Summer Camp + Lake + Masked Killer...Seems Familiar... "Spirit Camp"

Spirit Camp (2009)

Rated R

Starring Roxy Vandiver, Julin, Katy Rowe, Kerry Beyer

Written and Directed by Kerry Beyer

The Story:

Nikki (Vandiver) is forced by her parole officer to go to a Spirit Camp with other cheerleaders who want to excel at cheerleading. Nikki has no desire to be there, and the other girls don't want her there either.  Then, one by one, cheerleaders start meeting their grisly ends as a killer runs loose in the woods, just like he had done years earlier.

Kerry Beyer's love letter to 80s horror films would fit alongside any 80s horror franchise nearly seamlessly.

There are red herrings, misdirection, and buxom cheerleaders getting picked off one by one.

I've said it before, but my only real complaint with horror movies is when the killer doesn't have any real motive or backstory.

Sadly, I feel that is once again the case with this film.

I knew who the killer was pretty early on, though the first kill made it seem completely impossible, so that throws logic out the window at the end of the film.

That complaint aside, the movie was pretty fun and totally watchable.

Which is always a good thing, as far as slasher flicks go.

And yes, thankfully, as it is an ode to 80s films, the killings are not graphic gross-outs that took over the horror genre with the likes of Saw and similar films.

I want a kill, not an in-depth autopsy.

> :  p

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade: C+ 

Need A Holiday From Lame Sequels? Then You Might Want to Skip "Lake Placid: The Final Chapter"

Hands up everyone that believes this is truly the Final Chapter?

The Story:

The sequel that nobody demanded, from the franchise that never should have been a franchise, continues with killer crocs of ginormous size running amok and eating people.  This time, all of the crocs are killed, and the local area is saved.

Right.

The more sequels to this franchise that comes out, the more the original Lake Placid looks like the Citizen Kane of giant crocodiles that eat people movies.

:)

That said, if you're going to watch any of the sequels, this is one of the better ones to endure.  Way better than the 2nd, not quite the cheese factor of Hasselhoff in the 3rd, but this one is tolerable enough. 

Robert Englund makes a glorified cameo as an evil poacher, but even he can't raise this one into pure camp or awesomeness.  It simply exists to cash in on whatever goodwill the fans have for this franchise.

The stilted movement of the fake CGI crocodile is mostly dreadful.  I'm not sure if it's low budget films that can't get movement down, but it's just sad.

Hopefully the studio will take their own advice, and let the franchise truly end.

If they stick with the Friday the 13th style of naming their sequels, then we know we are in for at least 5 more... : /

Final Grade: C- --- I'm trying to be nice guys...

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, makes me long to see the original though. :)