Second Look: Sleepaway Camp 3 Review

I reviewed Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland way back on June 29, 2009 here. However, since I've had extra time on my hands lately (the last 15 months of no job) I decided to look at the third sequel in the Sleepaway Camp series.

When I was a kid I used to rent horror moves from the Korean owned rental store and out of all the neighborhood kids, I was the only one that they trusted to rent horror movies. This one I always wanted to rent for the raunchy poster that they had up on the wall. It's of a large breasted female holding a knife. I especially loved this film's poster more than the others just because of how sexualized it was. While I did appreciate the other two, especially the second one because it looked like a porno film cover, this one I enjoyed far more. That's not to say that the movie was far better, but it definitely was engraved in my memory a lot better.

Sleepaway Camp 3 came out in 1989 and was amidst a great deal of slasher films coming out at the time. The film was edited upon release due to the fact that the MPAA wouldn't give it an R rating, but the semi-full version is available on dvd. I'm not sure if the Sleepaway Camp 3 VHS tape has the full edition, but it should be interesting to see if it is.

The film starts up with some random girl trying to get to summer camp but is completely taken out by a rogue garbage truck being driven by none other than Angela Baker! I was cheering for it like a 9 year old marking out for John Cena. The camp this year is completely run down and is thrown together in order to help urban teenagers coexist with upper class kids.

The camp is hilarious, Camp Horizons as it is called is nothing more than a repurposed older camp with none of the original bells and whistles that Camp Rolling Hills had. For those not familiar with that camp, it's where Angela knocked out a ton of campers in the first and second film.

The death count rises on this film, and it really is light on the plot. Sure there are a few connections to the previous movies, but it's not exactly an Oscar contender either, and we shouldn't expect it to be. The kills are similar to all the ones we already saw, and they vary from slightly gorey to full blown gore, but never really as good as the previous movies. As you can expect this film goes into full throttle towards the end with Angela attacking all the survivors and trying to get away with yet another camp slaughter but it just isn't going well.

The closing of this film is awesome, with Angela being in an ambulance and takes care of business. The ambulance scene, despite the close quarters, is quite good and well lit, far better than 90% of this film, in terms of contrast and style. The film ends with what we supposed is a dead character, but is she?

Watching it again definitely made me appreciate certain nuances of the previous film, not necessarily this one. While I absolutely love the movie poster, I don't love the movie at all. In fact, this is the weakest of the series and really only makes me want to watch the second film. The second film is so much better and really could finish off the series completely. I wouldn't mind a new updated version if it was done right. Yes, I know they made a straight to dvd one with the original director, but it's not nearly as good as the second film entry. In fact, the updated one is just a remake of the original in a lot of ways with most if not all of the original cast.

I loved the original for its make up and weird gore effects. I love the second one for being more of a slasher film. The third one, well...the third one has the coolest poster, and that's that. I recommend buying the Sleepaway Camp Box Set with all three films, as I did, but not necessarily just one of the films. Oh and if you love vhs, pick up Sleepaway Camp 3 on VHS and see it in all the original glory.


Buy Sleepaway Camp 3 Here

Scary Film Review Holiday Wish List 2010

It's late in the game and Christmas is nearly non existent at my house due to the financial situation that I am. However, that doesn't stop me from reviewing, writing, and adding items to my amazon wish list. Looking over some of the things that I've added throughout the years, I realize that I forgot to write a post for this years horror movie fans to enjoy. So here we go, my first ever Scary Film Review Holiday Wish List, Guide, and overall piece of crap post detailing what to buy the horror fan in your life.

I am going to be picking up a few things from this list, if my mother sends me a gift card like she did last year, and if not, they'll just go back into the amazon wish list that I have going.

Horror Movie Box Sets



Friday the 13th: The Series Complete Series DVD Set - I absolutely love the Friday the 13th television series, and would stay up late night to watch it followed by a block of Tales from the Crypt and whatever Elvira was showcasing. They finally put the whole thing on dvd and it's now available in a box set of dvd's. I for one have been wanting this set for a while, but haven't got around to getting it. If you like the film series, you might like the television show, which rocks, it's just not as gorey nor as "jason" filled.



