Girls of Geek Blu Ray Review: Sleepaway Camp

Written by John Edward Betancourt

If you've taken the time to visit this site, you are fully aware of my love of horror movies and specifically of Sleepaway Camp. It's a magical and storied franchise, courtesy of the incredible first film and its wild and original ending. But I won't spend a ton of time talking about why I love the movie today, only due to the fact I've reviewed the entire series (Part One, Two, Three and Four). No, instead I've been treated to something special and something that until recently was horribly overdue...Sleepaway Camp in high definition. 

Yes, Scream Factory has done it again.  It's been one legendary horror film after another that is remastered by this company and now Sleepaway Camp has been given the HD Blu Ray treatment and man oh man, this is an impressive Collector's Edition.  

For starters, the movie has never looked better.  This time around Scream Factory has remastered the film in stunning 2k HD from the original negative, and wow...this is the best the film has ever looked.  Tiny details that you never had a clue were in this film are present everywhere, it truly is a gorgeous transfer. 

But while I now own an incredible visual copy of an incredible horror film, what truly blew me away about this disc set are the special features.  See, when it comes to this film, there isn't much that I have seen out there when it comes to the making of this movie.  Sure if you dig hard enough on the web you can piece it together.  But hell, there's documentaries out there for many of our horror favorites that chronicle the story, or stories from start to finish.   

Now I've been lucky, Jonathan Tiersten, who plays Ricky in the film, lives in Denver and I've seen him at many a convention and have been able to sit down and chat with him and hear incredible tales of his time at camp. But for the masses, well, Scream Factory has delivered with an incredible retrospective documentary in the special features. The cast and crew re tell the tale of Sleepaway Camp from start to finish and man...it's compelling.  You learn everything about this film in this little documentary and you won't be able to stop watching simply because of how raw and personal these interviews are.  You will see tears on the screen, and you'll know in your heart where they cut because tears were coming, and it's what makes this disc worth owning.  

It's rare you see an actor's love for a film in this manner, and it's a fine reminder that this film means so much to so many, that it has moved beyond cult classic status into just plain classic and that makes this the finest edition of the film to date. If you're a casual horror fan or a die hard fan of the franchise, this is one to own.  

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