Horror Watch: Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Watched:  10/02/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Hiltzik

So, all I knew about Sleepaway Camp (1983) was this image:

And that 43 years later, it seems like this movie still has an enthusiastic cult following.  

I also saw it was part of Prime, so... why not?

Well, probably good taste and better judgement, but this is The Signal Watch, and we're in short supply on both.  

In some ways, it was kind of fun seeing a movie this unpolished from 1983, as it's about when I really remember noticing what people were wearing and this is what teens looked like when I was 8 or so.  Fashion changed *fast* through the 1980's.

Kudos to the screenwriters for coming up with a pretty solid twist that, once you put the pieces together, really does work better than the movie has made you think it will.  And if you're me, you're pretty surprised there was a twist at all.  

But, let's be honest, the second Aunt Martha walks on screen in this movie, we know *something is up*.  Kudos to the late Desiree Gould for having her own very oddball camp movie going on in a movie about summer camp.

Angela is a quiet girl who saw her father and brother killed in front of her in a boating accident.  She went to live with her aunt and cousin, and is sent to a summer camp with the cousin.  

Camp is pitched as a sort of post-Meatballs romp with horny teens, foul language, and what looks like not much to do.  Angela seems catatonic when she arrives, but eventually warms up a bit when a boy camper hits on her.  

Oh, and the head chef and a camper die under mysterious circumstances that maybe are accidents - only we saw the killer at work through their Jason-like POV.  

Yeah, one by one, people get picked off after being generally bad but Mel, our camp manager, is not calling it for the summer no matter how many campers get killed. 

SPOILERS

I will point out, the *very first* kill will both feel justified and likely not make its way into the movie now as our mysterious murderer is a pedophile working in a kids' summer camp.  

But the movie also dispatches guys who are kind of bullies/ teen-agers with the same gusto.

They attempt to push one other suspect on the story as a red-herring, but ain't no one buying it's Cousin Ricky.

Maybe the oddest bit in a very odd movie is Judy, also around 14, seems pre-occupied with our Angela.  Like... why?  We get that she wants *all* the attention from boys, but mostly Angela seems like a bump on a log.  I mean, it's hilarious she's such a b, but the movie really leans into it.  And I appreciate a solid early-80's side-ponytail.

Of course the big thing is the "oh, Angela is a boy" surprise at the end that is handled with all the grace one expects from a low-budget 80's slasher.  But also - I don't really recall anyone thinking transgender folks were dangerous in the 1980's.  But between this movie and Dressed to Kill (which is a pretty solid DePalma joint), apparently we at least thought it was a sign of madness.  I mostly remember by the time I thought about the topic in college, being worried some people were going to get beat up for no reason, but that's just me.

What's indelible is that final imagery of Angela (see the image above) and that Angela wide shot where she's standing naked and is very much physically a boy.  Like, it packs a punch.  But also has a very "oh, thaaaaaaat explains it" vibe the movie is selling that I guess I just have to live with.

Apparently that wide shot was a local college kid they paid and got drunk enough to do it, wearing an Angela mask they'd made complete with glass eyes.  Every once in a while you could see where the money went for this movie, and it was dumped into a few practical FX.

The real Angela was played  by a 13-year-old Felissa Rose who grew up to be in something like 200 horror movies and appeared in maybe 10 movies in just 2026.  Respect.  She also does horror cons aplenty, and is...  not funny looking.

Was the movie scary?  Not remotely, but it does have some thrills.  Was it entertaining?  I may find the gender-bending premise of Angela's madness horrendously insensitive, but it's a surprisingly well-plotted twist.  And, moreover, the movie is subtly weird, and that's better than scary in my book.