Friday The 13th: From Crystal Lake To Manhattan Ultimate DVD Collection Box Set - Another dvd box set featuring Friday the 13th? Yes. Absolutely yes, this is a great box set of the first series of films all the way through one of my personal favorites, Jason Takes Manhattan. Sure, this isn't the complete series of films, but it is enough to get you started on one of the best slasher franchises.



Hammer House of Horror Complete Set VHS - This is going to draw some criticism because I'm recommending that you buy a box set of VHS tapes. This is an amazing collection and one of my favorite gifts ever. This six set of Hammer Horror films are presented in VHS! I love this set, and if you haven't checked out the great House of Hammer, then pick up this vhs set today.



The Ultimate Hammer Collection 21 Disc Box Set Region 2 - For those that have a region free dvd player, you're going to absolutely go nuts for this ultimate box set. 21 discs, Region 2, complete Hammer history box set with booklet, 21 dvd's of horror and so much more. I absolutely love this set and if it ever comes to the states like this, I'd buy it in a heart beat. If you love Hammer Horror and must own all of them, here it is, the ultimate hammer collection set is for you.

Obviously these are just some of the horror box sets that I would want this year, but you might want something different. Whatever it is, make sure you check out amazon online for more ideas in terms of horror movie box sets.

Blu Ray Horror Recommendations



An American Werewolf in London Blu Ray - I reviewed this movie recently and think that there are some great images that should be explored in high definition. It's actually 50% off at the time of this writing so if you're going to buy blu ray get this disc for sure. I would love to hear some of the sounds and the soundtrack of this film in full surround.



John Carpenter's The Thing Blu Ray - The Thing is one of my favorite creepy isolated science fiction horror films. If you haven't seen it recently, go back and watch it again, it's worth while and holds up very well. It has nearly everything you'd want in a scary movie, and well, you get the picture.



High Tension Blu Ray - I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely love this movie. It has one of my favorite cars in a nice chase sequence, it is gorey as hell, and has one of the most intriguing self pleasure scenes that I've seen in horror movies in a long time. I hate the ending, and the premise is a joke after the reveal, but there are some sick scenes and great gore.



Maniac 30th Anniversary Blu Ray - Maniac is back in full high definition. Sure, not a lot of people will remember this one, but I think it is quite good. It's another shining example that slashers were best done 30 years ago, because most recent slashers aren't up to par.

Horror Books

Under The Dome by Stephen King - This thousand some odd page book took me a few weeks to read. It's one of the biggest books that I've read in a long time, and it has some seriously twisted and scary moments. Sure, it gets compared to the Simpsons movie, but it's far better, at least in my view. This book was recently released in paperback but I invested in the preorder hardcover, then sold it...cause I'm an idiot.

Hell House by Richard Matheson - The mother of all Haunted House books, at least in my view. I would recommend this book above most other haunting books and it's surprising that there hasn't been a good adaptation of this book done for film, this one is a great scary read, and I loved every chapter. Although the ending is a bit weak, the build up is awesome and the "know it alls" get theirs in the end or the beginning...whatever. I saw the vhs tape a while back to the adaptation, and it's not nearly as good as the book, and that's just standard when you think of films adapted from books.

Action Figure



Elvira Coffin Action Figure - Oh my goodness, Elvira is one of my favorite horror icons. She was the woman that I wanted to be with when I was a kid and a teenager, and when I started to ask chicks out, I had to ask any girl out that looked anything like Elvira...leading me to get rejected by a lot of women. Well, now here is an amazing action figure, anatomically correct in a night gown, fish nets and a coffin. I love it, you might love it too.

NES 8 Bit Games



Total Recall NES - Many people will remember the classic science fiction film, but do you remember playing the video game? Do you even own a Nintendo system still? Well if you do, you're going to want to pick this one up too, this is Total Recall, the ultimate NES adaptation and well it's a hard game to master, but it's one of my favorite sci-fi 8 bit classics. I'm in the minority on that one.



