(2004)
Reviewed By-David Zuzelo OPERA FILMS SWEDEN Directed by Martin Munthe Cast: Fred Anderson, Robert Arlinder, Erica Carlson, Christian Magdu, Annika Marklund and Sofie Norman.
Sweden, the land of buxom cinematically sinning blondes, art film hysteria and the occasional low budget horror releases a blast of pure slasher exploitation unseen since the tax shelter video releases of the 1980’s with Martin Munthe’s Camp Slaughter. At times twitchy and strange, while still managing to fall in line with every single cliché in the stalk n’ kill films it so obviously enjoys, this is one odd bunny of a movie.
Bunny you say? Yes…bunny.
Starting with a rather shocking prologue that sets the film in motion, we have a lovely villa, incest, nearly incoherent babbling and bag headed beasts running around old ladies who sing about bunnies while drinking champagne and mocking and badgering the boys of the villa. But when the nasty old lady decides to have a child with her son, we just know something bad is going to happen.
Yep, bad.
Flash forward and enter the cast, which doesn’t have to struggle to hit the nifty conventions of the soon to be dead. We have the young punk girl run wild, the slutty girl who just craves "candy," the stud boy of the group who wants to get his paws on all of the ladies and the dancing and eating happy sad sack…Fluffy.
Fluffy may not get laid, but you just know he is going to go to pieces shortly.
From there on out, it is mostly people walking about and calling each other’s names out into the darkness. Mix in a brief sex scene (bwah…I wanted more nudity!) and some very good gore shots…stir in a rambling bit of family nonsense and blam…. Slasher ala Swede.
While not even an attempt at going beyond the borders of simple slashersploitation, Camp Slaughter does have a few other things working in its favor. First and foremost, this does not take itself terribly serious as some other exploitation films attempt to. No pretentious world cinema buffs need apply. The humorous edge implied directly from the tagline of "MUTE. STUPID. VIOLENT." Should say it all. It’s a bit of a shame that the filmmakers didn’t go just a few steps further with the elements that appealed most to me from the film however. A great amount of creativity is on show during several sections of the film, when it sidesteps trying to play the slasher fool. A musical interlude with a mother longingly singing about her bunny as the killer sings along from his prison was genuinely inspired and hilarious… that is so far above the expectations the rest of the film sets, it makes me want to see Munthe continue along these lines instead of being content to gently recycle and play with what has gone before. Also, the opening of the film is told in a very off kilter way, and the final moments of the film go the same way. In these segments, the viewer is put off guard, not knowing what to expect, and that is one of the true joys of the eurotrash cinema-recalling the legacy of the great Blood Tracks-a film so strange that you just feel compelled to watch it unspool. The center of this film, while a great bit of popcorn gore sinema, is weak tea compared to the flashes of inspiration that surround it.
The cast is largely made up of inexperienced actors and it shows. However, that works quite well to add a sensation of realism to the characters even if it doesn’t make us like them. Also, you have to take into account that the film was shot in English, and it couldn’t have been easy to accomplish for the crew. Thankfully though, there are few heavy accented players and the movie doesn’t go the way of other euro productions that have been shot in English with far less success.
Hell, go watch Evil Clutch and see what I mean.
Particularly good are Annika Marklund and Fred Anderson here. In the tradition of fine cinema goofballs, Anderson rivals Crispin Glover’s "where’s that corkscrew" victim for lovable loser status. Fred takes the strongest death scene as well, getting both dismembered and decapitated… a man willing to suffer for his art.
Well shot, even when it’s not particularly inspired… any slasher fan would enjoy a trip to Camp Slaughter-you may find a few things you didn’t expect amidst all that you do.
FILM RATING: 2 Bitch Slaps (bonus Bitch Slap for fans of Swedish Vogue Dancing) To buy the Special Edition:
http://www.customflix.com/Store/ShowTtl.jsp?id=205601
