DVD Artwork
It’s not often that a sequel comes along that I prefer to the original. It does happen occasionally of course, it’s just not that common. Unhappy Campers is one of the few, not because I think it is a better movie, it’s just not as damned boring as the first one. Harsh but fair in my eyes.
Sleepaway Camp 2′s plot is as minimal as they get really, actually to say there is a plot would be stretching things.
It all starts with a group of campers telling scary stories around a campfire, eventually one of them tells the story of Angela, the killer from the first movie. Before she gets to finish it though a counselor comes along and demands that she returns to her cabin as she shouldn’t be out here with the boys.
Reluctantly the young girl goes with the counselor. She never makes it make though as the counselor cracks her over the head with a large piece of word, and then cuts her tongue out.
So, right from the get go we know who the killer is, and that it is Angela from the first movie. Well that’s all the tension and surprise sucked out of the movie isn’t it? Yep, pretty much.
From that point onwards it is just a case of who Angela is going to kill next and in what manner. That really is all there is to the movie. There are a few sub-plots but nothing relevant really.
It’s all very predictable, but quite fun in the process, almost as though the film makers realized that they had nothing special to work with so they just tried to come up with some new and inventive ways to kill teenagers. Admittedly some of the deaths are quite well done, let’s see, she uses a chainsaw, guitar string and an outside toilet to name a few.
Some of the acting will have you squirming in your seats, as it is fairly diabolical to say the least. When they all start singing the Happy Camper song I almost switched off it was that unbearable! Extra points do go out to some of the mullets on display here though. Right from the first seen all I noticed was a couple of splendid efforts, TC (another of the counselors) in particular had a wonderful mullet.
Alas great mullets do not make a great movie, if only life were that simple. No, what you get here is 80 minutes of mindless murder and mayhem, coupled with bad acting and loads of semi-naked girls. It seemed that every five minutes or so one of the girls would randomly lift her top off, or be getting ready for a shower. You get the picture, death and naked girls, pure gold box office.
Personally I would have liked them to have kept the killers identity hidden a little longer. I’m sure that most people would have guessed it anyway, but at least it would have kept us guessing a little longer. As it is this is just not a scary movie in the slightest, you might even say that it is more of a comedy, as you can’t really take any of this seriously.
However, I did enjoy it, for the life of me I don’t know why but I did. It’s the sort of movie that I can watch, not use my brain in the slightest and have a good old chuckle at. I’ve always been a fan of the slasher genre and this isn’t as bad as some I have seen. Get all lagered up and watch it, that’s my recommendation.
On the extra’s side it’s all a little disappointing. The only really worthy addition being the audio commentary. Other than that all that has put on here is a trailer, a sneak peek at part 3, which amounts to a screen with Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland written on the screen and nothing else. A pretty poor effort overall.
If you are not in a very demanding mood, or just like some good old fashioned cheesy 80′s stalk and slash then this might be right up your street. It’s not a dull movie, it’s just not overly inspired either. I’ll take it over the first movie any day though.
