Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Return to Sleepaway Camp’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It's a growing and almost welcome trend in film to essentially hit the ‘Reset’ button. Studios and filmmakers alike are at last recognizing their mistakes and rather than let a good franchise disappear, they simply start from scratch, or find a way to forget the mistake, by way of releasing a sequel that in essence, wipes away the goof and continues the story shortly after the last entry in the franchise.

A fine example of this has been in comic book movies, since we’ve seen follows ups in this genre that straight up ignore anything that came before it and while this approach has sometimes resulted in a mixed bag when all is said and done, it’s a legitimate attempt to right and a wrong and it is an approach we can also find in horror since the Sleepaway Camp franchise attempted it as well with 2008’s Return to Sleepaway Camp.

It has been years since Camp Arawak fell under the murderous spell of Angela Baker, but her awful crimes did not go unpunished and Baker was locked away forever and one of the counselors there that fateful night, Ronnie, has decided to return to the summer camp business after all this time and with a little financial help he opens Camp Manabe. It's business as usual at camp, until Alan, the resident outcast, begins to break down in anger from all the bullying he endures. Now once more kids are dying at camp, and while the prime suspect seems to be Alan, Ronnie begins to wonder if Angela is somehow lurking in the shadows.  ​

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​It was a long and difficult road to bring the fourth Sleepaway Camp film to life. Prior to this picture there was a sequel entitled The Survivor, but it ran out cash mid filming and originally saw the light of day as a bonus disc in the rare Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit DVD set. Recently though, super fan John Klyza stepped in and made sure The Survivor was completed as since you can now find it available on DVD as well. But this film however, has the honor of being an official sequel, since the original film's writer and director; Robert Hiltzik returns to the franchise he made famous in this tale and he did exactly what Bryan Singer did with Superman Returns, and simply forgot about the sequels that weren't worth a damn and continued the story as a direct follow up to the film that actually mattered.
 
However, if you are expecting something as groundbreaking as Sleepaway Camp prepare for a mixed bag. On the plus side, the kills are once more spectacular. Creativity, and plenty of blood, flow as these poor teenagers fall at the hands of the killer and keeping the killer's true identity a secret is also handled well in this film. I won't ruin that twist here, but it was a pleasant surprise to see exactly who is responsible for all this bloodshed right before the credits roll. The film also gets credit for bringing back Paul DeAngelo to play Ronnie after all these years, and even Jonathan Tiersten, who played Ricky in the first film manages to make an appearance.  

However, the biggest problem with the story, is the main character, Alan, who is essentially Angela's replacement here. While we are supposed to sympathize with this character, one simply cannot. While Angela’s innocence and silence helped elicit a level of empathy from the audience when the kids started picking on her in the original film, Alan is portrayed on screen as an absolute jackass. And at times he warrants the punishment he receives, since he is as big of a bully as the kids that come after him. All in all, however, Return to Sleepaway Camp is a fun little ride, with kills that leave you cheering. But it won’t impress you the same way the original did. Because this movie is nothing more than a good attempt to re-capture the magic of the first, but nothing can ever top that. Thankfully though, I can safely say this time around that out of all the sequels in this franchise, this is the best follow up by far.

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