ReaderKenka
Let's be realistic.
Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Heff2001
Ummm. Errrr. Uhhh. Okay, so I only kept watching to see how Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten and Paul DeAngelo would do at reprising their roles. Sadly, for them and everyone else in the film, they were stuck in a pile of crap so deep their talents couldn't shine through anywhere. Tiersten, who was a standout in the original and seemed to have natural acting chops, has nothing to go on. What was Hiltzik thinking? Our hero of the first film has grown up to be an obnoxious backhoe operator with a bad attitude and the apparent IQ of a mosquito? Huh? That actually describes everyone in the film: obnoxious and stupid. There's not a hint of character development. Everyone is so unlikable, you want them to get killed off as soon as they make their initial appearance. They're loud, can't stop screaming, personality conflicts to the hilt. The only saving grace would have been if Teirsten's clothes fell off somewhere along the way. But no! LOL. Seriously. It's like watching a train wreck in slo-mo. If there was an "in" joke, it flew over my head by a mile.And what was that last, post-credit scene supposed to be? Jeez, Louise. Why?Hiltzik, please, we know there's talent there. Make another film ASAP and be redeemed!
Sandcooler
"Return To Sleepaway Camp" isn't as much a real movie as it is a joke that got a bit out of hand. Apparently there's a website entirely devoted to 80s slasher gem "Sleepaway Camp", and they moved heaven and Earth to get some of its cast and crew back together for a sequel. They even got Robert Hiltzik back in the director chair, even though he retired from filmmaking decades prior. Sadly though, that totally shows. Hiltzik has forgotten pretty much everything that made his first movie such an underground classic. The first one thrived on its inventive kills and compelling mystery (with an amazing conclusion). In this one, the kills just make no goddamn sense (the bed of spikes!?) and you've figured out the twist well before halfway. Even worse though is the handling of the characters. When someone teased cute innocent kids in the original, you were glad they died minutes later. In this one the protagonist is a teen that picks on little kids in the cruelest ways possible, and then gets picked on by adolescents in the cruelest ways possible. You just can't sympathize with anyone in this movie, which makes you indifferent to all the deaths. The biggest difference is in the acting though. Why is everyone acting so tongue-in-cheek all of a sudden, why the sudden shift in tone? I don't remember wanting to punch Jonathan Tiersten in the face any time he opened his mouth in the original, what happened? This movie was released four years after completion: that's rarely a good sign.
acidburn-10
At first I was keen to see the latest entry in the Sleepaway Camp series, especially as I heard that some of the original stars were returning such as Felicia Rose and Jonathan Tierstein who haven't appeared in the series since the first one. But when I heard that it was gonna go straight to DVD and read the reviews which were mostly negative, I decided to skip it, but as time went on I decided to finally get round to seeing it and In my opinion I thought that this entry weren't that bad, It certainly has a lot of flaws but as a whole I actually enjoyed it.Okay the first one wasn't exactly a masterpiece with its uneven performances but it had hell of a twist ending that I will never forget and was certainly much better than the sequels that followed which just didn't have the magic the first one had. This entry however was a lot of fun, the deaths were inventive especially the final skinning victim which was nasty, but what got on my nerves about this entry is that despite the return of the former cast members, they just don't seem to be in it very often and instead the main focus seems to be on Alan (Michael Gibney) whose getting bullied by various campers and frankly I found him annoying and felt absolutely no sympathy whatsoever, he was just awful, I don't just mean the acting that was bad all by itself, but his character was written horribly with terrible dialogue, why didn't they just send him home.All of the acting in this movie is pretty awful, but I found some of the characters somewhat interesting firstly it's nice to see Isacc Hayes again even if it's just a cameo and Erin Broderick (Karen) was pretty cute and likable and the sassy black girl was a lot of fun as well.The first half of the movie pretty much drags as we only get 2 deaths but when we reach the third act this movie really gets going and I found that copper with the robotic voice really grating and annoying and the new twist ending I found pretty surprising and fun and as for the return of Felicia Rose there just wasn't enough of her, but when she did return she really chewed the scenery and was hilarious especially when she dresses up like a cheerleader for the end credits which was quite funny, but Jonathan's part was rather disappointing, it was just pointless, he only popped up in two scenes and his acting hasn't improved with time and needs to lay off the fake tan.All in all "Return To Sleepaway Camp" was partly enjoyable, but could have been better if they had better actors and more capable production values, this is nowhere near as good as the first one, but it's slightly better than the awful sequels which doesn't say much.
thepeoples_champion
Downloaded this on accident looking for the original sleepaway camp, but somehow ended up watching this one last after the other 3 movies, well 4th, but we wont talk about the 4th one. Ill say this right now, ill probubly give this a 10, because sleepaway camp ended up being one of my favorite movies of all time. IF YOU DID NOT LIKE THE ORIGINAL SLEEP AWAY CAMP, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS MOVIE! With that in mind. Even the intro was solid with this movie. The characters were laughably cheesy and generic, which just added to the original sleepaway camp atmosphere. Angela bakers back for more. With the original angela baker, THE COOK, THE BLACK COOK FROM SLEEPAWAY CAMP 1, HOLY F***!! THE RIPPED DUDE FROM SLEEP AWAY CAMP 1, WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR! The characters they put in from the first one weren't good actors at all, but were some of the most memorable to me to this day. Ripped guy, i may never know your name, but you could be in any crap movie, and id watch it without a second guess. The kills in this movie..........were so awesome. The bunk bed kill was by far one of my favorite I've seen recently. All in all, if you like sleep away camp, WATCH THIS! if you don't, watch the bunk bed scene, and the penis tied to tree truck driving scene
