Customer Reviews

Sleepaway Camp III - Teenage Wasteland [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Like millions of other kids, as a teen growing up in the 90's I loved all of the "Sleepaway Camp" movies. Because each movie was entertaining, and somewhat over-the-top. "Sleepaway Camp III - Teenage Wasteland" is no exception and probably the best picture from this trilogy. It's also probably one of the best examples of a teen 80's/90's kitschy horror picture.

"Sleep away Camp III" has it all, hot girls, a friendly yet sadistic murderer, and lots of blood! "Sleepaway Camp III" finds Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen) back in the woods. This time Angela reinvents herself as a misfit from the inner city so she can blend in with the other campers.

Lilly (Sandra Dorsey) and Herman Miranda (Michael J. Pollard) have turned the former campgrounds (of "Sleepaway Camp II") into "Camp New Horizons." Lilly is a lazy old bag that doesn't want to move, she's just in it for the money and publicity. And Herman is a horny old dude that enjoys playing hide the weasel with one of the female campers. Suffice it to say, Angela isn't very happy about all of this...

Angela is actually a very sweet girl (on the surface). She enjoys camping and working with others, and really enjoys sports games and the outdoors. She just gets really ticked off when people do stupid things. So what does Angela do? She simply kills them in a very inventive way. For example, Lilly got her head mowed over with a lawn mower.

Comcast recently added "Sleepaway Camp III" to their new "FEARnet" section of on-demand movies so I got to watch it again and got a good laugh at all of the kooky antics of the campers. My favorite camper (besides Angela, of course) is Snowboy (Kyle Holman) because he's such a fool; just imagine what Angela does when she gets her hands on him...

In a way, Angela is like the "Borat" of the 80's because she exposed a lot of stupidity and narrow-mindedness among teens. As Angela said, "just taking care of business..."

At first most people will probably see Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland has yet another slasher movie in the seemingly never ending slashers of the 1980s. But Sleepaway Camp III has a lot more going on than people might realize and is one of the smarter slasher flicks to come out in the 80s. Upon its release the slasher film was all but dead. And all creativity was pretty much dead. There were a few filmmakers still trying to get that one last film out, but none of these flicks were making much money anymore with the exception of the major franchises, but 1989 even saw the franchises take a major hit in box office numbers.

But where those movies failed is where Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland succeeds. Many people miss the point of the Sleepaway Camp sequels. I often hear was that supposed to be scary? It was more funny than scary. Yes people that were the point of the sequels! The makers of the Sleepaway Camp sequels were making more of a parody of the slasher genre. While movies like Scream get praised for that the Sleepaway Camp sequels are ignored.

Slasher flicks often have what one can say a morality tale; even if that wasn't the intention of the filmmakers it seems like you have sex you die, take drugs you die, stuck up you die. If you're obnoxious you die. The only person to normally survive these movies is the innocent virginal girl. And that is what the Sleepaway Camp sequels play up to. Both Sleepaway Camp sequels are really a lot smarter than people give them credit for.

I thought the first Sleepaway Camp was alright, the main reason for the cult status is due to the ending. If not for that I doubt the original would be as remembered as it is. But I just love Sleepaway Camp II and III. Both are just so much fun. Check your brain at the door and just enjoy the ride.

Writer Fritz Gordon delivers one hell of a funny screenplay. First up all the characters are pretty much named off characters from West Side Story, The Brady Bunch and the Munsters so right there that should clue you in that this is a spoof more than a straight up horror flick. Slasher flicks are so well known for their sex, nudity and obnoxious characters and Fritz Gordon nails that big time.

All the characters are very obnoxious with the exception really of a couple of them. But you see that was the point, all of that was the intention. Fritz Gordon writes a very clever spoof, but due to the slapstick comedy it gets lost on too many viewers and they take the movie too serious.