A Nightmare on Elm Street NES - LJN might be one of the most hated game companies, but I loved playing A Nightmare on Elm Street, because it is just weird and fun. I like it, and it is not easy to master.

One Last Thing



A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Kruger "Freddy's Glove" Prop - This is one thing that I absolutely love. I would pick this up in a heart beat and scare the crap out of kids in the neighborhood. This replica Freddy Kruger glove is just amazing, and while it's not going to kill anyone, it's something to give a true horror fan. Forget the dvd's, get this thing, it's rad.

So there you have it folks. There goes my 2010 holiday gift list, guide, or whatever. I guess I should have posted this a while ago, but instead I posted it today...cause I'm an idiot. If you have a few extra pennies click the links provided to shop on amazon and help support this site. I'll have a review of a recent indie horror film coming Friday, and then a nice Christmas post for you guys that celebrate.

Friday The 13th Part 3 Review

Alright, the year was 1982 and the franchise known for one mean looking dude was back, and this time it was in full 3-D. That's right, 3D film isn't something that just came out in the last two years to annoy the crap out of me, it was around in the 1980's and this film was theatrically released with as much 3-D possible. The hilarious thing about this film, was that it was supposed to kill off the series and make it into a trilogy, but somehow by hook or crook, they kept making sequels, and I kept on buying popcorn and watching them.

Friday the 13th Part 3 was released in 1982, and it was a solid sequel to the franchise. The story was similar, a group of teens are out for some fun near Crystal Lake and they run into Jason, who's out for blood again. There is a few b-stories here, with a few quality gratuitous sex scenes, and quality kills, but overall, it's another predictable romp through Friday the 13th territory.

There is a bit more blood in this film than the previous movies, but the camera moves away from the more gorey parts so that you're not completely disgusted. It's interesting to see the body count stiffen as the movies go through the years, and ultimately, the gore and violence becomes cartoon like in the more recent movies. This time around, the gore is restricted to a few easy kills from long range.

It's interesting to note that there is a "token" black guy in this film, and guess what? He doesn't die first! He actually makes it pretty far, although he is taken out towards the end of the film, and he gets hacked to death, although it's off screen, so that no one gets offended.

There is nudity in this film, and it's not half bad. But it's not as extended as some of the latter films, especially that of Jason Goes To Hell, but it will be something for those that are keeping track of what predictable things happen in slasher films from the 1980's. I appreciated it, and it was a sure sign that someone was going to die.

The ending of this film is interesting as the last survivor wakes up to see Jason and out of the water comes his mother!!!! Yes, nice quality kill spot here. The movie has Jason dying, yet again, and we can only assume that he's finally dead, but those that are following the series, know that this is not the last time we see Jason Voorhees.

3D is interesting on dvd, especially since you have no 3-D glasses to make the effect work. There are a lot of shots with things flying at you, some good, some just ludicrous. There are some interesting undertones here and there about being left out, left behind, and trying to fit. But no one is really thinking about the social commentary that the film seems to display, as this is another splatterfest, and one that most likely inspired the classic Turbo Grafx and Sega Genesis games Splatterhouse.

There is an alternate ending that was cut from the film, and it can be found on some of the dvd releases of this one. The main hero gets decapitated by Jason and it's just all a dream, one bad dream, but eh...it would've sucked to have that as the ending.

Friday the 13th Part 3 is not half bad, it's not my favorite by a long shot, but it has quality acting, fun death sequences, good overall tone, and some great jokes. There is even a scene where the teens have to eat their weed because the cops. Some might remember the opening to Super Troopers in which a similar thing happens, only in this film, there's no comedic payoff. Check this one out for sure, it's not terrible, although it pales in comparison to what's to come in the series.

If you're interested in getting the original VHS edition of Friday the 13th Part 3, because you're like me, and you like that sort of thing, you can purchase the vhs here in new condition.

Friday The 13th Part 2 Review

Before I start the review, I'd like to just say that this is post #500! That's right, 500 posts on Scary Film Review. Thank you everyone that reads, comments, and what not. Thank you. Leave comments, keep reading, subscribe via rss feeds and purchase crap from amazon. Thank you.

