SUMMER CAMP **** Spain/U.S.A. 2015 Dir: Alberto Marini 81 mins
Four American counsellors arrive early at a Spanish Summer Camp to check out the place and plan activities before the kids turn up to start their summer. It is not quite what some of them were expecting and is in need of some repairs. The water system and central fountain are first up and running and soon the small animals arrive. When one of the animals gets sick and bites a counsellor all hell breaks loose as an incredibly violent rage virus breaks out and the group have to work out who they can trust and discover what lengths they will go to to survive.
In the beginning this movie has all the traits of an average teen slasher movie with a rather tame and familiar feel of the group of young counsellors trapped in a dilapidated building being stalked by an unknown assailant (which is how it starts off) but it lulls you into a false sense of security and quickly takes you off into a whole heap of violent, bloody rage induced marvellousness!! Great special effects and quite a bit of blood, however the main kill shots tend to remain off screen which is a bit of a shame but as it’s only rated a 15 is understandable. They have also put a great twist on the infected which I personally thought was a clever idea and added a fresh take on the subject matter. The acting was terrific and although the characters were stereo typical of the genre I found myself wondering exactly what they would do next and kept switching the one I was routeing for. Effective soundtrack throughout which is always a bonus too. Doing some research into this led me to read a few reviews that trashed it for it’s overuse of shaky camera syndrome, which I will admit to being guilty of complaining about on various occasions but this time, for me I did not think it was over used at all. In fact I don’t think I gave it much thought during this, it certainly didn’t detract from the movie in my opinion. I found it fast paced, action packed and awesomely bleak with a brilliant and fitting ending.
Review by Sarah Budd