I was not expecting a very British slasher, created by Poles, oh the irony, from a title such as Camp Massacre, but that is what I got. A brisk seventy two minutes of a bunch of mouthy dicks camping in the woods, getting ruthlessly butchered amidst all of the Channel 4 drama bants. Your mileage may vary on the latter.
The film is well photographed and utilises the archetypal woods setting to full effect. I could find nothing really wrong with the cinematography and whilst not groundbreaking, it looks far better than a film made for ten thousand pounds has any right to be. I was genuinely surprised to find out that this film was made almost a decade ago. Where the film does show it's budget is in it's atrocious ADR. There are moments where mouths aren't even moving and the dialogue is just pasted over like it's someone's inner monologue. I've seen Eurocine films with better voice synchronisation. The rest of the sound design doesn't fare so well either. Severely underwhelming and doesn't bring half the atmosphere that the cinematography does.
The cast is good, they get along, even when they fight. They're not made to suffer that much and there are even genuine character moments. Though high on the chav spectrum, i did not find their company grating. Although, I feel like I am in the minority regarding this opinion.
In conclusion, Camp Massacre has a lot that i like to see in slashers, a cast that has chemistry together, murder scenes that are never indulgently drawn out and most importantly for me, a very short running time. Camp Massacre knew what it was, did what it had to do and wisely felt that it had nothing left to prove. It is a near flawless, if predictable example of the sub-genre and i would have no problem recommending it.
The film is well photographed and utilises the archetypal woods setting to full effect. I could find nothing really wrong with the cinematography and whilst not groundbreaking, it looks far better than a film made for ten thousand pounds has any right to be. I was genuinely surprised to find out that this film was made almost a decade ago. Where the film does show it's budget is in it's atrocious ADR. There are moments where mouths aren't even moving and the dialogue is just pasted over like it's someone's inner monologue. I've seen Eurocine films with better voice synchronisation. The rest of the sound design doesn't fare so well either. Severely underwhelming and doesn't bring half the atmosphere that the cinematography does.
The cast is good, they get along, even when they fight. They're not made to suffer that much and there are even genuine character moments. Though high on the chav spectrum, i did not find their company grating. Although, I feel like I am in the minority regarding this opinion.
In conclusion, Camp Massacre has a lot that i like to see in slashers, a cast that has chemistry together, murder scenes that are never indulgently drawn out and most importantly for me, a very short running time. Camp Massacre knew what it was, did what it had to do and wisely felt that it had nothing left to prove. It is a near flawless, if predictable example of the sub-genre and i would have no problem recommending it.