Review #296: 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 when I think a movie is good, I often try to get through the synopsis without giving away any twists) but even though this movie is undeniably bad, I really think it's worth discussing the twists and I also want to give readers an opportunity to go watch it and come back if it sounds interesting. (Because, remember- you can go watch this movie right now if you want! And I recommend doing so!)
Camp Slaughter starts off with four friends driving to Boston (and their route takes them into Maine for some reason...) so that one of them can get an abortion. On the way there, they suddenly find themselves in a dark forest at night (despite it being day moments before) and their car is at a dead stop. Some violent act takes place outside of their car, and next thing they know, it's daytime again and the four friends are woken up by a group of camp counselors who have stumbled across their stopped car in the woods. The friends walk with them into Camp Hiawatha, where everyone is friendly, inviting, and looks like they stepped right out of the 80s- but that night, a series of grisly murders happen, with many campers and all of the counselors seemingly killed before them. But then, the day starts over, and the friends realize that this camp has been stuck in a loop repeating the same day since 1981. Will they be able to escape this time loop? And if given the chance, will they be able to stop these grisly murders? Watch the movie and find out!
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Intermission
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Did you go watch it? I hope so. If not, here's the rest of the plot. Be warned, spoilers from here on out.
Turns out, the counselors themselves ARE the killers- and they are conscious of the time loop. Moreover, they know that the only way they can escape it is to find four hapless fools to take their place, and today, the anniversary of the original killings, is the only day such a trade can happen. But what's this? That creepy groundskeeper- the one that was hinted as the killer earlier on- is ALSO aware of the time loop, but he's a good guy, trying to kill the evil counselors! So these two factions are in an endless war of killing each other (and killing campers) as the cycle of murder and retribution goes on.
First, let me get some technical things out of the way. I think the filmmakers must not have had access to an external microphone while shooting this movie, because NEARLY EVERY SHOT IN THE DAMN FILM is done in extreme close up on whomever is talking. A conversation will go back and forth between two people, with each shot having the speaker's face taking up 90% of the visible screen. No hairline, no neck, probably not even an ear- the camera will be four centimeters away from their nose the entire time, and the only explanation I can think of is that they needed to have the camera close enough to hear what the actors were saying. It should also be noted that most of the audio is fairly poor as well, with inconsistent room noise between different shots. The dialogue is also pretty bad, and the writer took great pains to hide the fact that the camp is living in the 1980s for as long as possible (usually by having characters go out of their way to explain not understanding some modern reference- like when someone asks where they can find a computer to go online, rather than having a counselor say, "What do you mean?" they instead say, "Oh, I love how you talk like a British person! You say 'on-line' when you're standing 'in line'!") and it leads to some very clunky dialogue.
Another thing I should get out of the way: this movie is very, very gay. I don't mean that in a bad way- in fact in previous viewings the blatant homoerotic undertones were a huge source of enjoyment in what could otherwise be a very frustrating movie experience- I just mean that every time any two men are on screen, it very much feels like they're considering what would happen if they just started making out. There's also multiple scenes of heterosexual couples getting intimate where it is VERY clear that the man has little to no interest in his female partner. Again, I don't mean this in a bad way, I'm just pointing out that it's very much an element that ends up on-screen. (I kind of wish it had been more overt, and/or turned into a plot point. Instead it just feels like something the filmmakers were afraid to go all-in with.)
Now, about the plot.
I think the time loop plot is VERY interesting, and had a TON of potential. I love the idea of characters stumbling across (and getting caught in) a time loop, and having to figure out how to escape and/or prevent some kind of tragedy (double points if preventing the tragedy is the key to escaping in the first place). However, the concept of a time loop gets very weird when many of the people involved are aware of the loop. I'm not clear on exactly who is aware of it- definitely the four killer counselors, as well as the killer groundskeeper- but are the campers aware? (I would assume not because otherwise that raises a TON of questions, but during the second loop the campers seemingly have been briefed on the incoming murders so I would definitely need to see how THAT conversation went.) But if the five killers are aware of each other, why do they play along every day? Why does the groundskeeper let the counselors boss him around- and why does he even do his job? Why doesn't he wake up, and charge straight into the office or kitchen or whichever cabin and kill these people he knows are about to murder the whole camp? It seems like if any of them were actually intending to stop any of the murders, it would be VERY easy to do so, not only because they explicitly know who is doing the killings, but also because in most cases they're standing by and watching it happen. But also, it's implied that the initial murders are what caused the time loop to begin in the first place (at the very least, we know the time loop started the night of the first murders), so why would they keep committing these murders every single day if they know that the time loop started right at the same time as the murders?
