Arrow in the Head reviews "Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland"

Sleepaway Camp 3 (1988)

Buy this DVD

Buy Horror Posters

Buy Horror Merchandise

Buy Arrow Merchandise


Directed by:	Michael A. Simpson
Starring:	Pamela Springsteen/Angela
	Tracy Griffith/Marcia
	Michael J. Pollard/Herma
	Mark Oliver/Tony

RATING

PLOT-CRUNCH:

Angela (Springsteen) is back and she’s still looking for some of that happy slashing. When she steals a camper’s identity early on, she is slapped right back where she belongs: camp! Her fellow campers are made up of rich snots and street kids but Angela makes sure that they all have one thing in common: they're all gonna die! Let the body count rise!

THE LOWDOWN:

"Sleepaway Camp" was a dark little film with a twisted and ballsy ending. "Sleepaway Camp 2" was a gore/joke fest that didn’t quit and this third entry follows Part 2’s lead with a bit less gusto in its panties.

On the bright side, the film starts off fast and Angela doesn’t waste any time killing off the mooks that infest these camp grounds. Actually, that’s the first thing we see the whacked out dame do…kill someone. Once the characters are established, it’s basically: kill...then a one liner, kill...then a one liner. Sure, it does get a bit redundant, but it's still kind of fun to witness. Personally, the funny Angela (Springsteen) made sure my silly ass was entertained most of the time with her snappy delivery, her fly rap song (go girl) and her stick-whacking fetish. The frequent tit shots, the hit and miss jokes (spot the Friday The 13th in-joke), the competent actors (yeah, you heard me) and all the 80’s kitsch in the house also helped make this sequel an easy watch.

On the downside, the film's plot is thin, the happenings are mostly shot in the daytime (boring...) and it all felt somewhat flat at times (except for all those tits bouncing up and down). The party magic that Part 2 emanated is just not in this crib and that made this sequel feel like Part 2's inferior bitch. Most of my favorite elements were also dispatched of too fast or didn’t happen: the hottie with the golden breasts (Stacy Lambert) for example, was killed off way too early...a DAMN SHAME! While the annoying Michael J. Pollard should've bought the farm quicker, but wound up being in the film long enough to chew on a tit in his sex scene. Now that was gross! And last but not least, the drop dead sexy reporter didn't have a lesbian scene or a tit flash? COME ON! If you're going to hire a hot broad like that in a film of this nature (exploitive), just cough up that extra 5 bucks and have her show the goods! Work with me here!

Overall, it's all on paper: the silly clothes (Tony’s gang banger get-up is too funny), the camp games that turn messy (fun), the bad dialogue, the lousy boom box rap and the dime store gore. But the flick can't help but pale in comparison to its predecessor which showcased pretty much the same ingredients, but delivered them with way more spice and enthusiasm. This one kind of feels like connect-the-bloody-dots. Is the Camp closing?

ACTING:

Pamela Springsteen (Angela) is still a delight, but she doesn’t have the same level of spark that she did in Part 2. I guess filming both films back to back must of tired her. She's still a hoot to watch though. Tracy Griffith (Marcia) spreads the charm and does fine. Michael J. Pollard (Herma) plays yet another kooky character and annoyed me somewhat. Mark Oliver’s (Tony) good acting is almost surpassed by that glorious 80’s hairdo. Wow! Cliff Brand (Barney) is rock solid as the bitter dad…I bought it. SPECIAL MENTION: Kyle Holman (Snowboy) cracked me up and reminded me of one of my boyz. Stacy Lambert also really impressed me; see why in the T&A section.

GORE:

Pamela spreads the love. Death by lawnmower, death by flagpole (?!?), beheadings, stabbings and lots of stick whacking. The kills are not as kool as the ones in Part 2, but they still deliver in a cheap splash ketchup way.

