Why So Blu?

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers – Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray Review)

This summer, SCREAM FACTORY™ invites horror enthusiasts and movie collectors to further venture into the great outdoors and experience what Camp Rolling Hills and Camp New Horizons have to offer – nature walks, randy campers, puritanical camp counselor, murder and a feast of gory goodness!  Fans of the popular SLEEPAWAY CAMP movies rejoice as the collector’s editions of SLEEPAWAY CAMP II: UNHAPPY CAMPERS and SLEEPAWAY CAMP III: TEENAGE WASTELAND hits on home entertainment shelves everywhere on June 9, 2015 from SCREAM FACTORY™.  Both movies debut for the first time on Blu-ray™. Each collector’s edition Blu-ray+DVD combo pack features anamorphic widescreen movie presentation, exciting bonus content, newly rendered retro-style artwork, a reversible wrap with theatrical key art and more! 

Film 

Welcome to Camp Rolling Hills! Meet your camp counselor, Angela Baker! She’s the kind of counselor who enjoys camp songs, nature walks, board games and… murder. Five years after the horrific slaughter at Camp Arawak, Angela has created a new position for herself as a counselor at Camp Rolling Hills. Angela is about to teach “bad campers” a brutal lesson in survival when they are sliced, stabbed, drilled… and much worse. Renee Estevez and Walter Gotell co-star in this outrageous sequel to the original cult classic.

When it comes to the Sleepaway Camp fanbase, it seems there are many cases of separation from the films.  There are the purists who only go for the first film and despise parts 2 and 3, then there are those that don’t care for the first film but love 2 & 3.  Its an odd disconnect, but there’s such a disconnect between the first and its two 1980s follow ups that invite that sort of separation.  For me, I enjoy every bit of the first three entries.  The only one I didn’t care for was the “true” sequel to the original that came out in 2008.

From the outset, Sleepaway Camp II announces that its going to be a splatstic comedy.  And for what we had in the horror genre at the time of release, this was quite different.  Its a dramatic turn from the first one’s serious (Although, very campy approach) take on the genre.  This one sort of knows its not going to break any new ground or repeat the same success the first one had.  And its better and more entertaining for that.  Immediately its like “Here, Angela is here, she’s killing and she’s going to be wisecracking the whole time”.  Yes, this is coming a year after Freddy introduced his schtick in Dream Warriors, but there’s something different about the way its happening here.

A big factoring in making Sleepaway Camp II succeed is its leading lady and brand new Angela, Pamela Springsteen.  For those of you wondering, yes, she is the younger sister of The Boss.  There’s a charm, joy and innocence in her performance.  It somewhat of the same kind of process that Sarah Silverman would bring to broader appeal in the 90s.  Springsteen is game for everything an having a blast doing so.  I can see people who don’t “get” her performance or what the movie is going for getting annoyed by her, but that’s their loss.  Its her charisma and game attitude that give this film its life and make it work.

Along with Pamela Springsteen, the script here actually has some decent humor already worked in, be it on the nose events, jokes or even ones under the surface.  One of the funniest things, is that all of the characters in the film are named after the Brat Pack.  And our final girl is of course “Molly”.  Adding to the Brat Pack thing, that final girl is played by Renee Estevez, sister of Emilio and Charlie (Also character names in the film).  There is also a lot of goofy and fun gore in the film that works on both a level of disgust and cheese at the same time.  Its said that everyone working on this film had a great time, and that really shines through in all aspects, culminating in an enjoyable view.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Michael A. Simpson/Pamela Springsteen Sleepaway Camp sequels.  One could say they are just another in a long line of trashy movies, I enjoy, but I actually thing the comedy works pretty good.  The film also has some truly awesome practical gore effects, which is something the first one keeps pretty clean with in comparison.  I love Pamela Springsteen’s performance and her Angela.  I also love Felissa Rose.  I enjoy both, there’s no need to compare.  If you’re looking for a fun, short, movie to sit around and laugh both with and at (It runs both ways), Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is the perfect film for such an enjoyable occasion.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1o80p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail:  It should be noted that the original materials for this film have been lost, as has been made apparent by Scream Factory.  I know that, but I don’t know what the source was they were using for this transfer.  For what it is, it looks pretty good.  Its not a massive step up from the DVD, but its a significant one.  Detail on hair looks impressive, as well as table top gloss and smudges.  The closer up and static the shots are, the more detail is able to seep through.  The nature stuff like trees and the like all look pretty nice as well.  This isn’t going to blow people away, but for fans like myself, it should impress as this is probably the best Sleepaway Camp II is ever going to look.