Steve Miner directed the second film in the series of Friday the 13th franchise and it was only 1 year after the original was a moderate box office hit. This second film lacked a lot of the things that made the first film so interesting, but developed into an unstoppable force and a new amazing slasher villain, his name, Jason.

The plot of the film takes place 2 months after the end of the first film. The only survivor of the Crystal Lake murders decides to go back near the lake to just have a training session with other like minded peers to help other kids at camp in the summer. Some of the camp counselors start talking about what happened, and out of the blue, we see a new killer emerge.

The film follows a lot of things that are now standard for the slasher movies. We understand the characters on a very light level, we get a variety of stereotypes here. You can forecast who is going to die here, and as soon as the clothes come off, you know that no one is going to survive, at least with any sort of ease.

There is minor gore, there isn't a lot of nudity, although there are some sex scenes, and the killings are ramped up to higher levels than the first, while moving the camera away from what might not be allowed to be shown. This film, if it were edited slightly, would actually be a pg-13 film today, rather than a rated R film.



We get to see the killer's face, although we see him with a bag over his head for the most part. He's not the Jason that you probably imagine today, he was just some guy that was killing teens. The movie moves forward quickly, and it's interesting to note how watchable this film is, despite being 30 years old.

There are some downsides, this film is not perfect. There are some minor flaws in the production, and Jason doesn't look nearly as menacing as he does in his latter career. Despite the visual flaws, the film moves into one of the cooler endings in horror from today or yesterday.

The final scene is one of horror history. Jason catches an unsuspecting cast member through glass and kills them, and it's such a cool moment in cinema. If you were watching it during the night, with full surround sound, you probably would jump. The calmness of the situation, the lack of noise really gets you when Jason's arms push through glass and the blood of the victim is spilled. There is an awesome sequence and throwback to the original ending with Jason's mother jumping out of the water...or maybe that was the 3rd one? I forget.

This film isn't that scary. There are some great scenes in this film, I like it well enough, and it's not necessarily one that many horror movie fans are going to remember outside of the other sequels. I know for me, it's not as great as Jason Lives (Friday the 13th VI), but it's still a quality slasher flick.

I find it odd that Jason doesn't seem as super powerful, and he's not zombie like in his movements. He just seems normal, older, and just random.



The movie really reminded me of the NES video game. I loved the video game, even though I could never seem to get to the final stage and fight Jason's Mom. The game featured a linear pacing left to right and you had to go rescue kids around Crystal Lake. If you haven't played it or haven't bought the game, get it here now!

Alright, Friday the 13th Part 2 is recommended. I enjoyed it as a kid, and I think it's still worth its bearings today. It's not the best in the series, but it's a good sequel, not a great one, a good one. If you haven't seen this one in a while, don't expect the fast pacing of the third in the series, and don't expect the buckets of gore that you saw in Jason Goes To Hell, but it's still a positive step in the series and a good overall horror film, and that's my two cents. You can purchase Friday the 13th Part 2 here.



Lastly, one of the coolest things about Jason now, is the fact that there are some sick action figures available directly from the film! This wasn't around when I was a kid, but now? Oh man.



Jason Action Figure From Friday the 13th Part 2



My personal favorite, Jason Action Figure From Jason Goes To Hell, which is one of my personal favorite films of all time. Oh and if you have a few dimes, the more prominent action figure from Jason Goes To Hell is so rad, it hurts.

Top 5 CHRISTMAS Horror Movies

I don't do a lot of Top 5 lists, simply because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about horror when it's not time to sit down and review. I know, that's going to stun some people, but it's true. When I think of horror, it's a very specific time and frame of mind, although there are exceptions. I did think about how awesome it would be to do a podcast with jervaise, me and jervaise, oh man, the horror movie podcast world would implode and of course someone would get sued for bashing the British film industry, truth or not.

With the Holidays upon us, and everyone talking about crap, here is my picks for top 5 Holiday Horror Movies of all time!