T & A:

Who wants tits? I do, I do! You got your Asian tits (the only good thing Jill Terashita/Arab is good for), you got your small tits (Kim Wall/Cindy), you even get your flat ass tits (Rashina Kessler/Maria). But the big surprise in the chest department is, without a doubt, Stacy Lambert (Jan) who reveals her talents in all their non-implanted glory. Seeing a pair of real big beautiful round melons was a breath of fresh air…thanks Stace. It’s a boyz night tonight!

DIRECTING:

The film has a few nice shots and the pacing is good, but why did the director have to film most of the horror scenes in the day? It softened their impact (he did the same thing in Part 2) He does display some witty moments though (cutting the zipper of the tent going up while Pollard’s zipper goes down) but a little suspense or atmosphere would have been nice. Much like Part 2, the directing gets the job done and that's pretty much as far as it goes.

SOUNDTRACK:

A groovy rock/heavy metal headbanger soundtrack. Take out your bandanas, guys!

DVD FEATURES:

Distributor: Anchor Bay

IMAGE: The widescreen (1.85:1), anamorphically enhanced image is pretty sharp, the colors are solid but the occasional specs do pop out.

SOUND: The Dolby Digital Mono sound is okay, but I found it to be too low at times.

EXTRAS:

Audio Commentary (full length): Webmaster John Klyza hosts this commentary with director Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon. The commentary itself is light, humorous, filled with trivia and offers us kool behind the scenes quips, but again, much like the commentary on the Part 2 DVD, I could've done without Klyza's useless insight.

Behind the scenes footage and outtakes (~ 8 minutes): We get 8 minutes of behind the scenes/on-set/rehearsal stuff narrated by director Michael Simpson who gives us insight and trivia on what's going down on the screen. A groovy look back at the experience they had on set.

Deleted scenes from Director's Cut featuring additional gore footage (~ 18 minutes): These scenes are played out with the original live take audio and display all of the gore in the kill scenes that the evil MPAA had removed (for the flick to get the R). Nice to see all this red slush back in! A slick extra!

We also get the film's Trailer and a Stills Gallery. The DVD also has a kickass Animated Menu. Loved the axe!

SLEEPAWAY CAMP 4: THE SURVIVOR EXTRA DISK

The SLEEPAWAY CAMP SURVIVAL KIT BOX SET comes with an EXTRA DISC on which we discover the trailer and footage of the ultimately aborted Sleepaway Camp: 4 The Survivor (1992).

Trailer (~ 3 minutes): Wow, what a shitty trailer! Did somebody actually give out money for this to be born? Here, we see a montage of clips stolen from the other SC films with new footage inserted in there of some gal (with big tits) running away from some rapist Ranger and some Elmer Fudd-like hunter. It didn’t make much sense to me, but the various bobbling tit action kept me watching.

Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor (~ 33 minutes): Here we get endless footage of the abandoned "Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor" shoot. After watching these takes I can now understand why it was dropped. Man, that looked like one bad movie in the making! It's all about a tacky Ranger chasing some big breasted chick in the woods with some hunter eventually getting into the mix. Although I thought the footage was awful and didn’t really see the connection with the other Sleepaway Camp movies (was this one going to be a stand alone?), I still enjoyed watching this from a curiosity standpoint. Nice to see what “could’ve” happened. Lucky for us, this crappy looking flick never came to life. NOTE: Is it me or does that chick running really have an AWESOME rack? DAMN!

BOTTOM LINE:

If you're keen on Pamela Springsteen, if you’re a hetero male and if you enjoyed Part 2...you’ll find some things to dig on here. This is a campy, playful, gory flick that doesn’t pretend to be anything else but what it is. It’s not as energetic, creative or witty as Part 2, but it still delivers some cheap good times. Slap a couple of beers in your belly while watching it, get some oral service afterwards to top it off and the film’s rating can be boosted to 2 1/2. Your call.

BULL'S EYE:

NOTE: The big-breasted chick on the box cover is nowhere to be found in the movie.

Most of the characters in the film are named after characters from West Side Story and The Brady Bunch.

Pamela Springsteen is Bruce Springsteen’s sister.

Read the Arrow's review of the Sleepaway Camp DVD Survival Kit here

Discuss this movie on the Arrow's HORROR BOARD