Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jan 27, 2005 18:03:35 GMT -5
Plot:Angela is back to spill some more blood, this time at Camp New Horizons.
Cast:
Pamela Springsteen
Tracy Griffith
Michael J. Pollard
Mark Oliver
Haynes Brooke
Sandra Dorsey
Daryl Wilcher
Kim Wall
Kyle Holman
Cliff Brand
My thoughts:Going into this movie I expected a high body count with a tagline like "Teenage Wasteland".
The movie didn't deliver a body count as high as part 2 "Unhappy Campers" did, but Pamela Springsteen as the sweet yet wicked Angela Baker managed to keep this film enjoyable all the way through.
Review:This film takes place a few years after the events in the second film, where a massive number of teens were butchered in creative and unique ways by the infamous Angela. Angela for some unknown reason wants to return to the scene of the crime. This movie continues the subplot of Angela Baker that she truly loved camping at heart. So much so in this film that she mows down some mexican chick with a mack truck, then disposes of her body in a garbage truck. Ironically, the girl she killed looks exactly like Angela except for a few differences here and there. Thus when the camp bus arrives to pick up who they think is Maria Delgado but really Angela Baker, Angela has no worries about being found out. Our group of unaware that they are gonna be massacred sheep come in the form of rich kids and poor kids, who are sent to camp New Horizons to learn to interact with each other despite their class differences. The rich kids are pretty much cliched characters. The goofy black guy who has a penchant for scaring people with fireworks, mainly Angela, the bigoted southern girl, the self absorbed asian guy, and the preppy white guy whos gonna grow up and run for office some day, atleast thats what his dad says. The poor kids are a bit different. The non-overly black black girl, the tough asian chick, the punk rock white kid, and the cliched black and mexican gang members. Barney Whitmore, the father of one of Angelas victims Sean who was killed in the first sequel, returns to help with the new campers.
Angela quickly notices him, and intently avoids any direct eye contact with him.
The camp counselors who look like old retirees you'd see in a Florida condo somewhere, are careful to keep the previous massacre a secret from the new campers. A constant in the movie is the mention of Angela/Marias age. Angela looks much older than 17 which Maria was, which is brought up numerous times by different characters in the movie. Angela just makes up an excuse such as I've had a rough life, I smoke, etc. Angela is well behaved early in in the film, but when one kid leaks it to her that the male camp counselor whos basically a fossil, is getting it on with one of the much younger campers, it sets Angelas itch to kill the quote unquote *bad campers* in motion once more. The kills in the movie get better as it goes along. Camp counselor
Herman and his *partner* Jan are the first to die at Angelas hand, in a pretty subpar kill scene, but is followed up nicely when Angela makes one of her patented wisecracks about Jans breasts sagging in a few years. Hermans beaten with a stick, and then once he falls down, stabbed directly down the throat with it. But as old as J. Pollards (Herman) character was, a stick would just about be his undoing. Jan is clubbed about the head before she finally bites the dust. Basically at this point the film breaks down into ultra slasher mode. The characters become backdrops to Springsteens Angela character, and so does the story, except for a subplot involving a romance between Marcia and the mexican gangmember. The kids and counselors alike are all systematically taken out in varying methods. Angela has an easy time disposing of this particular group of campers. She even manages to catch one guy napping, and sticks a firecracker in his hand, which explodes causing him to lose a few fingers. Right before she crushes his skull in with a ball bat. Ironically, she then turns her attention to roasting firework loving Bobby alive with one of his own devices. Theres a scene after this where she roasts marshmellows in the flames afterwards, but it was cut out during the editing process. It's not even remotely tough for her to get these people kids and counselors alike, in the position where she can do away with them. Shes uses camp games, or makes up a lie or two to get the upper hand on her next victim. The best death scenes come when the bigoted southern girl gets raised up a flagpole, only to be dropped at full speed, crashing into the ground head first, as well as after admitting to Angela earlier in the film as he made sexual advances towards her, that he likes to be tied up, one kid is tied to a tree, and has his arms tied up, and then the rope hooked to a jeep, before Angela shifts gears and rips them from his body, and lastly when the asian girl named Arab(played by Jill Terishita of Night of the Demons fame) gets an axe straight through the neck. Near the films end Angela decides to reveal herself when she mentions that one of the camp counselors was lying around doing nothing, which was true seeing as how she was decapitated via a lawnmower previously. Whitmore finally figures out that shes really THE Angela Baker, the one responsible for killing his son. The showdown between Angela and Whitmore isn't pulled off very well. Pamela plays her part well, showing no fear in the face of the man whos son she murdered, but Whitmores actions in this scene are in one word, DUMB. He begins to sound off ways that Angela might use to try and kill him, only to have her pull out a gun from behind her back and put 3 bullets in his chest. The film built up to that scene with alot of dialogue where Whitmore mentions that he'd kill Angela if he ever met up with her, and I found it very lame he was done in so easily. The films climax is quite funny, one notable scene where Angela kidnaps Marcia, and after tieing up the remaining 3 kids, gives them 2 minutes to find out which cabin shes in. Being Angela though, she boobytraps the right cabin with two axes which results in killing 2 of the remaining 4 kids. Surprisingly she allows Marcia and her latin lover to go free, stating that they are *nice kids*. Marcia attacks Angela though, and manages to injure her severly, before the film ends in typical "Sleepaway Camp" fashion when Angelas is being carted off in an ambulance.
Pros:I liked the fact that they brought Angelas happy camper side, so to speak, into play in a scene where she has some flashbacks. The kills started off tame, but picked up in creativity and gore as the film moved on. Pamela Springsteen gives yet another great performance as the wisecracking, serial killer Angela Baker.
Cons:Bad dialogue (excluding Angela) but movies like this aren't expected to have great dialogue. As I mentioned in the review, the Whitmore/Angela showdown was a nice moment in the film, but Springsteen owned that scene completely, and they could've really written Whitmores actions in that scene much smarter than they did. Also, the scene where Angela chases down the Maria girl at the beginning with a truck on a busy street didn't make any sense for the simple fact that with all those people standing around, someone had to have witnessed her get mowed down. Even though it was 6 am, still there were folks on the street.
Overall: Pretty well done for a third installment. Of course part 4 was worked on but never completed, and now "Return to Sleepaway Camp" has been completed, but whether it goes to theatres or video is still up in the air.