How The List Was Compiled

Last year around this time I did a whole month of watching just Christmas related horror movies. The year before I did the same thing, but I didn't document it on this site as much. I even spent a lot of time at work watching these movies with my coworkers. We watched so much horror that some of the movies just fell flat, but this year, I started to go back and watch all the Holiday related horror movies that I could. I even purchased some vhs tapes from ebay for the sole reason of watching them for review. I'll review those later, but for now, I compiled my 5 favorites. You might agree, you might disagree, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, because I probably am not going to pick your #1.

I'd also like to mention that I'm NOT putting these in order of best, I'm just randomly throwing out a top 5, so don't go crazy when you don't see your favorite as #1. It's all relative. These are my top 5 holiday horror movies, your list will be different, but hook it up with some comments.

THE TOP 5 CHRISTMAS HORROR MOVIES



5. Black X-Mas 2006 - This film knocked me out when I saw it. It really wasn't all that good on paper. A bunch of random chicks in a dorm house getting knocked off instead of knocked up? I'll buy it, but I'm not liking it unless there's a bit more slashing, and boy did the film live up. It is brutal, and boy is it brutal. I do not throw that term around lightly, as there are some sick death sequences, and the ending is so good so poignant, and so "Christmas" related. I think the final sequences stole a little from Argento's "Suspiria" but whatever, it's still classic. I didn't give this movie a fare shake when it first came out, but once I saw it on dvd, I realized that I missed out on watching it on the big screen.

Speaking of the big screen, I wanted to mention the fact that I do NOT own a big screen, flat screen or anything. I watch movies on my old UHF analog television, which sucks, but when you're broke, you're broke.



4. Chopping Mall - Sure it might not be a full Christmas movie, but what goes synonymously with the holidays as much as Shopping does? I mean, the poster even says it nicely, "Where Shopping Can Cost You An Arm and a Leg". For horror and science fiction fans that hate robots in general and are scared of what they are supposedly going to do in the near future, this is further proof of their rebellion. The premise of this one is simple, a group of idiots want to stay inside the mall after it closes, and when they do, they end up meeting a Robot security guard that goes rogue! There is an awesome head explosion scene at one point and it's just awesome.

It's interesting to note that The Simpsons did a tribute to this notion when Milhouse and Bart go into a mall after it closes and there is a robotic animal loose. Or wait, is it a real animal? I forget. Whatever the case is, there's a little throwback, whether it was intentional or not, that's another story altogether.



3. Santa's Slay - Bill Goldberg vs DDP at WCW's Halloween Havoc is my favorite WCW World Heavyweight title match. That being said, this is my second Bill Golbderg moment. Santa's Slay is an interesting horror movie that is not only rated R, not only straight to dvd, but full of greatness. From the opening segments this film is a hard R and features a lot of gore. It has some great overall kills, Santa does NOT look like an anti-hero, and the ending is so stupid that you'll swear R.L. Stine wrote this crap. It's still worth checking out and it's one of my personal favorites.



2. Child's Play - This interesting piece not only has a great overall supernatural feel, it was one of the first horror movies that I personally kept renting from the Korean video store near my house. I wore out the vhs from renting it so much because I thought it was rad. 20 plus years later it's the #2 Christmas horror movie. This movie features a present gone completely wrong and boy does it go bad. The movie spawned several sequels and it was sick. I know, it's easy to dismiss the killer since it's just a doll, but it's more than that, it's a killer freaking doll with the soul of a....never mind. It's just a good one.

On another side note, remember that evil Krusty doll on the Simpsons? That was great.



1. Silent Night Deadly Night - The number one movie is none other than this one. Since I was a kid, I loved this film, and I loved the gore. I loved every aspect of this film so much that when the sequel came out, I bought it. You have to remember that in the 80's if you bought a vhs tape it was not $9.99 it was $29.99 and it sucked. I bought the second one because the first one didn't get a full release because some parents thought it was too harsh to have Santa Claus looked upon as a villain and a vile villain. The story is about a young boy who witnesses the rape and killing of his parents, and hates Santa Claus. The first of the series is quite good, better than the rest, and has been restored digitally with juxtaposing clips of the old vhs transfer to show you how advanced the dvd truly is.

