WillSushyMedia
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Ella-May O'Brien
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
d_m_s
This film is pretty bad, in that it's a silly storyline that isn't played out very well. However, I found myself unable to turn it off and I can't fully explain why. Despite this, after having viewed it, it is still not worth more that 5/10.Some kids go to summer camp. A new 'leader' (or whatever they are called) starts and a kid reveals to one of the older kids that he abused him while out on a walk. For some reason, this leads to the older kid to starting a 'revolution' against the entire camp and all its camp leaders. It goes a bit Nazi-esque and I suppose that is the 'message' of this otherwise quite daft film. The plot is all over the place, there is no consistency in the characters and their actions, it's all a bit random, has some poor editing and the acting ranges wildly from decent to atrocious. A definite curiosity piece. I loved the theme music.
Coventry
Red alert! Based on the period of release (1987), the prototypic title (Summer Camp Nightmare) and the cover image of the old VHS (showing a hysterically screaming young blond wench), I was all prepared for the umpteenth routine slasher movie taking place at a remote teenage camping site. But then suddenly I noticed a couple of peculiar things in the opening credits… Written by Penelope Spheeris? Based upon the novel "The Butterfly Revolution" by William Butler? What the hell … could it be I picked up a profound coming-of-age allegory instead of a slasher? They can be really great, of course, but I so wasn't prepared for that. Well, the good news is that "Summer Camp Nightmare" is not a pretentious coming-of-age melodrama, or at least not primarily so, but it's definitely not a brainless teen slasher, neither. The film is kind of a mixture between "Battle Royale" (without the extreme violence), "Lord of the Flies" (minus the island setting) and "The Most Dangerous Game". Camp North Pines is a separate sexes summer resort that used to be extremely popular until this year's edition, now that the new managing director Mr. Warren implemented a series of drastic changes to cut back on funds. When the boys' section rebels against his new policy in a playful manner, he only gets more hateful. He cuts off their nudity television shows, interrupts the Free Podium contest and even cancels the dance where the boys and girls camp traditionally come together to copulate. Some of the toughest kids decide to take over control during the annual "reversed authority" game; the day when the campers become the leaders and vice versa. Their aura of superiority quickly runs out of hand and pretty soon their "revolution" sows abuse of power, corruption, indecency, kidnapping and even murder. It's fairly easy to see how this film got catapulted into 80's oblivion between all the contemporary teen slashers, high school gang wars and vigilante movies. Nevertheless this is a modest hidden gem and I urge more people to seek it out. "Summer Camp Nightmare" benefices from a tense build-up, detailed enough character drawings and a couple of sequences that keep you on the edge of your seat. The acting performances are more than adequate, most notably Chuck Connors as the grumpy camp director and Charles Stratton as the lead "guerilla" teenager Franklyn Reilly. His looks and obnoxious attitude even reminded me of Captain Rhodes in "Day of the Dead", and horror freaks know this is a big compliment!
cameraman_mike_2000
SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE (1987) **1/2 (out of 4*'s) DIRECTOR: Bert L. Dragin. Chuck Connors, Charles Stratton, Adam Carl, Melissa Brennan.Good story, about wild punks overthrowing the Summer Camp staff and taking over and starting their own revolution.More of a violent drama. Despite the misleading title, this is not a horror movie. Well acted, good character development, and does have some exciting moments.AKA: THE BUTTERFLY REVOLUTION.
Griff64
This movie is titled and packaged exactly like a slasher flick. It's not. Which begs the question what IS it exactly? Well, think "Animal Farm" meets "Lord of the Flies" at summer camp. It's a none-too-subtle play on the old Nietzschean quip that whoever battles monsters ought to take care they don't become monsters themselves. It's probably carrying things a bit far to call this flick (I cannot, with a straight face, refer to it as a "film;" this is a flick) a satire. Oh, I suppose there's a serious message in there somewhere about power and its abuses, but mostly it's just good, campy fun.
My personal favorite elements are Chuck "The Rifleman" Connors as the fascistic camp director who is quite clearly Ronald Reagan, and the camp talent show act ("The Horndogs") who perform a gleefully over the top lip synch of Fear's "Beef Baloney." A fun, fun rental.
