Gabe Reviews Horror

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #16- Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland (1989) Watch it here on Tubi! I know I already made a joke about Sleepaway Camp 2 being made without knowing what made Sleepaway Camp 1 good; the problem here is that Sleepaway Camp 3 makes Sleepaway Camp 2 look like Sleepaway Camp 1 by comparison. SC2 was horrible but at least there was ostensibly "a camp" and "a plot"- this time around, we don't even have those. Sleepaway Camp 3 begins with an inner-city girl named Maria getting dressed to go to summer camp, but as she walks down the street to wait for the bus, a garbage truck runs her over. Out steps Angela (with her hair made up to look like Maria's and somehow even wearing the exact same outfit) who hides the body and then takes her place. We are then introduced to the "summer camp"- a government-sponsored program has been set up for twelve kids (did I say kids? I meant grown adults) from across the country to get toge

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #15- Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988) Watch it here on Pluto.tv! When I wrote yesterday's review, my wife didn't react as positively as she usually does. When I pressed her further, she told me it wasn't as funny as my reviews usually are. So, I'm going to start this one off with a joke. Q: What do you call a sequel that completely forgot what made the previous entry good? A: Sleepaway Camp 2! [Cue laughter] Sleepaway Camp 2 picks up four (I think) years after Sleepaway Camp 1, with "campers" (played by 25-year-olds) telling campfire stories. One of them briefly summarizes the plot of the previous movie, and another adds on that after the previous movie ended, Angela was arrested, sent to a psychiatric facility, rehabilitated, and was forcibly given a gender reassignment surgery (adding on a complaint that "our tax dollars paid for it" which is both bizarre coming from what's ostensibly a minor, and also

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #14- Sleepaway Camp (1983) Watch it here on Tubi! Finally! A movie that's generally regarded as pretty good, and is relatively well-known. Sleepaway Camp is a definite cult classic that's become pretty popular in the last ten or fifteen years, largely because of the shocking twist at the end but also (in my opinion) because it actually does a pretty good job of setting up a mystery with compelling three-dimensional characters. Normally I would try not to give away the twist of this one (as I really think it's worth watching blind if it hasn't already been spoiled) but I'm also going to be covering two of the sequels, and the nature of the twist would be ruined with even a cursory glance at either of those reviews so it's probably best to go ahead and give away the ending to this one (in due time) just so I can meaningfully discuss it. So if you're at all interested in watching this movie, I highly recommend you go do it rig

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #13- Camp Slaughter/Camp Daze (2005) Watch it here on YouTube!  (Sorry the quality is so poor, but this is the best version I was able to find without ripping and uploading it myself) I don't know why this movie has two names- the copy I own is called Camp Slaughter, but many places online had it listed as Camp Daze; I used the Camp Daze poster in the image above because frankly, the DVD box art for my copy has nothing to do with the movie at all, it's just a picture of a (naked woman?) sitting with an axe in hand. Camp Slaughter has a very, very interesting premise and a lot of potential. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired and the final act of the movie raises a ton of questions that unravel the whole thing if you think about them too hard. I'm going to give a brief synopsis without any spoilers, and then get into spoilers after that. Normally when I think a movie is really bad I don't care too much about spoilers (and

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #12 - Under ConTroll (2019) Watch it here on Tubi! Under ConTroll is a very bizarre film, and I think it's important to view it both as a sequel to the phenomenon that was Troll 2, as well as just a movie on its own. Does it stand up as both? Does it stand up as either? Let's find out. This film begins in medieval times, where an evil troll/goblin/changeling (the movie uses those terms interchangeably) is trying to perform a ritual to kill a virgin and use their blood to gain power or open up a portal or something. The local wizard defeats the troll by stealing his magic book and turning him to stone, at which point we fast forward to the present day when the statue is unearthed and the spell broken and the troll takes the form of a local woman and enacts the plan to once again kill a virgin to yadda yadda yadda. The troll almost succeeds but is eventually defeated by a modern-day stage magician and the power of believing in oneself, and all

October 2024 Horror Origins Review #11 - Troll 2 (1990) Watch it on Tubi! Here we are, folks. The granddaddy of all "So Bad It's Good" movies. Marketed as a sequel to a movie it has no connection to whatsoever, called "Troll 2" despite no trolls being in the movie, with a poster that shows some kind of werewolf with an axe and a child that is not in the film. It's gathered a massive cult following over the years, becoming the subject of a documentary about its fandom (2009's Best Worst Movie) and eventually getting an official sequel nearly thirty years after release. Troll 2 is about a boy named Joshua Waits, who is about to go with his family to live out in the country for a month in a town called Nilbog, trading places with a farming family (like you do). However, Joshua's dead grandpa Seth has been visiting him from beyond the grave, warning that Nilbog is full of goblins who like to poison humans to turn them into half-men/half-plants (the gobli