Sleepaway Camp (1983; Robert Hiltzik) – Scare Daniel Podcast Episode 24

“In fond memory of mom, a doer.”

Corky McDonnell, a doer, and Daniel Barnes, a don’t-er, put on their shortest shorts and head to Camp Arawak to review Robert Hiltzik’s 1983 cult classic Sleepaway Camp.

An atypical slasher movie that blurs the lines between high and low art, good and bad acting, male and female, proficiency and ineptitude, sophistication and primitivism, and laughing at and laughing with, Sleepaway Camp was ignored upon release but obtained a fervent following in the following decades.

While Daniel compares the Hiltzik aesthetic to Lynch, Kubrick and Fuller, Corky merely namechecks Kurosawa and Tennessee Williams. Elsewhere, the hosts discuss man-eating bees, toxic masculinity, hormonal teens, water balloon snipers and crazy Aunt Martha.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP FACTS AND FIGURES

U.S. theatrical release date: May 1984

Domestic box office gross: Less than $100,000

Critics scores: 80 on Rotten Tomatoes; 58 on Metacritic

This week’s craft beer: Fort Rock Brewing’s Intergalactic Hop Goblin (7% ABV)

This week’s Darer: Heather Smith

Why did Heather Smith dare Daniel and Corky to watch Sleepaway Camp? “It’s campy, it’s fun, it’s kind of fucked up.”

IMDB synopsis: “Angela Baker, a traumatized and very shy young girl, is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions gets their comeuppance.”

This week’s referenced movies: Nell; The Gods Must Be Crazy; Sleepaway Camp II/III/IV: Unhappy Campers/Teenage Wasteland; Return to Sleepaway Camp; Friday the 13th; A Long Day’s Journey Into Night; The Glass Menagerie; Firstborn; Rawhead Rex; Jaws; Can’t Stop the Music; Wet Hot American Summer; Road House; Carrie; American Sniper; Saving Private Ryan; From Here to Eternity; Psycho; Fargo

Ratings: Daniel – Reverse Dare; Corky – Reverse Dare

RELATED CLIPS

Original theatrical trailer

The cook gets cooked

The final scene

At the Waterfront After the Social

Exploring Sleepaway Camp

Spotlightz Acting Camp for Serious Kids! SNL sketch

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