Sleepaway Camp ★★★★☆

This review contains spoilers.

I knew “the twist” going in so the signs were very obvious, but even so the films is surprisingly clear about what’s going on from the beginning to someone paying attention. And it does so much more than a typical slasher film just by giving us time to sit and see Angela as a person, to see her struggling to interact with other kids in this place that is unfamiliar but holds horrible memories for her while being forced into gendered activities that are, unknown to anyone else, terrible dangerous for her and which she is constantly bullied for not taking part in. It takes her more than half an hour of runtime to say a word out loud and it’s actually quite wonderful to see her become more comfortable and come out of her shell as she is able to set boundaries and regain autonomy of herself and her body.¹ The ending is transphobic trash but it’s also amusing how the film doesn’t really know what to after the big reveal and just abruptly ends. I suppose when your final girl ingénue is also your killer there’s real way to have a standard climax.