Director Michael Simpson doesn't try and play these scenes straight. He knows what he has to do and boy does he ever deliver. The running time is only about 77-minutes so there really isn't a slow moment. Simpson plays up to all the slasher clichés and spoofs them. Also Simpson and Gordon seem to do the impossible and actually create original kill scenes.

Most of the movie is shot during the day with the final act taking place at night. Most horror movies work best with a nighttime setting, but in Sleepaway Camp III is the exception. Since the movie wasn't meant to be the typical horror flick the mostly daytime scenes actually work quite well. Michael Simpson gets the job done here all of his scenes play out well. He knows what then audience wants and he delivers that. You get nudity and gore that's what the slasher movie is all about.

Pamela Springsteen returns as Angela Baker and again knocks it out of the ballpark with a really funny and very entertaining performance. Angela is pretty much the anti-hero. The viewers will be rooting for her all the way through. In most horror movies when you are rooting for the villain that normally means the makers didn't do a good job on the characters, but Angela was the anti-hero and we are meant to cheer for her. It might sound weird that we wanna see Angela kill the characters off, but it works well. I can honestly say Angela is by far my favorite character in a slasher flick. Not so much the original Angela played by Felissa Rose, who was very good in her installment, but for me it's Pamela all the way.

Angela after dispatching one of her victims always has a one-liner, which might be a bit silly, but again that's the point. Angela is often over-looked among the Iconic horror movie killers, but she is by far my favorite.

As I stated the kill scenes are original; we get one girl tied to a flag pole and raised up than dropped right on her head. I just love Angela's line as she raises her up when the victims asks why, Angela says, "Because you're a cheerleader, a fornicator, a drug taker, a nasty snotty bigot and besides that... you're real nice."

We also get a firecracker up the nose, a girl getting rundown by a garbage truck, one guy tied to a tree with a rope and the other part of the rope tied to a truck, which results in him getting ripped a part and the and what might be my favorite death by lawnmower. If people watching these crazy over the top kill scenes still don't understand this movie isn't meant to be taken serious well I don't even know what to say.

I also love the characters in Sleepaway Camp III all of them are so much fun. Bobby Stark played by Haynes Brooke was one of the best, when asked what his favorite movie is he replies with, "Ones that make America look great, like Rambo Part III, Great movie." Riff played by Daryl Wilcher is another great character. Everything he says is pretty much a four letter word, but it's really funny.

The tradition of Sleepaway Camp is in every movie there is some kind of decapitation. And I love the part when Angela says, "It seems every year I'm at camp someone loses their head." It just little things like that is what makes me love the Sleepaway Camp sequels.

The character of Barney Whitmore played by Cliff Brand is the more serious character. He's the father of one of the characters killed by Angela in Sleepaway Camp II. The guy is hell-bent on wanting revenge on Angela, and when he realizes Angela is at the camp you expect this big showdown. But Angela takes him out rather easily; some people complained about that, but remember these movies are about Angela. She may be the killer, but she's also the heroine in a sense.

Though Sleepaway Camp III also does have a bit of a twist, Marcia played by Tracey Griffith isn't so innocent like we thought she was. I thought that was an interesting twist considering most of these movies rarely offer a twist on the final girl.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland may not go down as one of the Iconic horror films, but when it comes to just sheer fun you'll be hard pressed to find one more than Sleepaway Camp III.

While not the best of the series (that dubious honor has to go to Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers) this is still a damn fine slasher flick.

Comedic, graphic, and downright loveable, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, has everything we horror fanatics need. This movie just works so well, due to Pamela Springstein's fantastic and smooth portrayal of Angela Baker, The Angel of Death. In part III, Angela has joined the ranks and gone back to her roots as a fellow camper. And she will have none of these rude, disrespectful, fornicating teenagers camping along side her.

Oh no!! One screw up and your dog meat!

Whether it's a lawnmower or axe to the head, a .45, or just some old fashion "stringing up the flagpole", the Angel of Death always finds creative use for her talents of disposal.

