Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers
| Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael A. Simpson |
| Written by |
Fritz Gordon Robert Hiltzik (characters) |
| Starring |
Pamela Springsteen Renée Estevez Susan Marie Snyder Valerie Hartman Tony Higgins Brian Patrick Clarke Walter Gotell |
| Music by | James Oliverio |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $465,000 |
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (also known as Nightmare Vacation II) is a 1988 American slasher film and a sequel to the movie Sleepaway Camp, written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It stars Pamela Springsteen, Renée Estevez, and Tony Higgins. The film takes place several years after the original film, and features transgender former camper and killer Angela targeting misbehaving teenagers at a summer camp.
Unlike the original Sleepaway Camp, which featured a serious tone, Sleepaway Camp II blends elements of black comedy, and satirizes various horror films.
Plot
In 1988, 5 years after the events of the first film, T.C., the head counselor at Camp Rolling Hills, is at a campfire with male campers Sean, Rob, Anthony, Judd, Charlie, and Emilio. A girl, Phoebe, is there too, having snuck away from her cabin to be with the boys. As Phoebe tells the story about the killings of the previous film at Camp Arawak, her head counselor Angela, appears and forces her to go back to the cabin.
After the pair get into an argument, Phoebe becomes lost, only to be attacked by Angela who hits her over the head with a log before cutting her tongue out. The next day, the campers in Phoebe's cabin, Molly, Ally, Mare, Demi, Lea, and twins Brooke and Jodi, question Angela on the whereabouts of Phoebe, however she tells them she had to be sent home due to bad behavior.
At breakfast, the camp director, Uncle John, gives Angela "the Counselor of the Week Award." Afterwards, Angela discovers Brooke and Jodi smoking marijuana and drinking, and knocks them unconscious. Later, Brooke awakens on a hot grill only to see the skeleton of her already cremated sister. Angela then pours gasoline over Brooke and burns her to death. Meanwhile, Molly and Sean start a relationship, despite Ally's attempts to seduce Sean. That night, the boys start a panty raid in the girl's cabin until Angela comes in, throwing them out.
Later, the girls raid the boys cabin. T.C. allows the fun but Angela appears and witnesses Mare flashing her breasts. Mare decides she wants to leave the camp, so she gets Angela to drive her. While traveling, Angela gives Mare one last chance to apologize, when she refuses to do so Angela murders her with an electric drill. The following day, Angela discovers Charlie and Emilio looking at naked pictures of various campers they had taken in secret.
That night the girls go camping, giving Anthony and Judd a chance to scare Angela, dressed as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. The plan backfires when Angela, dressed as Leatherface, slashes Anthony's throat with a clawed glove and murders Judd with a chainsaw. After finding out Ally has snuck off to have sex with Rob, Angela plans to murder the pair but fails. The next day Angela sets a trap for Ally by leaving her a fake note from Sean. Ally goes to meet Sean but instead meets Angela, who stabs Ally in the back before forcing her down the outhouse toilet hole, drowning her in feces and leeches. That night, Demi reveals to Angela that she phoned the families of the girls who had been "sent home" by Angela, only to discover the girls aren't at home. Realizing she could be caught, Angela strangles Demi with a guitar string, before stabbing Lea when she finds Demi's body.
The next day, Uncle John and T.C. fire Angela for not telling Uncle John about sending the many campers home. Feeling bad at seeing how upset Angela is, Molly and Sean go into the woods to cheer her up but the pair discover the bodies of the other campers in an abandoned cabin, before Angela finds them and ties them up and gags them. Back at camp, Rob tells T.C the whereabouts of Molly and Sean, prompting T.C. to go off to fetch them. He enters the cabin, only for Angela to throw battery acid in his face, killing him.
Sean realizes Angela is Peter Baker/Angela Baker, the murderer from the previous movie. Angela reveals that after 2 years of electroshock therapy and a sex change, she was released after the doctors gave her glowing reports on her 'recovery.' She then proceeds to decapitate Sean. Angela leaves the cabin, allowing Molly to free herself and upon Angela returning, knock her out and escape. Angela chases Molly through the woods, who suddenly falls off a rock into a short drop and is presumed dead.
Later that night, camp counselor Diane, discovers the dead bodies of Charlie, Emilio, Uncle John and Rob, before she is stabbed to death by Angela. Meanwhile, Molly regains consciousness and begins to make her way out of the forest. Angela hitchhikes with a truck driver, who quickly annoys her, making Angela stab her to death. As Molly makes it out of the woods, she finds the truck but is horrified to find that Angela is the driver. The movie ends with Molly screaming and her fate is left unknown.
Cast
- Pamela Springsteen as Angela Johnson / Angela Baker
- Renée Estevez as Molly Nagle
- Tony Higgins as Sean Whitmore (credited as Anthony Higgins)
- Valerie Hartman as Ally Burgess
- Brian Patrick Clarke as T.C.
- Walter Gotell as Uncle John
- Susan Marie Snyder as Mare
- Terry Hobbs as Rob Darrinco
- Kendall Bean as Demi
- Julie Murphy as Lea
- Carol Chambers as Brooke Shote
- Amy Fields as Jodi Shote
- Benji Wilhoite as Anthony
- Walter Franks III as Judd
- Justin Nowell as Charlie
- Heather Binion as Phoebe
- Jason Ehrlich as Emilio
- Carol Martin Vines as Diane
- Tricia Grant as Girl Sent Home
- Jill Jane Clements as Woman in Truck
Production
A YMCA youth camp in Waco, Georgia was used for the fictional Camp Rolling Hills.[1] Filming began and wrapped in 1987.
Releases
Like Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp II was released theatrically on a limited basis. It was released in theaters on August 26, 1988 before being released on VHS in the United States by Nelson Entertainment two months later.[2]
The film has been released twice on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The first release was in 2002 with a single DVD edition,[3] as well as in the Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit.[4] Both these releases are currently out of print.
Anchor Bay Entertainment also released this movie on DVD in the United Kingdom on the 31 May 2004,[5] whilst Futuristic Entertainment released it on VHS in the nineties under the alternate title "Nightmare Vacation 2";[6] also release on DVD via 23rd Century Home Entertainment.
Scream Factory, under license from MGM, released Sleepaway Camp II and its sequel, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, for the first time on Blu-ray disc on June 9, 2015.[7]
References
- ↑ "A Tale of Two Sequels" Documentary. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, Blu-ray. Scream Factory. 2015.
- ↑ "Company Credits for Sleepaway Camp II". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ↑ "Sleepaway Camp II (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ↑ "Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ↑ "Sleepaway Camp 2 (UK DVD)".
- ↑ "Nightmare Vacation 2".
- ↑ Scream Factory Unveils Sleepaway Camp 2 and Sleepaway Camp 3 Artwork