Summer Camp

Funny, in a corny sort of way. Saw it first in 1979. Still feel the same way about it. Wasn't meant to be an Oscar winner. After observing the movie several times over the last 20+ years, it still retains it's genuine low budget laughs.

"Summer Camp" is an unfathomably tedious "Meatballs" cash-in that manages to avoid characters, scenes, laughs and anything else you might expect to get in a comedy, or even a movie. Chuck Vincent was a porno filmmaker, and he should have stayed one. What you get in "Summer Camp" is like watching a porno without the real sex.

Unlike most boob comedies, this one does have a couple of sex scenes, played for broad laughs rather than eroticism. It is hard to imagine anyone who would laugh at people simulating sex - little attempt is made to convince you it is real - while shouting nonsense at each other. The age group that might think this is funny - 5 year olds, perhaps? - will be too busy asking their parents what those two people are doing.

I suppose you have to concede that this movie does have characters - I think maybe the fat party animal guy was in it, and the stuck up girl, and the guy who owns the camp and thinks it might go bust. You spend the whole movie with them, but none of them make any kind of impression. The only reason why I was able to detect the above is because they are stock characters in every movie like this, so you assume that that is who they are supposed to be - the movie doesn't tell you.

This is for Linnea Quigley completists only. Yeah, she takes her top off a few times.

John Laughlin again proved a piece of eye candy for this R rated version of Meatballs. I really don't need to say much more, but there art some tender moments with young camper Laughlin who falls for a female camp counceller. The title song is one, I can't get out of my head. Yes there are raunchy goings on, and we do have a vixen here that gets it on with a lot of guys, and an older one, from which great dialogue springs doing climaxing: River, mountain, Streaaaam! It seems though talented actor, Laughlin, way better, than was offered here, was typecast, where really, we were blinded to all the good work, this guy can produce. Here it's just a raunchy, dirty, get your clothes off comedy with a few laughs and gags, but really doesn't rise above poor, stereotypical, sex comedy fare, where it wasn't really until Porky's brought the quality level of this ilk, much higher. If you want to get a bit titillated, and be mildly amused, kick your feet up, and watch.

I'm not sure in what context the other commentators had when writing their reviews, but by any reasonable standard this is a near unreleasably bad film. It probably got a minimum of theatrical play-dates and some cable airings over the years. With the exceptions that it was one of Chuck Vincent's first crossover films and that it denotes one of Scream Queen Linnea Quigley's first film roles, very little distinguishes SUMMER CAMP as a feature film.

Mean, tasteless and without humor, wit or story, SUMMER CAMP just glides along stringing scene with scene. The frequent nudity is probably what garnered the film a release at all. The film played as part of the Grindhouse series playing at L.A.'s New Beverly Cinema, and, even with a dedicated audience the laughs were few. According to IMDb, the film is not available on DVD (or even VHS) - and that is not a surprise.

This is a typical movie of the late 1970s when camp movies are popular. It's one of those movies that's fun to watch on a day that you just want something that is cheap and has lots of laughs. Acting wasn't the best but it was a lot of fun and really work for this movie. Enjoy