Kernal's Geeky Reviews: Summer Camp Nightmare (1987)

It's summer time the kids are out of school and many of them are going to camp for a couple of weeks. So why not review an 80's summer camp movie called. "Summer Camp Nightmare." Not sure if this movie would count as a horror or a thriller. I would kind see it more as a horror movie but with the low body count and not really any main killer not sure. The running time on this campy good time is 1hr. and 29 mins. It is also rated PG-13, which makes the film a little tamer than it could be.

Synopsis:

The story opens on a bus full of boys on their way to camp North Pines. On the way you get to meet one of the main characters who narrates off and on in the movie to help keep the plot going. He is token geeky, big glasses, techy, skinny kid that is almost every ensemble of a group of kids in the 80's. The name of the character is Donald Poultry (Adam Carl). When they arrive they meet the counselors and new camp director Mr. Warren (Chuck Connors). Mr. Warren decides to put some new rules in place such as no cursing, no girls, and only religious channel shown. These strict rules leads to one of the camp counselor Charlie Stratton (Franklin Reilly) to stage a revolt again the camp director and the other counselors. After Charlie takes over the camp and get the other boys to back him he decides why not also take the girl camp over next door. Once both camps are taken over and the only authority figure left is charlie and his military rule. Under his rule it no holds bares parties, alcohol and sex. Just like the "Lord of the Flies" this no rules society only works for a little before it breaks down. It leads to murder, rape and the cops to shut it all down.

Loopholes:

The first one is that the two murders in this film is really not talked about and is pretty much ignored. The second one is that at the end of the movie only one of the murders is caught and the rest are left go.The next one is each camp is taken over easily and the adult camp counselors are never seen again after they are taken and imprisoned. The final one is that the two bodies are never find by the police at the end. They talk about it so maybe it is applied they found them but not sure.

Verdict:

I enjoyed it. I thought mostly all the characters were built up strong. Charlie had that Charlie Manson cult leader feel to him. Donald basically played a character that the audience could follow in the story and become one of the few people in the movie with moral and lives up to them after he learns peer pressure is a killer. The two deaths were lack luster and really didn't move the plot forward too much. I think there could been more of struggle when both camps were taken over. There is only one gun used in order to accomplish taking over both camps and there was more adults that could fought back against Charlie. For an eighties movie it was low on gore and nudity which was interesting.If you like the concept of the "Lord of the Flies" and cheesy 80's teens in a horror/ thriller situation than this is for you.

Rating: Three out five stars. worth a one time watch.