Reviewed By Machine "Gun" Kristin
Have an hour and a half to kill? Then look further because “Party Camp” ain’t it. This tepid, scattered piece of 80s trash is at best a decent 1987 time capsule. There are definitely better movies ("Summer Camp Nightmare", "Sleepaway Camp" etc) in the niche “summer camp-sploitation” genre that make a whole lot more sense than this one. This movie’s plot is barely held together with spit and chewing gum. Screenwriter Paul Brown is probably better known for “Quantum Leap” (oh boy), but “Camp” was his second outing as a writer. Director Gary Graver has mostly porn on his resume (“The Joi Fuck Club”, anyone?) with one horror credit, “Trick Or Treats” (1982).
Starring Andrew Ross as Jerry (who only has three acting credits) trudges along, hopping a school bus to a camp counselor job, seeking his dream girl. There’s Billy Jacoby as I’m guessing “Miami Vice” influenced, D.A., At some point in real life he was married to the syringe-toting Nurse Brenda played by April Wayne who later have some strange S&M scenes. The secretly kinky authority figures (Sarge and Mrs. Beadle) are almost never seen besides the beginning of the film with dispersed scenes of Sarge grabbing a kid's ear 3 (!) times. The ages among the campers seem to be from Elementary to College, is that normal? The closest thing to camp I’ve been to was a Girl Scout trip ages ago. Then we have the interesting Jewel Shepard as perpetually horny Dyanne whose character seemed to have some kind of manic disorder, just acting off the wall from the jump. I thought she’d start foaming at the mouth when Jerry chews on her pearls when he first meets her on the bus, while her brawn-no-brains boyfriend, Tad chases the bus.
There are not enough jokes that land to make it a true comedy and not enough nudity to qualify for a late-night T&A type of flick. It appears to have been reedited which is confirmed in Mike McPadden’s “Teen Movie Hell”. At least three times, a character will ask “Are they real?” when talking about a girl's chest. Super weird, I thought for sure the breast implant accusations happened in the late 90s/early 2000s on dating shows such as “Elimidate”. haha.
We end the “Party” with mentioned once mountain bike competition between the cool guys (Tad and The Falcons) and the dorks (Jerry and the Squirrels). Yay, the movie’s finally over.
“Party Camp” aired on USA Up All Night on:
S4.E19: Mar 6, 1992 with “Naked Warriors”
S4.E85: Oct 24, 1992 with “Vampires on Bikini Beach”
S4.E88: Nov 6, 1992 with "Spring Fever USA” Link
May 28, 1993 with “Young Nurses in Love” Link
Nov 27, 1993 with "Party Incorporated”
and probably many more.
You can watch “Party Camp” here
No comments:
Post a Comment