Halloween Edition: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) Movie Review

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) Movie Review

**SPOILER ALERT! This review contains the movie ending as well as the ending for the original movie Sleepaway Camp**

Coming off the ending of the first movie, it really didn't require a sequel. There is no way you will ever get a more shocking scene in this series than the one the first movie ended with. At the end of Sleepaway Camp its discovered that Angela is actually a boy with the final scene being her standing before two people with her penis in full view. Yes, you just read that. Clearly, it didn't need a sequel. 

At the beginning of this movie, which takes place five to ten years after the first movie, camp counselor Phoebe is telling the story about the killings at Camp Arawak (which is an easy way of recapping the first movie). Angela (who has since changed her last name) is the head counselor who scolds Phoebe for telling the story and sneaking out of her cabin to be with the boys. On their way back to the girls cabin Angela kills Phoebe which shows the audience only minutes into the movie who the killer is. Throughout the movie we learn that Angela has old fashioned rules about the way the camp should be run and if any of the camper disobey her rules, they find themselves dead. Little by little all of the campers start disappearing until only several remain. 

I waited this whole movie for a twist that never came. Usually movies want to throw you off track so just when you think you know how the movie will end, a twist will prove you wrong. Unfortunately, there is no twist in this movie. Angela is the killer who kills the campers, end of story. 

The movie ends with Molly being the only camper to get away from Angela and the camp and ends up on a road nearby where she is picked up by a gracious driver. Sadly for Molly, the driver of the vehicle is Angela and the movie ends with Molly screaming.

This ending is so typical for 80s horror films. The more movies that I watch from the 80s the more I've come to expect the "lets leave it open for a sequel" ending. When I was younger, I really liked that type of ending because it usually meant that more sequels would be made. Now, I just think it's a cop out and they couldn't think of a better ending. There will always be ways to spin off movies or make sequels without leaving the ends of the movies unfinished. There was in fact another sequel after this movie called Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989) as well as another titled Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor which was started in the early 90s wasn't completed until 2012. 

It really didn't matter what this sequel or any of the following sequels had done because it could never compare to the jaw dropping scene that concluded the first movie. If you're looking for an 80s slasher movie with a basic premise and no twists, than I would recommend this one. If you'd like to watch a movie with an ending that you don't see coming, avoid it.

Grade: B-

Check back tomorrow for a horror movie review from a 1963 title!