Okay, I admit I am definitely a child of the 1980s when it comes to my favorite kind of horror movies. I have liked a handful of recent flicks, but I'm really fatigued on the 'torture porn' variety (and the self-aggrandizing, almost emo 'darkness' present in too many of them). I have really been missing the FUN of horror movies, the kind of fun my friends and I used to have when we'd pile in front of the television for the "Only After Midnight" blocks of horror films always broadcast on the weekends in the 80s and 90s ("976-EVIL" was a particular favorite of mine, as were the 'Prom Night' films).
This movie took me right back to that kind of horror experience, and I felt like the makers of this movie loved those kinds of horror movies just as much (if not more than) I do. For the first time in a long time, I actually had FUN watching a horror flick.
The film starts in the 1970s, where a series of grisly murders take place at The Happy Day Bible Camp at the hands of a masked figure known as Sister Mary Chopper. There's sex, there's violence, and one of the most twisted and hilarious decapitations I've ever seen.
Flash forward to the early 1980s, and we find Father Richard Cummings (Reggie Bannister) interested in acquiring the camp, toting a brand new band of horny (and often clueless) bible campers along with him. All of your most beloved trope characters are represented here; The Horndog D-Bag (played with manic energy by Matthew Aidan), The Comely-yet-Dimwitted Virginal Sexpot (Jessica Sonneborn), The Childlike Fat Kid (Christoper Raff), The Shy One (Troy Guthrie), The Rakish Camp Counselor (Jay Fields), The Troubled Goth (Deborah Venegas), and The Mysterious One (the excellent Ivet Corvea, in what I think is the anchor performance). They're warned of the potential danger that awaits them at camp, but of course they all but ignore it as they're too busy thinking about themselves, who's going to score with whom, and who's going to win the Bible Bowl trivia contest. They pile in the van and head toward their doom singing their favorite ode to Jesus (a song written by Reggie Bannister himself, one that's so unbelievably catchy you might find yourself with an ear worm).
These characters aren't riddled with pathos, and they're not supposed to be. You learn their names, behold their ridiculousness, and wonder how good old Sister Mary Chopper is going to dispatch with them. This movie has its tongue firmly planted in its bloody cheek, it pokes good-natured fun at the cliché's of 80s horror while simultaneously doing them blood spurting justice. It pays homage to 80s horror, I appreciated those winks to a shared history of gore but never felt like this movie was a gratuitous novelty item. It hearkens back to the past, but it also gives the finger to contemporary political correctness and shines on its own merits (one particular use of the murder weapon itself is something I'm not sure many other film makers would dare include in a mainstream Hollywood film these days, even if they wanted to). This movie pushes the envelope of taste in some scenes, but it does so with unapologetic glee. It never comes off as smug or up its own (to quote a character in the film) "rusty starfish". This is bloody murder in high, humorous spirits, and for me it was just plain fun to watch.
The production values are surprisingly good for an indie horror, something I was impressed with. I've seen loads of painful indie horrors that looked like they were shot with a handy-cam and fake blood from a costume shop, you'll find none of that here (a little wind interference on the sound in one scene, but easily forgiven and forgotten). The special effects were also more than solid, and they provide plenty of T&A here in that great old fashioned tradition.
You will probably love this movie best if you have a special place in your heart for camp sex comedies, the first batch of "Friday the 13th" movies, and stuff like "Scanners" or "Re-Animator". I've only watched it by myself so far, but I'm looking forward to sharing it with friends for a Saturday night slash-fest with laughs. It's THAT kind of movie.
This movie took me right back to that kind of horror experience, and I felt like the makers of this movie loved those kinds of horror movies just as much (if not more than) I do. For the first time in a long time, I actually had FUN watching a horror flick.
The film starts in the 1970s, where a series of grisly murders take place at The Happy Day Bible Camp at the hands of a masked figure known as Sister Mary Chopper. There's sex, there's violence, and one of the most twisted and hilarious decapitations I've ever seen.
Flash forward to the early 1980s, and we find Father Richard Cummings (Reggie Bannister) interested in acquiring the camp, toting a brand new band of horny (and often clueless) bible campers along with him. All of your most beloved trope characters are represented here; The Horndog D-Bag (played with manic energy by Matthew Aidan), The Comely-yet-Dimwitted Virginal Sexpot (Jessica Sonneborn), The Childlike Fat Kid (Christoper Raff), The Shy One (Troy Guthrie), The Rakish Camp Counselor (Jay Fields), The Troubled Goth (Deborah Venegas), and The Mysterious One (the excellent Ivet Corvea, in what I think is the anchor performance). They're warned of the potential danger that awaits them at camp, but of course they all but ignore it as they're too busy thinking about themselves, who's going to score with whom, and who's going to win the Bible Bowl trivia contest. They pile in the van and head toward their doom singing their favorite ode to Jesus (a song written by Reggie Bannister himself, one that's so unbelievably catchy you might find yourself with an ear worm).
These characters aren't riddled with pathos, and they're not supposed to be. You learn their names, behold their ridiculousness, and wonder how good old Sister Mary Chopper is going to dispatch with them. This movie has its tongue firmly planted in its bloody cheek, it pokes good-natured fun at the cliché's of 80s horror while simultaneously doing them blood spurting justice. It pays homage to 80s horror, I appreciated those winks to a shared history of gore but never felt like this movie was a gratuitous novelty item. It hearkens back to the past, but it also gives the finger to contemporary political correctness and shines on its own merits (one particular use of the murder weapon itself is something I'm not sure many other film makers would dare include in a mainstream Hollywood film these days, even if they wanted to). This movie pushes the envelope of taste in some scenes, but it does so with unapologetic glee. It never comes off as smug or up its own (to quote a character in the film) "rusty starfish". This is bloody murder in high, humorous spirits, and for me it was just plain fun to watch.
The production values are surprisingly good for an indie horror, something I was impressed with. I've seen loads of painful indie horrors that looked like they were shot with a handy-cam and fake blood from a costume shop, you'll find none of that here (a little wind interference on the sound in one scene, but easily forgiven and forgotten). The special effects were also more than solid, and they provide plenty of T&A here in that great old fashioned tradition.
You will probably love this movie best if you have a special place in your heart for camp sex comedies, the first batch of "Friday the 13th" movies, and stuff like "Scanners" or "Re-Animator". I've only watched it by myself so far, but I'm looking forward to sharing it with friends for a Saturday night slash-fest with laughs. It's THAT kind of movie.