Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland [1989] (d. Michael A. Simpson, w. Fritz Gordon)
Teenage Wasteland doubles down on the mean-spirited hair metal vibe Unhappy Campers initiated, having Angela literally bulldoze her way into a low rent NYC neighborhood and flatten a would-be camper (whose identity she then assumes). How did she know this girl was going to be attending Camp New Horizons (the rebranded Rolling Hills), which is now a class experiment hoping to help low and high rent kids quash their income differences? Why did she pick her identity? None of this truly matters. All we need is yet another entry point to the cabins, and our cutest killer provides, leaving behind a spray-painted tenement wall that screams: ANGELA IS BACK!
Shot almost directly after the first film (Simpson states that there was only a weekends worth of prep as Gordon was writing Teenage Wasteland while Unhappy Campers was shooting), theres a tired, race to the finish essence that populates every frame of the third film. As a result, the movie not only looks cheap (as the cabins are replaced by tents as a means to avoid duplicating Campers visual schematic wholesale), but also the ideas are diluted; to the point that it barely feels like anything is on the movies mind. Sparks of energy fly (mostly from Michael J. Pollards mere presence), and Teenage Wasteland strains to thematically connect with the first two, but it never quite get there. Instead of sex, race and class are what divide these kids, as the counselors work to teach them that they all belong to the same human family. But what was probably intended as an expansion of connective tissue ends up feeling wrongheaded, as you basically want the movie to just return to its pervy roots.
All that said, Bill Johnson and his FX Team churned out enough plasma pools for the MPAA to send the second DTV sequel back multiple times with an X-rating (one member actually complained to the producers at Double Helix Films that it made her physically ill). This again unifies the video store classic with its Paramount counterparts, as Friday the 13th: Part VII was butchered to the point of utter bloodlessness. Teenage Wasteland undoubtedly works as a slasher picture, and if taken as the final film in a simple horror movie trilogy, does so like gangbusters. Thankfully, the new Scream Factory Blu-ray includes the longer VHS work print of Teenage Wasteland, so that fans can experience Simpsons original vision. Its just a shame his central concept didnt continue the lurid, perplexing sexuality of the first two films.
Return to Sleepaway Camp [2008] (d. & w. Robert Hiltzik)
In 1992, production began on a third Double Helix Sleepaway Camp sequel, as the company owned the rights to the franchise for an indefinite number of installments. They hoped that Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor would sit nicely alongside Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland the completion of an oddball DTV horror trilogy. Sadly, Double Helix went of business early into the films shooting schedule and it was scrapped, resulting in a paltry 34 minutes of seemingly unusable footage. The film follows a new female murder maven, Alison (who many fans believe to be Angela), who is plagued by dreams of surviving the original camp massacre. Originally released as a special feature on the 2002 Red Cross DVD box set, the footage was then intercut by fans with scenes from the other three pictures, in order to create a full 70-minute maze of rambling incoherency. It makes Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 look like Citizen Kane by comparison.
Later, a separate sequel found itself in the works, produced by Jeff Hayes (who co-created the series fansite). Through seeking out original members of the cast and crew for interviews, Hayes was able to ascertain who would be interested in returning for another stab. The first key player Hayes tracked down was Jonathan Tiersten, who was playing in the band, Bambis Apartment. Tiersten in turn led Hayes to Felissa Rose, who was doing theater in New York. Rose dug up a phone number for associate producer Michelle Tatosian, who had gone on to marry director Robert Hiltzik. While hesitant at first, Hiltzik dusted off an old draft of his own sequel idea and went to work on revisions.
Hayes played a key role in organizing the special features for Anchor Bays DVD Special Editions, gathering the actors he had already been in touch with to record a commentary. A full-blown Sleepaway Camp revival was in effect, nearly a decade after Double Helixs final attempt at making a fourth franchise installment fell through the floor. The resurgence was capped once Tony Timpone (editor of Fangoria magazine) organized an onstage reunion at the magazines Weekend of Horrors convention, drawing a sold out crowd. The demand for a new trip to Camp Arawak was there.
Unfortunately, Hiltzik forgot to pack the sex in his knapsack, instead inexplicably opting to center his movie on Alan (Michael Gibney), an overweight bully who doesnt seem to possess any discernible redeeming qualities. We watch as he both doles out and receives punishment, all while returning counselor, Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo), worries that Angela has returned to her old stomping grounds (which have been impudently rebranded Camp Manabe). All the while, the new owner, Frank (Vincent Pastore a/k/a Big Pussy from The Sopranos), attempts to cover up a grisly string of murders, hoping to keep the slaughter institution afloat. The events of Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland are ignored completely, in favor of treating Return like the direct sequel Hiltzik never got around to in the first place.
This shunning is possibly the most disappointing part of the Sleepaway Camp series, as it shows that Hiltzik may not even get what worked about the material in the first place. After two DTV filmmakers swooped in and made movies that directly commented on the originals bizarre views on coming of age, Hiltzik creates a sexless universe, full of grumpy little monsters who make you reconsider ever wanting children. All that remains is shrill discord; a return to youth run amuck without ever considering the force that drives most preteens: the discovery of not only their own, but each others bodies. No amount of stunt casting (like Isaac Hayes playing the camps head chef) or nostalgic reunions (like bringing Jonathan Tiersten back to do absolutely nothing at all) can make up for the fact that this is a trek back into the woods with a guide who may not have known the way at all.
Yet perhaps this is the essential quality of the Sleepaway Camp universe it leaves you fumbling about for meaning that its creator may have never intended to be present in the first place. In the end, its impossible to define or exploit the intangible glow of teenage confusion, as it leaves us all in the dark, angry and wanting to kill everyone in sight.
*Think of Angela as the inversion of Young Jason, a character weve come to view as the protected becoming her own protector. She refuses to drown while her counselors do nothing.
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Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland are now available on beautiful Blu-ray via Scream Factory.
Jacob Knight is an Austin, Texas based film writer who moonlights as a clerk at Vulcan Video, one of the last great independent video stores in the US. You can find find him on Twitter @JacobQKnight.
