I've got a crapload of DTV reviews coming out within the next week or so. I don't know why, maybe because it's near Halloween, that companies shit out all these movies around this time. So I watched two this week, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead and Return to Sleepaway Camp. I had hopes (not high hopes) for both, as I enjoyed the first Joy Ride and loved, loved, LOVED, the original Sleepaway Camp, but like with most DTV affairs, I was quite let down.
Return to Sleepaway Camp
The first Sleepaway Camp was created obviously to milk off the success of other slasher flicks at the time, notably Friday the 13th. It was a complete low-rent production, complete with bad acting and bad dialogue. The saving grace in the movie came at the ending. Anyone who's seen this movie could not possibly forget the ending, it's one of those things you just can't unsee. However, if you need a reminder or a spoiler...
[Inviso-Text Spoilers (highlite with your mouse): The main character, Angela turned out to be the mystery killer... and turned out to be a boy!!! At the end, she does a full frontal on screen, with penis fully exposed. She had a knife in one hand, a boy's decapitated head on another, a body by her feet, with shock/crazy music in the background. I couldn't stop saying 'holy shit' when it happened. It was crazy. End Spoiler.]
Although there were a few sequels after the original, Return to Sleepaway Camp was treated as a direct sequel to the first movie. Interestingly enough, after 25 years, the original director returned to take the helm.
In short, the movie was about a boy named Alan who was spending his summer at a camp. He was constantly picked on by his fellow campers which led to a series of grisly murders... only we don't know for sure if Alan was the culprit. Basically, the movie is an hour and half of watching this kid getting picked on, while a few camp counselors wonder if it could be the homicidal maniac, Angela, from the first movie.
Man, this movie sucked. The acting was horrendous, the script was bad, the plot was awful, the kills sucked... this movie had nothing going for it. The main character Alan though he was picked on all the time, was totally unsympathetic. He was quite an asshole, so it basically justified all the mistreatment. Another thing that was annoying was that there were a whole bunch of characters that would just randomly disappear through out the movie. They were never killed, nor were they ever hinted at being killed (even if offscreen), so there's no resolution to a whole lot of them. Even the one girl who feels sorry for him, and it's hinted that she may be the murderer, disappears herself. I mean, she seems like an important character, in that she appears to be Alan's only friend.
There were only two things that stood out in this movie: 1. when Alan called the head camp counselor a "Big Pussy" (he was played by Vincent Pastore... aka. 'Big Pussy' Salvatore from The Sopranos), 2. the chef was played by Issac Hayes (aka. Chef from South Park). This was clearly aimed towards us geeks. There ends the good points.
Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
There were zero redeeming factors in this movie.
The premise was similar to the first movie. A trucker named Rusty Nails stalks a bunch of young adults as they had "borrowed" his car without permission. I guess he was angry about that. He attempts to pluck them off one by one as well as any innocent bystanders in the way. I heard being a trucker is hard work, and I suppose it could make you into a looney killer.
The original Joy Ride was good because it played more like a suspense-thriller and it really had your heart pumping. Two of the characters, Steve Zahn's and Leelee Sobieski's were quite sympathetic too, so we could feel for them. For its DTV sequel, they hired a bunch of Z-list no-namers, with acting skills of what you'd expect from a DTV movie. For this sequel they leaned more towards the horror end of things, with a few gory kills, but not many. Unlike the first movie, there just isn't that same sense of dread or suspense. Plus all the characters are pretty much douche-bags so we couldn't care less whether they lived or died.
There was obviously a disconnect between the director and the material. There was one dude who outright said, if you'd like to use labels, you can call me an emo-punk. This guy was in no way "emo", but perhaps he was because he had 2 lip piercings and he mentioned Myspace. Apparently, that makes you "emo". Now, I've been to dozens and dozens of emo concerts, and I've never seen a dude like that. The only label I'd throw on this guy would be the Douche label, yes, with a capital D.
Fortunately for JR2, they are backed by 20th Century Fox, so no doubt we'll hear about this movie, and in fact I've seen the commercial for it numerous times on TV this week. But it's just sad to see another studio produced piece of shit. I mean, I'm sure there are hundreds of young movie makers out there with far more talent who would jump at the opportunity for a few million bucks to make a movie... And I'm sure it'd be more decent.
