Podcasts
‘Sleepaway Camp 2’ Celebrates Its Trans Villain [Horror Queers Podcast]
Touch That Tush.
August has featured an American giallo in Eyes of Laura Mars, a Spanish ghost story in The Others, and a Jewish horror comedy in Shiva Baby. Now it’s time to head back to literal summer camp with director Michael A. Simpson‘s very silly horror comedy: Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988).
In this sequel to the notorious original, Angela (Pamela Springsteen) is all grown up and working as a camp counselor. She’s transitioned and is seemingly very comfortable with herself, but she can’t shake Aunt Martha’s pesky pious moral code. This sends her into a murderous rage whenever the other counselors – and even some of the campers – break her rules.
What follows is all manner of silly/horrible deaths, albeit with less of the great practical effects of the OG film. Still, it’s fun to watch Angela take out an entire camp in a film that not only lets its trans character be the villain, but also the protagonist and Final Girl.
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Episode 244: Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)
Return to camp with Michael A. Simpson’s Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988) which finds Angela killing according to Aunt Martha’s conservative moral code.
We’re talking about Pamela Springsteen’s performance (and Felissa Rose’s absence), our love of Ally, and the film’s status as a self-referential horror comedy.
Plus: the lack of short shorts, poor editing, Molly’s end, and debates if the laughs subvert the “trans killer” trope.
Cross out Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re checking in the dysfunctional family at the heart of Park Chan-wook’s sole English language thriller, Stoker (2013).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 258 hours of additional content! This month we’re discussing horror tropes that gotta go, as well as episodes on Meg 2: The Trench, Talk to Me, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter. And to tie in with that last one, our audio commentary for the month will be on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the Coppola one).
Podcasts
Freddy’s Back, So Is Jason, ‘Hellraiser’ Goes to Horror Nights, and ‘The Odyssey’ [Halloweenies Podcast]
Coming Soon & Now Showing is a monthly series on Halloweenies that catches up on the latest horror headlines and round robins capsule reviews of new and old horrors.
This week, Michael Roffman and McKenzie Gerber hit up Elm Street, Haddonfield, and Crystal Lake before braving the high seas to discuss the horrors within Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey. They also review this year’s Exit 8 and Forbidden Fruits before dusting off old classics for the first time in 2020’s Caveat and 1985’s The Mean Season.
Stream the episode below. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, Chucky, Alien, and the Universal Monsters.This year? Hellraiser!
You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Re-Animator, Darkman), one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Manhunter, ), and even spinoffs like their recent run Fortune & Glory: An Indiana Jones Podcast.