Review of Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) by Billy B — 16 Nov 2010

Anglea Baker is back. Several years after killing a bunch of Summer Camp kids, she poses as a counseller at Camp Rolling Hills, and weeds out the bad kids one-by-one.

Awesome. Unlike it's preceeder, this flick isn't a complete horror flick. The hard-rock opening credits assure you of the ride your about to experience. The flick is a black comedy pretty much and is purely genius. It mixes great comedic dialogue and scenes with death scenes that are equally funny as they are funny. The death scenes themselves are pretty original (getting drowned in a outback toilet, strangled with a guitar string), this film has it all. The ending is very unexpected, leaving way for a sequel (filmed a weekend later but released two years after). Angela's witty one-liners give Freddy Krueger a run for his money.

The plot is a quite out-there extension to the 83' flick. Who would've thought that Angela would've come back with a sick sense of humour. The character of Angela is a quite unique one. Never before has there been a Transexual killer, and never one so confident and funny (human that is). She is also extremely likeable too which for a killer is very unusual. The characters of the campers were also developed well. Several stereotypes were put in (black girl, slutty bitch, goody goody, jock, dumbass, stoners) and they were are likeable in one way or the other.

The acting was OK. For a low-budget 80's flick, the acting is as good as it's gonna get. Pamela Springsteen was brilliant as Angela Baker as she was able to pull off innocent and likeable even when the audience knows from the get-go she's the killer. Rene Estevez played innocent Molly, and is nothing to complain about. Valerie Hartman played Ally, the bitchy slut, and was perfect. She has the most memorable death too.

Overall "Sleepaway Camp 2" is a genius sequel that is mostly comedy with loads of death sequences. It completely satisfies. My rating is 4/5. It's brilliant.