Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 7, 2015

Did your parents ever ship you off to summer camp, or have you in fact shipped your kids off to such a facility? I went to summer camp twice in my childhood, once in the mountains outside of Salt Lake City and a bit later on one of the San Juan Islands, and was not particularly happy there either time, suffering through indignities like communal bathrooms or insane amounts of mosquito bites, not to mention less than thrilling camp “grub.” Of course, the saving grace is I (and hopefully you and/or your kids) never had to interact with Angela, the troubled anti-heroine of the Sleepaway Camp trilogy. As is discussed (carefully, so that no actual spoilers are revealed) in our Sleepaway Camp Blu-ray review, the first film ends with a patently shocking “reveal” (literally and figuratively) which seeks to recast much of what has gone before in a new light. While the actual efficacy of that shock is debateable, the “surprise” awaiting viewers at the end of the first Sleepaway Camp has remained one of the film’s most memorable contributions to horror lore. The fact that this supposed denouement is in fact a little nonsensical when you get right down to it may help to explain why it’s at best only a tangential element in the two follow-up films Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, newly released in tandem by Shout! Factory’s horror imprint Scream Factory. What’s perhaps more unexpected than the lack of focus on what the first film at least attempted to make a salient plot point is the 180 degree turn in tone between the first film and the two sequels. While the first film wasn’t exactly in the same cut (sorry) and dried slasher mode that was so prevalent in the eighties, Sleepaway Camp still played things fairly straight and narrow, albeit with a few goofy elements thrown in for good measure. The two sequels on the other hand play things largely for laughs, setting up minimal plot contrivances to offer Angela (Pamela Springsteen, little sister to a certain Boss man) as avenging angel taking out a variety of boorish characters.

One of horror’s most enduring tropes, namely a villain who simply won’t stay dead (or otherwise “out of action”), is on display, with the (initial) requisite lack of explanation, as Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers gets underway. It’s summer, and a new slew of hormonal teenagers is once again making do in the woods, telling campfire stories about the carnage that occurred in Sleepaway Camp. All but one of the campers at the gathering are male (pay attention to the names—both of the Sleepaway Camp sequels have quite a bit of fun with names that reference either real life people or iconic characters), and the lone female, Phoebe (Heather Binion), is soon accosted by her counselor who wants to get Phoebe back with the girls where she belongs. The counselor of course turns out to be Angela, evidently no worse for wear after having taken out most of the supporting cast of the first film. It doesn’t take long for Angela to return to her “roots” (a probably horrible pun, considering her first weapon is a piece of a tree).

There’s not a whale of a lot of logic in play in Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, as evidenced by the rather sanguine response the remaining campers have once an increasing number of their population go missing, supposedly “sent home” by Angela. In fact the film is by and large a vignette driven enterprise which simply presents Angela with a continual list of victims. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is perhaps a bit more successful than Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland in providing a modicum of a throughline (though it's not quite so gleefully gonzo), but anyone looking for a densely plotted horror outing had best keep foraging through the woods.

What saves this enterprise is its winking, self-referential (and self-mocking) quality, something that makes it a bit of a progenitor for later entries like the Scream 5-Film Set. Springsteen is a lot of fun as the deeply troubled Angela, bringing a kind of petulant, bratty quality to the character. Both sequels don’t stop at Springsteen in terms of “stunt sibling casting” syndrome. This sequel offers Renée Estevez, sister of Emilio (and Charlie Sheen, of course), while Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland marked one of the first featured roles for Tracy Griffith, half-sister of Melanie.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers finally addresses that aforementioned “surprise” that made the ending of the first Sleepaway Camp so memorable, but again the discussion is almost tangential to what has gone before. Who cares about Angela’s “transformation” when all is said and done? It wouldn’t matter if the character were in fact an alien dressed up in a human “outfit.” The fun of Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is not in any putative character information, but in the nonchalant way Angela marauds her way through a series of boorish victims. On that level, this is one camp worth visiting.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is one of those high definition presentations which will probably garner fairly disparate reactions, depending on whether the viewer has seen the film before in previous home video incarnations. While there's a substantial if not overwhelming uptick in detail, things are hampered by what appears to be a secondary source element, one that brings with it an increased (and at times inorganic looking) grain field, and more than average fuzziness in dimly lit or downright dark scenes. This is not helped by what appears to be an older master, one which struggles at times to overcome the cross-hatching of the grain field to provide more than baseline detail and fine detail. There are some moments here that look pretty ragged, like the blue tinted opening campfire scene, which is hampered by clumpy grain and poor contrast. That said, the more brightly lit daytime sequences (and there are quite a few of them) look relatively good, with a stable and decently clear image, and an overall accurate palette (colors can be a tad anemic looking at times). While grain management continues to be a problem on this Scream release, generally speaking this has an organic look, if a soft and cross-hatched one at times. Those who suffered through previous home video presentations will probably think my score is overly rigorous. Those who have never seen the film before may feel my score is overly generous.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's not much to write home about (sorry) with regard to Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers' lossless 2.0 mono track, but it gets the job done in a purposeful if uninspiring way. The film has a few goofy sound effects accompanying the kills which are nicely rendered, and dialogue is also presented cleanly. There's no damage of any kind to cause concern, and while not a very ambitious sound design for a horror film, this mono offering doesn't present any issues to contend with.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Tale of Two Sequels - Part One (1080p; 28:06) is another typically well done Scream/Red Shirt Productions offering, with some excellent interviews and behind the scenes information. The piece starts with some fun quasi-VHS tracking problems.


• Abandoned - The Locations of Sleepaway Camp II and III (1080i; 15:28) is a fun tour of some of the places the films utilized for their location shoots.


• Behind the Scenes Footage (1080i; 13:21) is nice archival footage of shots being set up and the like.


• Home Video Trailer (1080i; 2:24)


• Short Film: Whatever Happened to Molly? (1080i; 00:50) finally answers the question of what happened after this film's freeze frame ending.


• Still Gallery (1080p; 7:07)


• Audio Commentary with Director Michael A. Simpson and Writer Fritz Gordon

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I personally prefer the more absolutely gonzo proclivities of Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, but this first sequel offers much of the same insouciant humor, along with the requisite full frontal nudity and ridiculously over the top kill scenes. Pamela Springsteen may not be the Boss (so to speak), but I'd never want to get on her bad side. Scream has assembled its typically worthwhile supplemental package. Technical merits are a bit questionable on the video side and fine on the audio side. Recommended.