USA/2014
Directed By: Harrison Smith
Written By: Harrison Smith
Starring: Eric Roberts, Danielle Harris, Kyle Patrick Brennan
Color/94 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: April 15, 2014
The Film
Eric Roberts stars as Julian Barrett, the director of the successful slasher trilogy Summer Camp in the 1980s. Trying to reboot his series and success with a reality TV show based on his films in which the last remaining camper gets $1,000,000. The campers invited are all troubled young adults, from drug addicts to murderers. They are outfitted with cameras to wear on their shirts and the camp has cameras around the grounds. They do all sorts of typical reality show challenges to earn immunity from the killer, but most of the time they just bitch at each other or at the group therapist, who also happens to be the star of the original films (Felissa Rose).
The movie progresses quickly, too quickly for my liking as the characters drop like flies often in very unceremoneous ways. There is a bit of gore, but for a film trying to mimick the golden years of the slasher there is a distinct lack of tits. Many of the characters are douchebags and unlikeable as they prance around camp, and the town full of miserable folks trying to get out you'll find yourself rooting for the killer, or Barnett to get rich off these kids.
CAMP DREAD isn't terrible, not when compared to many other contemporary slasher films but it fails where the better slashers succeed. It isn't scary like Halloween, it doesn't have a cool killer like Friday The 13th and it doesn't have any character to really root for like A Nightmare On Elm Street. The kills, aside from 1 aren't creative and the whole thing feels like it is desperately trying to be a modern version of Sleepaway Camp 3. CAMP DREAD is an okay slasher though, just not one of the better ones.
The Audio & Video
Image Entertainment's transfer of CAMP DREAD features a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track. The video side of things looks quite good. The picture is clean and crisp while handling dark levels and colors nicely. The audio is solid, never really pushing the limits but it is mixed properly and is clear.
The Extras
Bare bones.
The Bottom Line
The modern day slasher genre has had very mixed results and CAMP DREAD certainly won't reach classic status but a bunch of snot nosed college kids running around a summer camp getting killed? There's enough to like about that to warrant giving it a watch.
CAMP DREAD is available HERE
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