It's made with REAL Van Patten, so you know it's good...
Matt | I'm the guy with the beard, next to Waldo | 05/16/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"That's right, kiddies. This one has preeetty much everything you could ever hope for a movie to have, if you like REALLY low-budget, low-key, sardonic b-movies, and Camp Fear is certainly that. I bought the movie after an extensive, decade-long hunt for the non-existant 'Cheerleader Camp II'. It led me here, to a film that was probably once 'Cheerleader Camp II' in its earliest stage of development, but after one of it's investors (Prism) went belly-up, it apparently underwent a full script and title change, re-emerging as this quaint, tepid little swath of back-bacon known as Camp Fear.
Like I said, the movie's got pretty much everything, and I was initially put off by the idea of everything this movie might be heaping onto my plate as indicated in the movie's trailer. I mean, a Van Patten, sorority girls, bikers, Druids, Loch Ness monsters, earthquakes, AND the armageddon...How can these things possibly tie into one another? I watch movies like these and make nine dollars an hour because I could never UNDERSTAND complex formulas and equations, right? Well, I needn't have worried. Apparently Van Pattens, sorority girls, bikers, Druids, Loch Ness monsters, earthquakes, AND the Armageddon is just any given day in the hills of southern California...where the Van Pattens are still allowed to run free amongst there natural habitat. Highlights include George "Buck" Flower playing a drunken hillbilly! Aaaaaand....A biker with a perm!!!!....aaand....ummm...the lambada...(?)
This movie is just itching for a certain Satelite of Love or maybe Joe Bob Briggs to come along and give it a commentary. It's funny enough on its own, though, so I'd say give it a shot if you're the type of person who's seen any Rick Sloane movie more than once, or if your video library consists of the complete works of David DeCoteau and Jim Wynorski. My only real complaint is that the nudity just comes to a screeching halt after the first ten minutes, but it was good while it lasted."
A FEARED OF THE CAMP
D. T. GLADSTONE | MONTAGUE, MA | 06/01/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"ONCE IN A WHILE A GOOFY MOVIE COMES ALONG, AN UNKNOWN THAT JUST MAKES YOU LAUGH, MAKES YOU GROAN AND MAKES YOU WONDER "WHY'D THEY MAKE THIS."
HERE IT IS. NOT MEANT TO BE FUNNY BUT YOU HAVE TO LAUGH.
WHEN YOU NEED SOMETHING LIGHT AND AMUSING THIS IS IT."
A Campy Mess
A. Minutella | Lodi, NJ | 04/04/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Where to begin with this one? As dopey and incomprehensible a film as you can imagine, "Camp Fear" somehow mixes a plot that involves Druids, Betsy Russell, the Loch Ness Monster (!), sadistic motorcycle gangs, sinister Indians, sorority girls, earthquakes, the Lambada dance craze and woeful acting into an unintelligable disaster. Never funny or thrilling, the film limps along from one cheesy scenario to another with little sense. Previously released on VHS in an oscure version called "The Millennium Countdown" (yes, the millennium figures into the "plot"...how, I haven't quite figured out yet) and was believed to be the mysterious sequel to the film "Cheerleader Camp" (which also featured Russell), this film is not clever enough to be campy or engaging enough to be a cult hit. Don't say you weren't warned.
"
Only fair
Bud Bundy | MN USA | 03/24/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a huge fan of these campy, silly T&A "horror" movies, but this one doesn't deliver. Oh it delivers the T&A all right, all during the first 10 minutes or so. We get a college dorm full of naked and half naked babes, taking showers and all that good stuff. From there the story follows some girls and their college professor as they go on an archaeological exploration out in the woods. A biker gang takes an interest in them and follows them out into the forest. They encounter a mysterious Indian, a giant Druid, a lake monster, and even a miniature Stonehenge. The Druid needs to sacrifice some virgins in order to avert the end of the world or something, and luckily these girls just happened to wander into his neck of the woods.
What I didn't care for in this movie was the characters - they're not bad, but they're not really sympathetic, they don't have much of any personality, and we don't care about them. Usually these movies are very character based, as silly as that may be for something with bad acting and a low budget, but that's where the camp appeal has to start. This one misses the mark entirely. The story also seemed rather rushed with much of its time spent watching the goofy biker gang trying to find the girls; The whole Druid / end of the world plot gets short shrift and loses all the impact (or at least cheesy interest) that it might have had.
Overall, pretty crummy little movie but if you're looking for a silly film with naked babes (only in the first 10 minutes) and a really wacky plot, this should be at least somewhat satisfying. Otherwise I'd recommend something like Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, Chopping Mall, or Sorority House Massacre II - Nighty Nightmare. All those hit the mark as far as camp, this one misses."
SO BAD IT'S GOOD!!!
GOREHOUND LARS | 05/07/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Possibly one of the worste movies I've ever seen!
I could'nt stop smiling and laughing at this horrible mess, the acting, dialog, set pieces, everything sucks! But now that you know that, you can appriciate it for what it is, TOTAL CHEESE! ENJOY!