Director Michael A. Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon, wrote and directed Sleepaway Camp parts II and III back to back. Literally, as soon as production stopped on Unhappy Campers, filming for Teenage Wasteland began. This film initially received an X rating, and several gore sequences had to be trimmed down to get an R rating for distributors. However, the DVD does not disappoint!

For almost every murder in the movie, there are the deleted gore sequences in the special features portion that show the killings as originally intended. Awesome!!

The entire Sleepaway Camp series is a gem of a cult classic. Highly recommended! Best to watch in sequence!

ENJOY!

Pamela Springsteen makes another slashing perfomance as Angela, the murderous happy camper. She disguises herself as a teenage camper(typical). Then she realises that the campsite has changed from Camp Rolling Hills to a new name called Camp New Horizons, changing it to outdoor camping dividing campers to three different management teams. One by one Angela massacres them. Carries a very weak plot, but good dialogue scenes by Tracy Griffith (Melanie's half sister and star of "The First Power") and the guy she meets and gets to knows. Michael J. Pollard ("Bonnie & Clyde") is also featured in this film, and gets to act as crazy as ever! There's also a heavy metal track during the closing credits called "Sleepaway" by John Altyn(whoever he is!). A part 4 should've been made. The director of this slasher film, with most of the cast, moved on to star in a teenage sex comedy called "Fast Food."

Well, on my recent quest of re-watching and reviewing all the Sleepaway Camps, I almost dreaded re-watching this one. But nonetheless, I felt compelled to at least watch it once more before writing my review. Basically, this sequel is made in the same style as Sleepaway Camp II. More dumb humor, poor acting, and weak plot. Pamela Springsteen reprises her role as Angela Baker aka "The Angel of Death", and I must say, her acting performance was worst than that of Sleepaway II, which is pretty hard to accomplish! Yes, the storyline was pretty lame, but once again, is was the humor in this one that got me again. During almost every kill, Angela had some stupid one-liner to say, which really got on my nerves. Most of the characters were way over-the-top stereotypes, I suppose that was done on purpose, but nonetheless, it was dumb. They even took a jab at the Friday the 13th movies. Someone should have told the director that they did that bit in the Sleepaway 2!!! Not only that, the acting of Pamela Springsteen makes it basically unbelievable that she could brutally murder anyone. In most kill scenes, she looks like she's using the force of a 5 year-old!!! Of course, the movie ends with Angela surviving, and delivering yet again, another dumb one-liner to end the film. I'm not even sure why I'm giving this film 2 stars, I would say it's more like a 1.5, and I'm being a bit generous with that. But since the storyline does at least follow along with the other films and there are a couple of cool kill scenes, I'll be bit more kind on my rating.

The only thing good about this one are the funny one-liners Angela, the murderous camper, uses after dispossing of the campers. Other than that, passible.

Angela (Pamela Springstein) is still on the loose just waiting to go to another camp where she can torture, torment and murder bad campers and naughty counselors with any possible weapon around.

The 3rd installment of the "Sleepaway Camp" trilogy is truly weak but has some good kills here like the firecracker shoved up a guy's face and a buried body with the head sticking out of the ground and getting slaughtered by a lawnmower. I definitely digged the sexy Asian chick in this movie especially her incredible topless scene, hubba hubba :)! i'm hoping the upcoming 4th movie will be an improvement over this one.

The DVD has a good transfer and good sound quality with decent extras like still gallery, deleted scenes and gore footage, audio commentary, trailer and behind the scenes footages & outtakes.

Angela is back in the second sequel to 1983's "Sleepaway Camp." As this film begins, she kills a girl heading to Camp New Horizons and impersonates her for the rest of the film. Camp New Horizons is an experimental camp, as half of the campers are from the upper-class portions of society, and half are from the lower-class. But economic status doesn't really matter, because they're all dumb as dirt, willing to show skin whenever possible, and all have loose morals and like to sin a lot, which we all know Angela is not happy about.

