Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland 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.

Both the original Sleepaway Camp and its comedic follow-up Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers evidently felt they had some “‘splainin’ to do,” taking at least a moment (as in the first film) or a bit longer (as in the second) to detail “reasons” behind the psychopathic tendencies of one Angela (Pamela Springsteen). Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland pretty much throws caution (and/or explication) to the wind, simply letting Pamela line up her victims and mow them down (literally, in one case). This tendency is on display from virtually the first moments of the film, when a young woman is chased by a garbage truck and ultimately dispatched, by Angela, of course. How did Angela know about this girl and her connection to the camp which will be this film’s focus? How did Angela get a garbage truck, for crying out loud? Anyone who is looking for cogent answers to questions like these had best keep looking, for Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland is content to simply offer up an ironically sunny and at times almost cheerful array of rather gruesome killings, with absolutely no time wasted on such trivialities as psychological underpinnings and motivation.

Angela has taken out that first victim in order to assume the victim’s identity at the rebranded Camp New Horizon, a sort of supposed sociological experiment put together by Herman (Michael J. Pollard) and Lily Miranda (Sandra Dorsey). (The fact that the camp owners are named Herman and Lily should tip at least Baby Boomers off that the character names in this film, like those in the second, are at times rather whimsically referential.) Herman and Lily have assembled a gaggle of kids from different socioeconomic strata, who will learn to “live together” at camp as part of a class blind society. Yeah, right. It turns out Herman and Lily aren’t exactly the Cleavers (so to speak), but even without the owners’ various peccadilloes intruding into the story, there’s plenty of conflict and tension on hand as various kids from radically different backgrounds settle in with each other.

Though it tries mightily to work in a throughline, even providing a connection between one character here and another, earlier victim of Angela’s, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland is even less dependent upon any perceived plot mechanics than its immediate predecessor. Once again, there’s simply a series of vignettes where Angela takes advantage of the camp splitting into smaller “focus” groups, visiting each of them one by one and simply paring down the population victim by victim. There’s actually an honest to goodness goal for Angela this time out, too, but even that’s unnecessary—this is one absurd killing spree that is all about the journey, not the destination.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Alert readers will notice I've scored both Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland and Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers with a 3.0, which is not to imply these two look identical, and in fact I'd probably up this to a 3.25 if I were able to. The element utilized here doesn't have the overly dupey look that was on display with Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, but ironically it has a bit more damage in the shape of scratches and negative and positive dirt than the other film. Colors are better saturated and more accurate looking overall here, and the grain field is slightly more kempt, resolving rather nicely in sunlit moments, less so in darker ones. There are still some very grainy moments in daylight scenes, though, including the opening scene with Angela's first victim. Clarity is a bit better on this outing than on II, helped by the fact that quite a bit of the film plays out in brightly lit, outdoor locations.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is a bit more boisterous than its immediate predecessor, offering good support for the film's wacky sound effects and not exactly Shakespearian dialogue. The film has some decent late eighties' rock as source cues, something that helps to establish a bit of sonic force along the way. Fidelity is fine and there are no problems of any kind to report.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Tale of Two Sequels - Part Two (1080p; 26:12) continues with the fine documentary begun on Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. Once again things begin with some fun retro VHS tracking issues.


• Behind the Scenes Footage (1080i; 8:28)


• Workprint of the Longer Cut (From VHS) (1080i; 1:24:48). If you want real VHS tracking problems, here's your ticket. That's a joke, but the quality of this cut leaves a bit to be desired. Eager fans can finally get a look at some of the gorier aspects of the film which were removed along the way, though.


• Deleted Scenes (1080i; 18:46) looks to have been sourced from the same older video elements that the longer cut was.


• Home Video Trailer (1080i; 2:38)


• Short Film: Tony Lives! (1080i; 1:10) is a faux interview with hapless Tony (Mark Oliver), now a middle aged man!


• Still Gallery (1080p; 4:12)


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

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Everything from how outré Michael J. Pollard is to how gleefully sanguine the campers react to yet another strange disappearance from among their ranks provides Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland with the requisite elements of cult classic status. I personally find this film a lot funnier than Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. Technical merits range from decent (video) to excellent (audio), but once again Scream has assembled a really impressive supplementary package, one that will no doubt make most ardent fans overlook any other shortcomings. Recommended.