Sleepaway Camp 2 : Unhappy Campers

Alternate titles : Nightmare Vacation 2.

Tagline : "When you go camping, just take the essentials!"

With numerous slasher film sequels proving popular at the box office during the 80's, the producers of "Sleepaway Camp" decided there was yet more money to be made, and so a sequel to their original 1983 film was duly commissioned.

This second instalment sees Angela, now played by Pamela Springsteen (yes that's rock star Bruce Springsteen's sister), fully grown and working as a counsellor at another summer camp.

Unfortunately, she takes a very dim view of immorality and proceeds to bump off anybody who misbehaves, generally gets on her nerves, or even looks at her sideways for that matter.

Less serious than it's predecessor, this is more of a black comedy which plays heavily on the old horror movie cliché's that sex, drugs and alcohol will invariably lead to a gruesome death. Which in this case, is carried out by the maniacal Angela by means of power drill, barbeque and even toilet!!!!

The film also carries some rather cheeky references to "Friday the 13th", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" in which Angela clashes with some would-be victims in fancy dress. Although perhaps the most frightening thing about this film, as we see during the "Happy Camper" song, is that Pamela's singing and guitar playing is even more shocking than that of her brother Bruce's.

Overall Marks : 5/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Original actress Fellissa Rose was offered the role of Angela again, but was unable to return as she was busy studying at University.
• The camp used in the film was actually a YMCA youth camp in Waco, Georgia.
• For the sex scene between Ally and Rob, a double had to be used in the place of Rob, as actor Terry Hobbs was under 17 at the time. An alternate version of this scene was also filmed, but ultimately not used, in which Ally still has a nightdress on in case the US censors demanded any cuts.
• Walt Gotell, who plays camp owner Uncle John, played General Gogol in the James Bond series of films.
• The film's budget was $465,000.
• Renee Estevez, who plays Mollie, is the daughter of Martin Sheen, and indeed the sister of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. She also played Linda in "Intruder".
• Some additional dialogue between Molly and Angela outside the cabin was trimmed from the original release for pacing reasons, along with the decapitation of Sean to avoid getting an NC17 rating at the US censors board. These were included as extras on the 2003 DVD by Anchor Bay.
• The original UK release, as "Nightmare Vacation 2", also suffered an additional 2mins of cuts by the BBFC. This trimmed most of the gore and nudity, as well as removing Ally's death scene in its entirety. The 2003 DVD by Anchor Bay restores these previously cut scenes, although the version used is the same as the pre-cut US R-rated version.

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