The film features everything you could want in a horror movie, not just a holiday horror movie. It has gore, it has sex, it has boobs, it has teenagers getting their heads chopped off, and Santa Claus getting punched out. Oh and there's this weird sex scene at one point that is followed up by a nun whipping the crap out of them while screaming "NAUGHTY". I still think it's the greatest Christmas horror movie ever made, but that's just me.

So there you have it folks, a little killer list for you guys to enjoy on this Christmas holiday. If you haven't read my previous holiday themed reviews, you can read them here. If you want to help out this blog you can advertise or you can leave a comment and buy dvd's from the links I provide.

Be sure to let me know what horror and non horror movies you like to watch during the holidays and also if you haven't subscribed via RSS feed, go for it, you might enjoy it better than coming back here all the time.

I'll return with more reviews and more scary stupid crap. I'm going to go and read my Christmas Zombies Comic Book, and that's that.

New Inline Ads

I spent several years trying to avoid certain advertisements, and the longer I write, the more I see an opportunity to gain a little bit of financial compensation. I wanted to give you guys a heads up before you see this place turn into a Las Vegas street.

There are a couple of things I'll be implementing to add revenue to this website. The first is primarily in line text links. These links will come up within pages and they will offer what I hope, relative links to the content. These links will have a different look and feel.

With inline links, I will stop using and promoting so many dvd links. Out of 500+ posts, I haven't been able to sell any dvd's or even products on amazon. With so many years invested in promoting amazon online and trying to get people to purchase horror, it's just failing constantly.

There will be more relevant sidebar links as well, but those will be non intrusive.

To compensate for the new ads, I will be adding 4th review each week. Right now, I update Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, now you will be getting an additional review on either Saturday or Sunday, giving you 4 horror movie reviews and recommendations a week. I will also be offering more content, longer diatribes in terms of reviews and so much more. I'm trying really hard to make this site better, and at the same time trying to squeeze a dollar out of it.

Why make money off this?

I have spoken previously about how I don't have a job. I don't have a job, and that doesn't bug me as much as the fact that I owe 45,000 dollars to Sallie Mae for student loans. Those loans, I've been trying to pay back with my work, freelance and other, and it hasn't been easy. I have a degree in Interactive Media Design and I live in a city with less than 20,000 residents. I plan to move forward and move away from this city to a larger city, but before I do, I have to make a few dollars.

I will be selling off my dvd collection, my vinyl records, and 90% of all my possessions.

Here's the deal though. I will be stopping all the ads when and if i get a full time job to cover the expenses of not only purchasing horror dvd's to review but also the netflix account that helps me get more movies to review.

I will not put pop up ads, pop under ads, or anything else. So when you see these, please don't feel that I'm selling out...I'm buying in...hahah...I kid I kid.

I'm going to go watch more horror, and we'll be back on track on Friday.

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New Comment Policy Starting Today

This time of the month I would traditionally write out all the comments, and then answer them in one large post, twice a month. I guess that's 2 posts, but whatever. Today was going to be one of those days where I painstakingly pine over all your comments, and we talk about the crap you guys are saying, and to be fair, some of it is in fact crap, total crap, but some of it is actually rather entertaining.

The new comment policy defined

This is how it's going to work, since I get such a large amount of comments and I don't want to copy and paste a million comments every 15 days, I'm going to be allowing you guys to just go nuts and comment whenever you'd like, as you've been doing.

The Difference being that I will be commenting in posts, rather than putting them on the front page. I will then see about adding a widget in the sidebar to announce the newest comments, so that you can go over there and talk random trash or bs your way into a conversation of a million comments.

That being said, the comments that were left from November 30th - December 14th will now start getting replies from me, so you'll have to back track or wait for the widget.

This comes only because I've been getting far more comments in my inbox than I choose to compile and talk about in the posts, so lucky you, you get real time commentary from me, because I still have no damn job and not even a reply.

Thanks again for your patience.


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