Camp Hell - Horror Spot DVD Review
By Jose
Plot:
At the end of every summer, the children of a Christian community from a suburb of New Jersey attend Camp Hope. They travel deep into the woods far from any distractions the world provides. Here, the children are taught the ways of the Lord, the perils of the flesh, and the horror of the Devil. A charismatic priest leads them in their training. But, he unknowingly has brought something with him, something evil. What was supposed to be a safe place, a spiritual retreat has now turned into a nightmare that not even faith can end.
Cast:
Will denton (Tommy Leary)m Bruce Davison (Father Phineas McAllister), Connor Paolo (Jack), Valentina de Angelis (Melissa), Spencer Treat Clark (Timothy), Jesse Eisenburg, (Daniel)
Review:
I really don't know what to think of this movie. I had never before heard of it and bought the DVD on impulse, mainly on the cover, which advertised itself as a horror movie, about a Christian youth-camp led by a demonic priest who harbored all kinds of dark and devilish secrets. Well, this cover must have been made up by a PR department who didn't have much confidence in the movie, and hoped to gain some extra audience, because this description doesn't even come close to the real thing.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad movie at all, on the contrary, for the major part it's great and I liked it very much. It's got a fascinating story and the acting is overall great. And in many ways the movie gives much to think about. But I'm totally in the dark about what the makers meant with it. If they meant to make a charge against the brainwashing of innocent kids by extremely orthodox catholic adults (parents and priests), they succeeded in an impressive way; but why on earth then spoil it with all these horror elements? And if they aimed at making a horror movie, why then so much holding back on the horrific elements? with no monsters, no blood or gore and no major scares
It's about a teenage boy who is sent off to a religious summer-camp. A couple of days latter some strange happenings occur, and when this coincides with our young hero sneaking out one evening to make out and dry hump (with climaxes for both) with a girl, he gets convinced that somehow he's the cause of Satan disrupting him and the whole camp. In this belief he is strengthened by the severe leaders of the camp, especially father Phineas.
The part of the movie that shows us this relentless, patronizing and self-righteous way of filling the heads and hearts of young kids with religious fear and guilt, is very convincing and realistic. Not by letting the leaders use force or physical abuse, but much more subtle. By instilling the fear of an unforgiving and ruthless God. For example, the way young Tom is questioned by father Phineas about his morals, like how much he thinks of sex and how many times he masturbates, is cruel. Just because of the way Fr. Phineas does it.
I was very impressed by the script and by the direction, and the acting in the two most important parts, Bruce Davison as father Phineas and Will Denton as young Tommy, is top-notch.
The horror elements maybe would have worked better, if they could have been interpreted as things that happened in Tommy's mind or even in the mind of father Phineas (who certainly deserved some demons). But the script made it all too clear that the horror elements were meant to be real, since they were experienced by many others in the camp. So it is hard to tell if what Tommy was seeing and experiencing was true or not. Especially at the end when the supposed demon attacks father Phineas. The closing credits didn't help either by stating: "based on true events".
Final Thoughts:
Religious movies can easily be treated as horror for obvious reasons. Camp Hell mixed both elements well to a point. But it needed to decide if it was a true horror with demons terrorizing the camp or if it was just mental religious brainwashing. Oh and Jesse Eisenburg cashed his check with this one. Not even ten minutes haha.
Ratings: 3 out of 5
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