Oh, I'm a happy camper...

Both Fangoria and Bloody-Disgusting have the lo-down on the progress of the upcoming Return to Sleepaway Camp, the 4th film in the series.

From what I've read, the filmmakers (including Robert Hiltzik, returning as writer/director to the franchise he began) want to make the fourth entry more like the first Sleepaway; that is, to make more of a straight-up slasher flick and move away from the...err, campiness of the second and third films.

The plot is shockingly original and will not only break new ground but will dig up old ground just to spit on it and make fun of its clothes:

It's summer at Camp Manabe...and then people start to die.

Hey, "cutting-edge" has its place, and I tell ya, it ain't at Camp Manabe. I say, no matter! Sometimes you want foie gras with a nice bearnaise and caper sauce garnished with arugula and pretty pretty edible flowers, and sometimes you just want a burger. Me, I always want pizza. I'm eating some right now, as a matter of fact. I don't even know if "foie gras with a nice bearnaise and caper sauce garnished with arugula and pretty pretty edible flowers" is something anyone wants, but those were all the fancy food words I could come up with.

I digress.

Return to Sleepaway Camp has been "in production" for years now. In fact, there's some footage from it available on a bonus disc if you buy the Sleepaway Box Set. I haven't seen any of it because, of course, I bought my Sleepaway Box Set about 20 minutes before the extra-special version with a bonus disc hit shelves. I have a knack for doing that sort of thing, you see. I always buy a video game system 20 minutes before they announce a price drop and 6 times now I've adopted a baby 20 minutes before I find out I'm pregnant.

I digress yet again.

Apparently they're putting finishing touches on the movie and aiming for a DVD release later this year. Tons and tons of gore will be added to existing footage, from rats chomping on bodies to spears through eyeballs to skinned victims. Sounds like a real grody-fest. There's one quote, however, from the Fangoria article that has me really excited about this movie. Sayeth FX artist Jerome Thelia, "There's a scene in which one of the characters basically explodes..."

Aah, yessssss...preciousssssssss. You know how I love a nice explosion in my horror movies.

No one's saying Peep One about Angela making a return appearance, but a Sleepaway Camp movie without Angela is like foie gras without pretty pretty edible flowers. It simply doesn't work!