Classic 80s horror

During my pre-teen and teen years, I became a huge horror movie fan. Probably not that unusual for a guy but they were my favorite genre of movie.

One title which always escaped me was "Sleepaway Camp," released in 1983. I'm not sure why I never saw it (rented it to be more accurate) because I always remembered the poster art for it with a sneaker with a knife through it.

Well, I finally saw it - in the year 2014 no less - and it's an understatement to say I missed out on a horror classic. The premise, as you can guess from the title, is about a summer camp for young teens. The film was shot at a real summer camp in Glenn Falls, N.Y. As I watched it, what had me fascinated was how similar that camp was to the one I attended in the summer of 1983 at Rock Eagle in Eatonton, Ga. (ours didn't have the murders of course.)

It was something to see the kids in the film as the director said he didn't want 19 or 20 year olds playing the role of 13 and 14 year olds. You see that all the time in horror movies with a camp setting. The styles the kids had (from clothing to their hair) was a trip back in time for me. Heck, one male camper even had on a T-shirt I actually had with the group Asia on it (one my favorites from the early 80s pop music scene.)

The film was well done although it seemed to make fun of itself at times. I could live with that. Plus, it had a very strange Twilight Zone twist ending to it (I had actually never heard how the movie ended which made it even better). A warning: the ending, although Twilight Zonish is nature, would have never been shown on the old TV show.

I have to give this movie five out of five stars. The camp setting, the teen years, the who-done-it mystery to it and of course the "gotcha" ending. Still can't believe it took me more than 30 years to see this. It was well worth it though.