Starring: Michael Gibney, Erin Broderick, Paul DeAngelo, Vincent Pastore, Jonathon Tierston, Felissa Rose

Written & Directed By: Robert Hiltzik

Released: November 4, 2008

Grade: B-

Return to Sleepaway Camp has been in the works for quite some time. Filming wrapped back in 2003 and for the past two years its release has been delayed. The film is a direct sequel to the first campy cultish horror film of the Sleepaway Camp series.

We are shown another summer of camp full of vicious kids. Alan (Gibney) seems to be the one person in particular that everyone tends to gang up on. He is very much a loner and an obnoxious one at that. He has a crush on a girl at the camp, Karen (Broderick), but she wants nothing to do with him. Others use her to embarrass him among many other things. The gags seem to be endless and continually more brutal. However, soon things start to escalate at Camp Manabe as deaths occur and people begin to disappear. The owner, Frank (Pastore) refuses to believe that this is truly a murder situation. The murders that took place at other camps before have severely damaged the summer camp business so he won’t acknowledge that he could be falling victim to this. There is too much at stake for him and it is much easier for him to think of the murders as coincidences despite the notion some have that Angela has come back and is murdering kids again. Her cousin, Ricky (Tierston) is even questioned by the cop investigating the crimes. He claims that Angela couldn’t be involved because she has been locked up in an insane asylum for years and he is the only one who cares enough to still visit her. The kids continue to treat Alan worse, who does the same in turn. As more and more people begin to die brutal and twisted deaths it becomes harder and harder to deny the fact that there is a murderer running around. Could Angela really be back or is it Alan getting even with those who have wronged him so many times before?

The acting was pretty good overall. Michael Gibney annoyed me incessantly as Alan, but he was supposed to. I think it could have been toned down a bit, but I can’t blame Gibney very much since he was just playing the role that was written for him. Erin Broderick did a decent job as Alan’s crush who seemed to at least show a hint of a soul, but still let her popularity and how others viewed her manipulate her in to treating Alan just as bad as others did. Vincent Pastore reminded me of the camp owners in previous films, bringing out that same lack of faith and a selfish greed that escalated the murders. Paul DeAngelo had a tough demeanor and was even a little foul to Alan at times, but still was concerned for the safety of the campers and embraced the idea of Angela’s return more than anyone else. Isaac Hayes was great as well as the camp’s chef. Although they have significantly smaller roles, Felissa Rose and Jonathon Tierston are still the real stars of the film. Tierston is still likeable as Ricky as he was years ago. There is a good deal of increased stress, which really shows us what realizing the truth about his cousin and even more so having to deal with the treatment and perceptions everyone formed about her did to him. In her cameo appearance, Felissa Rose is bursting with energy and it is clear just how much passion she has for this series. There is talks of a follow up to this film, hopefully one that Rose and Tierston will have larger roles in, giving us the characters and storylines that fit and really make us care.

The kids are meaner in this film, but it goes a bit too far. Not only are all of the kids mean, but even some of the counselors are. It is easy to understand how Alan would get under your skin, but the lengths that are gone to in order to humiliate him seem extreme. Alan doesn’t hold back either and is equally nasty to all of the campers and even many of the counselors. This loses any sympathy we possibly could have had for him. There really aren’t any sympathetic characters here. In the original we had Ricky and Angela, but there is no one to side with in Return to Sleepaway Camp. A lot of what happens is hard to really care about because of this. Some of Alan’s dialogue in particular is pretty ridiculous, particularly his catch phrase, “Your ass stinks”. Most of the dialogue is cheesy and manages to give us a fun and goofy feeling through this though.

The look and feel of the film is very similar to the past Sleepaway Camp films. The first death in the film is very reminiscent to the first death in the series. The burning of the camp chef really effected me the first time I saw it in the original film. Personally, it is the most notable death for me and seeing them pay homage to this was a great start to the murders in the film. Some of the deaths even follow a set of morals, taping “drugs are for dummies” to one of the stoner’s mouth. Gasoline is then pumped through the fire that is lit up through his mouth, ending in a massive explosion, shooting out all of his insides. Other deaths include castration and a complete skinning of a body. All of the deaths are both grotesque and fun as they are one of the most inventive things in the film and fit the atmosphere very well.

The film does take a twist, although it isn’t close to the magnitude of the legendary ending of the original film. One valuable thing about the story is it injected a suspense and questioning of who the killer was. This is a Sleepaway Camp film after all so thinking it is Angela is not out of the question. However, Alan is given plenty of motive and how the deaths seem to have a personal plight of revenge intact it seems that he is most likely the murderer. Until the very end the film, it keeps us questioning which one it is, making both seem very plausible. It isn’t a huge shock and there are signs and even characters who can point you to the right answer, but for a simple story it kept the mystery alive. Return to Sleepaway Camp is in need of a few more likeable characters to make us care about what’s going on, but the gory deaths, the campy feel, and the return of Ricky and Angela made Return to Sleepaway Camp a film that most Sleepaway Camp fans should be able to enjoy.