The script desperately needs a rewrite because this could have been so much better than it was. If I were rewriting this, I would establish that the time loop started first, with no apparent cause. Only certain people (the counselors) were aware of it, but that reason isn't clear either. And over time, with the days looping over and over, the counselors began to go insane, and started killing as the only way to pass the time. And the groundskeeper shouldn't have been there all along (he especially didn't need a tragic backstory like he got in this movie)- he should be someone else that got caught in the loop at a later time, much like JK Simmons in Palm Springs. And also like in Palm Springs, there needs to be some reason why he's not always there. Because otherwise, the story just doesn't make any sense.
Before I close out this review, though, let me heap some praise onto the way this plot is structured. It's not a masterpiece by any means, and I've already given plenty of reasons why the plot is kind of nonsense, but it's structured in a way that really keeps the viewer thinking they've figured it out, but then they find out they're wrong.
1. The opening scene of the movie is two campers getting killed while canoodling (or at least, while the girl is canoodling and the guy is disinterested). Once we cut to present day and the main characters eventually wake up in the camp, the immediate first thing we see in the camp itself is a bunch of campers playing in the field- with the two from the opening scene walking by front-and-center, as a subtle way to tell the viewer that something weird is going on time-wise.
2. We spend the entire first loop being shown (in gruesome detail) that the counselors are NOT the killers, as they themselves get killed (even in scenes that the main characters are not present for- these are purely to trick the audience).
3. Then the second loop starts with the counselors explaining the situation to the main characters (which, in retrospect, we can see was all an act- a calculated plot designed to manipulate them into taking the counselors' place) and setting up a climax where the counselors can spring their trap, kill their new replacements, and then escape.
4. But of course, at the last moment they meet the groundskeeper (who had been hinted at as a villain earlier on) who then tells them the truth and tries to help them escape.
The problem, though, is that this plot leaves a lot of loose threads that really felt like they were going somewhere, and never did. The whole plot was about one of the main characters getting an abortion (complete with a scene where she is given spiritual guidance on whether to keep the baby or not)- but this goes nowhere as she is unceremoniously killed right before escaping. Another main character keeps being hinted at having some kind of psychic ability (he has a prophetic dream in the theater, and then initiates a psychic vision of one of the camper's deaths from a previous loop) but this, also, goes nowhere as he's the first of the main characters to get killed. What this movie REALLY needed was a third loop- the main characters (who all died) come back to life, come to grips with the fact that they remember dying and this gives them renewed motivation to escape, and then they can use what they've learned about the evil counselors to avoid their traps and turn the manipulation back on them so the heroes can all escape and leave the villains in the dust. Because as it is, all of the main characters die except for the sassy loudmouth black friend, who spent the entire runtime being so annoying that every single viewer was hoping she would get killed. But she's the Final Girl!
Anyway, in conclusion, I really can't overstate how much potential I think this plot had. But it really, really got bungled and that's a real tragedy.
Overall Rating: 6/10 Disappearing Time Dogs
Nostalgic Rating: 8/10 Saddest Melted Chocolate Bars
Additional Viewing: If you want to see this plot done well, I've got a weird suggestion but hear me out: back in 1994, there was a TV series based on the Disney movie Aladdin. One of the episodes was titled "The Sands of Fate", and it involved Aladdin & Co. travelling through the desert and happening upon a fight between a caravan and a group of thieves- but shockingly, after the fight ends, time seems to loop on itself and the encounter happens again and again. Aladdin and his buddies try to get involved to stop the fight, but something goes wrong, and some of them get caught up in the time loop, taking on roles on either side of the conflict- it ends up resolving itself in a way that's much more satisfying than what we got in Camp Slaughter.
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