Sleepaway Camp (The Last Drive-In)

Film Year:  1983
Genre:  Horror
Director:  Robert Hiltzik
Starring:  Felissa Rose, Felissa Rose's genitalia, Mike Kellin, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Johnathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet

The Movie

Well, this movie was pretty fucked.

This is a horror movie about a killer stalking a summer camp that isn't that other horror movie about a killer stalking a summer camp.  The primary story revolves around a girl named Angela who lost her family in a boating accident when she was younger and grows up traumatized.  She then is sent to camp with her cousin, but finds herself an outcast because of her quiet nature.  But the campers and counselors who are mean to her all wind up dying one-by-one.  Who is responsible?

Sleepaway Camp was released in one of the few years in the 1980's that didn't have a Friday the 13th film, so it fills that much needed summer camp killer void in 1983.  While I'm no Friday the 13th fan, I can't deny that Sleepaway Camp is a much more poorly made film.  And yet, for some reason I like it a lot more.  So much of this movie is so insane that I couldn't take my eyes off of it.  It went to some places I couldn't believe it would go, including a pedophile camp chef who tries to molest our main character, who is even open about being a pedophile and his coworkers act all "Oh you!"  I would almost be offended if the movie felt like it at any time was trying to be a real movie.  The script is hamfisted, and the acting is full of scenery chewing, as just about every actor in this movie has at least one chance to go zero-to-sixty on their overacting with ridiculous dialogue.

And that's not even mentioning the big SPOILER of this movie.  So...this movie kinda has an infamous ending.  I personally heard what the ending was before watching it just now, I don't fully think knowing it ahead of time takes away from it.  But for those of you who don't know what it is, you may want to stop reading, because so much of what can be said about Sleepaway Camp has to do with the ending.  You can also skip the Drive-In section too, because I'll be talking about it there too.  Just log off and watch Sleepaway Camp.  It'll be worth your time.

You gone or still here?  Good.

Holy shit, that ending did not disappoint.

Long story short, Angela is the killer.  And she has a penis.  And her penis made her psychotic?  It turns out Angela is actually the brother of the little girl we assumed she was in the prologue and he was the only survivor.  He was adopted by his aunt, who didn't want another boy so she decided to pretend he was a girl, and dubbed him "Angela."  As to why (s)he is killing people, I imagine it has something to do with repressed anger and psychological trauma, though this does raise questions of whether the movie is transphobic or not.  I think there's enough psychological damage on Angela to say no, but I'm sure there is a good amount of analysis to be made about this movie based on the ending alone.  There is also strange moment of Angela recalling his/her father being in a homosexual relationship that is triggered by him/her becoming aroused by another boy, which brings questions of of a self-loathing gay subtext to the film.

This movie isn't good, but you can't say it's uninteresting.  This is one of the most fascinating bad movies I've seen in a while, and the way it presents itself puts it on the so-bad-it's-good meter.  Sleepaway Camp is pretty amazing the more I think about it, and something tells me that I'll never forget it.

The Drive-In

We have a celebrity in the house!  And no, Joe Bob doesn't count (sorry Joe Bob!).  It's Angela himself, Felissa Rose!  Joe Bob's bumpers in this episode consist of him interviewing Felissa, and asking her questions based on whatever points we are in the movie.  Felissa has a fairly one-track mind, as a lot of the info she shares are based on what boys she thought were cute and which ones she did or didn't date.  She's also good friends with most of the cast and crew to this day.  She does discuss how one of the reasons she was hired was because her chest didn't fill out yet, making the twist ending more believable and setting up the line "She's a real carpenter's dream!  Flat as a board and needs a screw!"  They also discuss a potential remake that has been announced, in which Felissa wants to play Aunt Martha and Joe Bob wants to play the pedophile.

They don't go into super many details on the ending during most of the film as Joe Bob doesn't want to spoil the surprise, though he stays in silent giddiness as he relates that there is a twist ending.  When they talk about the ending the subject jumps to penises, naturally.  They discuss how the film has more male nudity than female, yet Joe Bob is surprisingly disappointed in how little penis there is in the big reveal.  They discuss the male model that posed for the penis shot at the end, which is some random guy that's been lost to history as Felissa doesn't remember his name.  Joe Bob also poses a theory on the penis having been mutilated in the opening boating accident.

"Was your dick deformed?  That dick looks weird to me."

"It was cold!  I was in the water!  AND I WAS THIRTEEN!"

Darcy (without that giant blonde wig from the previous episode) comes in at the conclusion and plays a mean girl from the movie, and hands Felissa a curling iron (a reference to a kill in the movie), and Felissa fights back...

"Okay new mail girl!  I'm the ORIGINAL male girl!  M-A-L-E!  TAKE THAT!"

But even when Joe Bob's by himself in the intro he keeps us entertained.  He starts out by discussing the transsexual bathroom controversy from a few years ago, and humorously relates that most people have "An Andy Taylor mode and a Barney Fife mode" during it, in reference to The Andy Griffith Show.  Its something that demands to be heard in order to be understood, but Joe Bob definitely has a hilarious point to tell.  The Drive-In Totals are pretty fun this time, with a good amount of "Fus" in the mix, my favorites being "The rare Curling Iron Fu" and "Male Camp Counselors Wearing Gym Shorts So Tight They Look Like Saran Wrap on a Hot Dog...Fu."  Add in the laughably absurd movie, I think there is enough here to make Sleepaway Camp must-see Joe Bob.

Joe Bob's Rating
⭐⭐⭐1/2