with the CGI effects of the film and wanted more effects to meet his expectations.
Thus, a small group of special F/X artists was hired to give the final touches to the film, thus extending the release year to 2008. Even with Hiltzik and Felissa Rose, the film was unable to bring back the charm and thrill of the original movie. Though the die-hard fans of the Sleepaway franchise would be attracted to watch all the films, there is practically no reason for other horror fans to watch the film.
You May Never Wake Up! Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor Released in 2012
Four years had passed after the third film, where injured Angela was being taken to the hospital and attacked the police officer and the paramedic attendant. The next scene showed the case file of an unidentified woman, Allison Kramer, who was disturbed by horrific nightmares with fragments of twisted memories blocked by selective amnesia.
After numerous visits and repeated hypnotic sessions, the doctor had come to the conclusion that she might have been the survivor of a camp massacre that had occurred decades ago. He strongly recommended that she revisit the campsite to help her remember all the past incidents and overcome her fear.
The camp had been converted to federal land, but the doctor had convinced the Ranger, Jack, to meet Allison at the spot and help her. From here onwards, Allison sat in the sun and revisited her memory lanes. As mentioned earlier, this film is actually the compilation of the footage of all the brutal murders from the past four sequels.
Suddenly in about the last twelve minutes or so, the Ranger appeared in a way that Allison and the Ranger were trying to make out, but suddenly Allison was traumatized and ran out of the cabin, followed by Jack. Suddenly she met a hunter, who was so surprised to see Allison that he was about to shoot her.
Somehow, she managed to grab a gun and asked the Ranger to stay away from her, or she would kill herself. She returned to the hunter and shot him. She was seen to stand holding a knife, which was shining in the sun. The Ranger was seen behind her as she turned around to kill him, but the shot froze. The next scene showed the decaying corpses of the hunter and the Ranger as the credits rolled.
Thus, it was concluded that Amellia, in reality, was Angela Baker, the maniac serial killer from the previous franchises. She had transformed into a woman without identity as she was knocked out by the driver of the ambulance after the third film. After revisiting the camp, all her past memories started flooding in while she remembered almost every detail of the murders committed by her before she returned to the psychiatric clinic.
If someone wants to save time in watching the Sleepaway franchises, they can watch this film as a shortcut, though the clippings do not follow any sequence or timeline. There is practically nothing to say about this movie as it is not a movie at all. Webmaster John Klyza found out the existing footage and worked with the director, Jim Markovic, as well as an editor to finally finish the film.
In the original script, the hunter Eugene featured by Victor Campos was not supposed to die. It was the bankruptcy of the production company that actually killed the hunter. There was a different plot to the film, but it couldn’t be executed through showing footage from previous films was always a part of the plan for cost curtailing. Carrie Chambers, as Allison or Angela, had almost nothing to do except remember her past, and hence, she did not play a very remarkable role in the film.
Are There More Sleepaway Movies to Come
There is word going around that something related to Sleepaway Camp might be seen in the future. Felissa Rose has acknowledged this fact and stated that a prequel would be advisable with the advantage of exploring the characters of Aunt Martha and Peter’s life as Angela and the reasons that had triggered the disturbed character of Angela to transform into a serial-killer.
A proper explanation of these facts would draw the attention of the audience to get connected to the sequels even better. There is also a scope of exploring the difficulties and trauma of the transgender people who lived at that time. With the increasing popularity of reboots and remakes of movies like John Carpenter’s “Halloween” or Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas,” it would be no surprise to see the Sleepaway Camp series join the list. A proper, intelligent and sensitive prequel is what the Sleepaway fans are looking forward to, rather than some non-intelligent sequel with unnecessary killings.