‘Camp Death III in 2D’ Review
Stars: Dave Peniuk, Angela Galanopoulos, Darren Andrichuk, Emma Docker, Chris Allen, Starlise Waschuk, Terry Mullett, Cynthia Chalmers, Gerald Varga, Hans Potter, Katherine Alpen, Jason Asuncion, Andrea Bang, Stephanie Bally, Léonie Armstrong | Written and Directed by Matt Frame
Apparently shot on a budget of $35,000CDN, Camp Death III in 2D is – at first glance – a terrible, low-budget pile of cinematic crud featuring some of the worst acting ever committed to celluloid. That is until you realise instead that the film in fact both a loving tribute to, and an over-the-top Troma-esque parody of, the slasher movie: in particular the Friday the 13th franchise. A parody that takes the idea of parodies to the [il]logical extreme!
Undoubtedly inspired by the outrageous cinematic stylings of Troma, Camp Death III in 2D follows a group of camp counselors and troubled youths, composed entirely of excruciating social stereotypes and slasher movie tropes, who are all attending Camp Crystal Meph – a former camp cursed by the story of killer Johann Van Damme – given a new life as rehab center for mentally ill adults. However, like all good stereotypical slasher films an unseen evil begins to murder campers and staff alike. Has Johann risen from the grave or is this the work of a copycat? And just how ridiculous can the deaths in this film get?
Honestly, I have a soft spot for horror movie spoofs: films like Scary Movie, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th and the about-to-be-released on Blu-ray, early-80s slasher parody Student Bodies, a film that shares a LOT in common with Camp Death III in 2D... Namely a total love for the very genre it takes the mickey out of!
Like the parodies that have come before it, Camp Death III in 2D features a plot that sticks to every cliche and stereotype in the slasher movie handbook. So much so that, at first, you’ll be wondering if what you’re watching is a legitimately awful attempt to film a slasher movie, only on a budget of about 20p. Then you realise, thanks to ridiculous over-egging by the cast and the tremedously brilliant, yet excruciatingly terrible “deaths” that yes, this IS meant to be that badly scripted, that badly performed and so incredibly “awful”.
It’s hard to believe that a film as “terrible” as this (terrible by design mind you) could be filled with as many fantastically outrageous and incredibly inventive death scenes as this – with a myriad of bizarre implements used as tools of death: the REAL highlight being death by toaster… and no, not by dropping it into a bath, electrocuting its victim; but instead by firing multiple slices of toast, chaingun-style, at the killers victim. Stupid? Yes. Inventive? Undoubtedly!
Yes, Camp Death III in 2D is stupid, it is childish and it is incredibly idiotic; but it’s also side-splittingly funny and incredibly inventive, embracing the same horror-comedy ethos that makes Troma movies so great. So embrace the stupidity, go with the flow of ridiculousness and enjoy the slice of cinematic gloriousness that is Camp Death III in 2D!