The campers are supposed to be young teens, but all look about 26. And there's only about ten campers in the whole gosh-durn camp, which seems illogical, but whatever. We come to see teens dying! And teens dying you shall see. As Angela gets to know her fellow campers, she soon sees what evil individuals they really are - some curse at her, some use firecrackers for bad purposes, and others fornicate when they're supposed to be fishing and doing other wholesome activities. So Angela has to do what she thinks is right and clean up the camp. There's even a wistful moment as Angela recalls what camp used to be, when she won the award for camper of the week (from SC2). "You like me! You really, really like me!"

There's humor and silliness, and a ton of funny throwaway jokes. For instance, while fishing Angela hooks a hockey mask that looks suspiciously like one used by that villain in that other horror film franchise. "What day is this?" she asks. Why it's Saturday...Saturday the 14th, someone alerts her.

It ain't Citizen Kane, but that doesn't really matter, does it? It's just a fun slasher film that'll have you laughing and groaning, and isn't that what life's about.

Everyone's favorite psycho camp leader is back. This time Angela is disguised as a camper and runs amok in an experimental campground where the priviledged are in the woods with gangstas and hooligans.

Angela doesn't even try to hide the bodies in this one. She just goes around killing everyone in sight. Broad daylight murders and the bodies are left there to rot. My favorite was when she ran the chick up the flagpole and let her go from the top. Her head crashed into the pavement and Angela doesn't even look at her corpse for a second, she just skips off.

There is a father of a victim from part II and he's a cop/counselor. There's no melodrama here. He just asks Angela how she plans on killing him. With a smile she pulls a .45 from behind her back and blows him away! No buildup, no suspense, just senseless killing.

There could have been more nudity in this, but who am I to complain. The cabin in the beginning was full of topless girls. Well all except for Angela who needs a 'can-opener' to get out of her 1950's brassierre.

But I think we can all thank Angela when she kills the rap gangsta (who listened to god-awful rap). When he turned on his boom box for the last time, Angela had a surprise waiting message on the tape! HA ha, jolly good fun.

The last two kills set you up for the highly anticipated Sleepaway Camp IV. She kills the two medics in the back of an ambulance.

Pamela Springsteen returns in her role as Angela in the dark comedy "Sleepaway Camp III- Teenage Wasteland". Honestly, I don't see why they just don't call this movie "Waste of your Money". Seriously, I don't have a problem with dark comedy or comedy at all, but when I want to see a horror movie, I want to see a good scary horror movie, and you aint getting that in this "Sleepaway III". Let's be honest people...this movie is an absolute joke and is definitely supposed to be more funny than anything, but that isn't saying much because even Angela's jokes are pathetic.

I must admit that there are movies where the characters are so stupid, insipid or just bad people, that you want the killer to kill them. Well, never has this been more true for me than in "Sleepaway Camp III"!!! Honestly, I wanted Angela to kill everyone in the movie and then kill herself so it would all be over...this movie is soooo stupid! The characters in this flick are horribly obnoxious stupid and you come away thinking that they all got what they deserved. But, therein lies the problem...the acting is so horrendous that there really is no character to sympathize with or relate to except for Angela.

To be perfectly frank, I preferred the weird creepy and disturbed Angela in the original "Sleepaway Camp" to this dorky little happy and do goodie chic Angela that you get in Sleepaway Camp II and III. My main problem with the sequels to these movies is that the movie has no heart as there is no elements of horror, fear, evil or dread, just dorky Angela as a girl that you seemingly would love to take home to Mom except for the fact that she kills bad teenaged kids in a rather unconvincing and absurd fashion. Sorry, this trash just isn't for me...it's not horror, it's dark comedy if you can even call it that, but, in all honesty, I would even argue that this movie fails as much as a dark comedy as it does as a horror movie because the movie simply is not funny at all. Hell, for my money, it's just rubbish folks. My advice is to stay away unless you have an affinity for incredibly lame dark comedies.