Summer camp and VHS tapes are slowly becoming a thing of memory. On a trip to refurbish a couple cabins, a group of friends stumble upon a VHS tape that threatens their very lives. Through witchcraft and a plot to kill, the group must determine what is worse — a ghost haunting them, or a slasher with something to hide.
A group of college kids encounter an evil VHS tape and a week of partying turns into a nightmare.
VHS Summer Camp
Starting off on an awesome note, we are greeted with a retro TV and two “Midnight Madness” horror hosts introducing the horrifying story about to take place. The tape morphs into the first kill of the film, and soon after ushers in our main characters. At first, they play off the rumors of murders at the camp, but after tensions rising over failed relationships, multiple sightings of a ghostly woman in the woods, and a mysterious VHS tape detailing each student’s murder, they seek to fight against the dark spirits of witchcraft at work.
In a way, VHS Summer Camp kind of reminds me of a mix between pick-any-random-camp slasher and Are You Afraid of the Dark‘s “Tale of the Frozen Ghost,” where we have normal camp goings-on with an effervescent apparition communicating warnings to the guests. I loved the use of a VHS tape replaying the murders, and how those visuals made their way to the ghost as well. Plus, an addition of witches and Black Magic made VHS Summer Camp a smörgåsbord of retro slasher nostalgia. Slashers can always be modernized, but retaining that 80s feeling always adds something special to the mix.
Storywise, VHS Summer Camp is pretty on-brand: kids come to a haunted camp, disappearances and deaths, final showdown. While it doesn’t add much to the skeleton storyline, it makes up for in kills and characters. VHS Summer Camp has plenty of blood and stabbings to get our horror fix; they look real and amp up the energy in each scene. The kids come upon a room filled with bloodied sheets, at one point, that makes the stakes even higher. On top of that, the characters offer more than your typical stereotypes; for example, there’s a twisted, tangled love triangle subplot going on that makes their interactions and intentions even more murky.
And after all of the action, the end of VHS Summer Camp has a callback to the beginning VHS tape: horror hosts Brandon Lang and Mistress Mandy bid us adieu and welcome us back again for another night of Midnight Madness, this time “VHS College Days,” hinting that the students’ terrifying time isn’t over just yet. It’s things like this that make VHS Summer Camp — and other retro slashers — so fun to watch. They break the fourth wall, speaking to both the audience and the characters, and they make room for sequels, just as the 80s slashers did. Think of it as that last scream before the credits roll.
VHS Summer Camp is a fun callback to horror from years before. Adding in a little extra something to differentiate it from other slashers, it brings the nostalgia factor while scratching that “newness” itch we all have. Perfect for a warm-weather get-together, VHS Summer Camp brings blood and the boos.
VHS Summer Camp is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video! Follow the film on Instagram, as well as writer/director James Pinard for more.
