Harkening back to a more innocent time when disco was king and safe sex was an oddity, 1978 to be exact, this is the tale of sweet Margot (Ruby Cumming) who starts her summer as a counsellor at Camp Calypso.
We are introduced to her fellow campers including helpful and kind Heather (Misha Kemp), knowing room–mate Jo with her broad Noo Yawk accent (Billy Titko) and Creepy Pete (Derek Sweet), whose handsy behaviour back in ‘62 possibly led to the death of a fellow counsellor.
Now Camp Director, Creepy Pete is pretty sensitive about that story but he runs a pretty tight ship what with rules such as ‘No seconds at dinner’ – so you know he means business.
That night, as they toast marshmallows, Margot is treated to creepy storiesaround the campfire that tell of evil sirens, mermaids if you will, in the lake. Creepy Pete pops up to scare the crap out of them and put an end to all the gossip, but when Heather slips away for some nookie with her boyfriend, things take a turn into horror and never look back.
This is only the second short feature to come from Monstrous Femme Films and written/directed by Hannah May Cumming and Karlee Boonand I must say, I now want more!
Heavy on the nostalgia and with a giant nod to horror classics such as ‘Friday the 13th’ this is a riot from start to finish.
At only twenty minutes it manages to pack in a full story that succeeds in character development, humour, horror and a commendable attention to period detail – something that many large-scale films cannot pull off even with their extended runtime and budget.
The acting is good across the board, with all actors delivering assured and confident performances.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that Pete was either always smoking or drinking – hilarious.
Its expertly filmed with its own look that also manages to pay homage to the tried and true tropes we have grown to expect from this kind of teen slasher fare; and it does so with affection, gently ribbing those old horrors without deriding them.
Not to mention, the soundtrack is great and the gore is plentiful.
The finale was greatly satisfying and I loved the decision to have it happen mostly without dialogue, many a film is ruined with exposition; the end credits animation was a fun touch.
I really dug the heck out of this little movie.
A bloody and tasty snack of a film I highly recommend.
8/10
theresalwaysacat 