Sleepaway Camp II & III are sort of like Superman 1 & 2, in that they were pretty much done at the same time. As soon as part 2 was finished, the crew went into part 3.
It’s been a year since Angela had her run at Camp Rolling Hills, and the yurn to head into the great outdoors is a call too strong to ignore. So, she runs over a young girl on her way to camp with a garbage truck and assumes her place with a terrible wig. That single sentence may be the greatest description of a plot ever. From there on she becomes part of a social experiment of sorts, as we have a bunch of rich & poor kids mingled together out in the wilderness. As usual, people fall short of Angela’s strict moral code and have to pay.
A lot of the effects are cut short here, because as the 80’s wore on, the MPAA was on a real tear and censoring all horror movies to the point of them being TV friendly. Even still, this has one of the most brutal kills ever, as Angela places a person in a hole, neck deep, and proceeds to run over her head with a lawn-mower. Cripes.
In the end, Pamela Springsteen is still as great as ever, but this film does lack a lot of the magic from the first two. It’s still a decent entry, just not as great as it’s predecessors. I will say that it’s absolutely head & shoulders above Return to Sleepaway Camp, which is without a doubt one of the worst movies ever made.
Video: Just as part two, this comes in 1080p high-def widescreen (1.78:1), and looks just as great. They really did a fantastic job of making these releases shine.
Audio: The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono is perfect, with zero complaints.
Audio Commentary w/ Michael A. Simpson [Director] and Fritz Gordon [Writer]: Just as good as they were on part 2as they treat the film and the fans who listen to this with respect.
A Tale Of Two Sequels – Part Two: There are a ton of interviews here, including the Director Michael A. Simpson, actors Mark Oliver and Kim Wall, as well as the Cinematographer Bill Mills. I like this one more than the one about part II, because they get in depth about the problems with the MPAA at the time, who weren’t happy with a portion of the kills, including, obviously, the lawnmower death.
Behind The Scenes Footage With Director Michael A. Simpson:
This follows the opening portion with the garbage truck.
Workprint Of The Longer Cut: You would have to be the superfan of superfans to watch this. The quality is horrendous. It looks like someone shot this with a broken 16MM camera, then played it on a wall, recorded that with a VHS, blew up the VHS tape, and then uploaded it to YouTube. We get more scenes of gore, but with missing dialogue, sound effects, and music, it’s not worth it. I’m happy they included this for the sake of offering all things available, but yikes, the quality terrible.
Deleted Gore Scenes: This simply takes all the extra gore shots that were cut from the workprint and presents them, but still in their God-awful quality.
Tony Lives: This is a quick film of Tony from the movie as he’s repeatedly asked questions.
Still Gallery
Home Video Promo Trailer
Over-All: If you’re a Sleepaway Camp fan, then this is an absolute no brainer. Scream/Shout! Factory went out of their way here to present you with everything you could possibly ever want in regards to these films. As I said previously, horror fans are not considered in high-regard by major studios, so it’s insanely refreshing to see a place stick up for us and give us quality releases of the films we’ve all grown up loving. If you’ve never seen these films before but dig 80’s horror, then I have zero qualms with telling you to save the rental and simply buy these right away. Both movies are a lot of fun, and the supplements are seemingly endless. A damn fine job.