Conclusion
Don't watch these movies. Later geeks!
Return to Sleepaway Camp
The first Sleepaway Camp was created obviously to milk off the success of other slasher flicks at the time, notably Friday the 13th. It was a complete low-rent production, complete with bad acting and bad dialogue. The saving grace in the movie came at the ending. Anyone who's seen this movie could not possibly forget the ending, it's one of those things you just can't unsee. However, if you need a reminder or a spoiler...[Inviso-Text Spoilers (highlite with your mouse): The main character, Angela turned out to be the mystery killer... and turned out to be a boy!!! At the end, she does a full frontal on screen, with penis fully exposed. She had a knife in one hand, a boy's decapitated head on another, a body by her feet, with shock/crazy music in the background. I couldn't stop saying 'holy shit' when it happened. It was crazy. End Spoiler.]
Although there were a few sequels after the original, Return to Sleepaway Camp was treated as a direct sequel to the first movie. Interestingly enough, after 25 years, the original director returned to take the helm.
In short, the movie was about a boy named Alan who was spending his summer at a camp. He was constantly picked on by his fellow campers which led to a series of grisly murders... only we don't know for sure if Alan was the culprit. Basically, the movie is an hour and half of watching this kid getting picked on, while a few camp counselors wonder if it could be the homicidal maniac, Angela, from the first movie.
Man, this movie sucked. The acting was horrendous, the script was bad, the plot was awful, the kills sucked... this movie had nothing going for it. The main character Alan though he was picked on all the time, was totally unsympathetic. He was quite an asshole, so it basically justified all the mistreatment. Another thing that was annoying was that there were a whole bunch of characters that would just randomly disappear through out the movie. They were never killed, nor were they ever hinted at being killed (even if offscreen), so there's no resolution to a whole lot of them. Even the one girl who feels sorry for him, and it's hinted that she may be the murderer, disappears herself. I mean, she seems like an important character, in that she appears to be Alan's only friend.
There were only two things that stood out in this movie: 1. when Alan called the head camp counselor a "Big Pussy" (he was played by Vincent Pastore... aka. 'Big Pussy' Salvatore from The Sopranos), 2. the chef was played by Issac Hayes (aka. Chef from South Park). This was clearly aimed towards us geeks. There ends the good points.
Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
There were zero redeeming factors in this movie.
The premise was similar to the first movie. A trucker named Rusty Nails stalks a bunch of young adults as they had "borrowed" his car without permission. I guess he was angry about that. He attempts to pluck them off one by one as well as any innocent bystanders in the way. I heard being a trucker is hard work, and I suppose it could make you into a looney killer.
The original Joy Ride was good because it played more like a suspense-thriller and it really had your heart pumping. Two of the characters, Steve Zahn's and Leelee Sobieski's were quite sympathetic too, so we could feel for them. For its DTV sequel, they hired a bunch of Z-list no-namers, with acting skills of what you'd expect from a DTV movie. For this sequel they leaned more towards the horror end of things, with a few gory kills, but not many. Unlike the first movie, there just isn't that same sense of dread or suspense. Plus all the characters are pretty much douche-bags so we couldn't care less whether they lived or died.
There was obviously a disconnect between the director and the material. There was one dude who outright said, if you'd like to use labels, you can call me an emo-punk. This guy was in no way "emo", but perhaps he was because he had 2 lip piercings and he mentioned Myspace. Apparently, that makes you "emo". Now, I've been to dozens and dozens of emo concerts, and I've never seen a dude like that. The only label I'd throw on this guy would be the Douche label, yes, with a capital D.
Fortunately for JR2, they are backed by 20th Century Fox, so no doubt we'll hear about this movie, and in fact I've seen the commercial for it numerous times on TV this week. But it's just sad to see another studio produced piece of shit. I mean, I'm sure there are hundreds of young movie makers out there with far more talent who would jump at the opportunity for a few million bucks to make a movie... And I'm sure it'd be more decent.
Conclusion
Don't watch these movies. Later geeks!
Comments
Anyways, Happy late Thanksgiving.
As an aside, have you noticed how many profile views I have now? That's pretty crazy :P.
Yes they did, don't watch it!
@Laundry:
Happy Late Thanksgiving to you too! No, I haven't noticed the many views, congrats tho!