Depth:  As to be expected without the original materials, its a little more flat.  However, movement is solid and background stuff looks pretty decent.

Black Levels: Blacks look pretty dark and some detail can be lost in lesser lit scenes.  I didn’t really spot too much crushing at all though.

Color Reproduction:  Coloring takes on a very nice accurate approach.  The powder blue uniforms looks really nice, as down the green of the forest.  There are some moments of crushing with the colors thought too.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones go for a natural look, proving consistent throughout.  Skin detail is merely okay.  Close ups provide the best detail, as the further out shots look a bit smooth and there’s not much to go off of.

Noise/Artifacts:  There is a nice layer of grain throughout to go along with some dirt and specs.  The film does feature some noise, crushing and compression instances.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 2.0 Mono DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English

Dynamics:  This track is a bit lighter on the low end details, but it does the trick.  Its definitely a nice step up from the DVD as it features a bit more loose and free feel.  The score, dialogue and effects all get there own sort of space to shine in this balanced mix.  The dream sequence sounds nice and wicked here too.  There are some moments that feature some analog sounding recording, but that’s more source based than anything.

Low Frequency Extension:  N/A

Surround Sound Presentation:  N/A

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is loud, clean and clear.

Extras 

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers comes with a reversible cover featuring the original VHS box art.  HELL YEAH

Audio Commentary

• With Director Michael A. Simpson and Writer Fritz Gordon – This is the John Klyza moderated commentary ported over from the previous Anchor Bay “Survival Kit” release of the film.

A Tale of Two Sequels: Part One (HD, 28:06) – Director Michael A Simpson, Jeff Hayes and others in the cast and crew sit to give a great retrospective look at the production of the film and the mentality going in to making it.  I particularly liked the film’s editor’s contribution to this as he has some interesting stories and insight.  Shame that Pamela Springsteen declined to come back from this as she’s who everyone would love to hear from.

Abandoned: The Filming Locations of Sleepaway Camp II & III (HD, 15:28) – A poor man’s version of Horror’s Hollowed Grounds.  Two guys and their camcorders go and walk through the destroyed and baron locations the film was shot on.  The majority of this is a camera pointed at a bunch of leaves and trees and saying “Well, this USED to be there, and this used to be there”.  Its pretty disappointing.

Behind The Scenes Footage (HD, 13:21) – From the DVD set, Michael A. Simpson does some commentary over on set footage.

Home Video Trailer (HD, 2:24) 

Short Film: Whatever Happened to Molly? (HD, :50) – A fan shot (?) scene of Renee Estevez character’s death from an early draft of the script.  Nothing much here, but its a nice little inclusion.  Introduced by John Klyza.

Still Gallery – 82 images of behind the scenes photos, promotional photos, effects & makeup photos, magazine inserts, lobby cards and poster artwork.

Summary 

Sleepaway Camp II is very breezy, fun and humorous horror comedy jaunt.  Its more clever and smart than its probably given credit for seen and unseen.  Pamela Springsteen also gives an underrated horror performance as this movie is to live and die by her work.  Scream Factory’s highly anticipated Blu-ray release (Highly anticipated by me at least) does some good work.  Its unfortunate that the original negative, master whathaveyou has been lost, but I still think the film looks better than it ever has before.  The audio also turns out quite nicely.  Another shame is that Pamela Springsteen didn’t come back for an interview.  But, even without that, the bonus features here are terrific.  Sleepaway Camp fans should be very happy with this upgrade from the Survival Kit (though, hang onto that, its a nifty collector’s item).