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October is the sinister month when guest contributor, Stephen Conrad, celebrates horror at its campiest…

“The clock is ticking, it’s almost time.” 

The Halloween season is nigh, so let’s once again thematically survey some spooky and scary films camping out in the stacks!

Inspired by the release this year of Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma, it’s time to pack our bags for a gory visit to camp! In the hyper-meta ‘Camp Miasma,’ Director Jane Schoenbrun produces a nostalgic and yet forward and modern (re)visit to the tropes and machinations of the classic slasher camp films. Tapped to produce a sequel for a long-running horror franchise, a director tracks down the original film’s “final girl” and all sorts of mayhem ensues. Little Death, lots of deaths, and a heaping of bloodletting awaits.

Schoenbrun is no newcomer to the horror genre, and Duke Libraries also provides their earlier works, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow.

Before we’re dropped off at camp, let’s look back to a classic Italian giallo film from master of the genre Mario Bava. Bay of Blood, from 1971, is widely credited as the first slasher, say, in the same way that heavy metal started with Black Sabbath. While not set at an actual camp, the manner of the roving rampaging slasher comes into its own here. The kills and techniques would be widely used and imitated, with some downright copied, for later slasher flicks. And in a post full of movies with shock endings, this one sets the bar VERY high in that regard too!

More on giallo as well as the history of slasher films can be found in Duke Libraries stacks—both physical and virtual.  Note the excellent list at the bottom of this post.

The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema

Giallo Cinema and its Folktale Roots

Visceral Screens: Mediation and Matter in Horror Cinema

Fast forward to 1980 and the true slasher-camp era begins at Camp Crystal Lake with the original Friday the 13^th . Teenagers, camp, sex, death, and the Vorhees in “a 24-hour nightmare of terror.” The convened counselors–including Kevin Bacon–are trying to reopen a shuttered camp, but a vicious mysterious killer has other ideas. Characters get picked and hacked off one by one: “You’re doomed. You all are doomed!” And if you ever wondered about the sounds made when the killer is about to appear, “Ki ki ki ma ma ma,” then check out this interview clip with the film’s composer.

Then the floodgates really open in 1981, led by the sequel, Friday the 13th Part 2. It is five years hence at Crystal Lake and a stalking killer is back at it again. Delving into the mythology of the Vorhees family, this film in the long-running franchise marks the true emergence of Jason. Machetes, sack masks, hammers, knives, spears, severed heads, chainsaws, sweaters, pickaxes and more! The spear scene brings us back to both Camp Miasma AND Bay of Blood in very direct ways. You’ll have to view all three to enjoy and compare the particulars of this spear-some trio.

Also from 1981 and also at a summer camp and also a five-years-later story, The Burning puts the action in New York state and the victims at the business end of some thoroughly utilized garden shears, employed by a former camp caretaker. And while the premise is nearly identical to ‘Friday the 13^th,’ this one is even more brutal and grim and unrelenting. Also, as Gillian Anderson’s character says in ‘Camp Miasma’: “Honey, I auditioned for The Burning. You know who created that? You don’t scare me.” Bonus points for the gore work by the legendary Tom Savini.

And closing out the busy and bloody year at camp circa 1981 is Madman. Here we have a creep in the woods, the titular Madman Marz (do NOT say his name above a whisper), a legendary axe murderer hunting his camp counselor prey in the crisp autumn night. While having plenty of atmosphere and gruesomeness, this flick might get the most points for having one of the absolute best/worst hot tub scenes of all time! “Madman….there is no escape.”

Okay,  Sleepaway Camp, is another big inspiration for Camp Miasma. First things first, go into this one as cold as possible. There are surprise endings and then there’s the ending of ‘Sleepaway Camp!’ From 1983, this slasher is set at a Camp Arawak, where the shorts are very short and a sicko killer is running rampant. Perhaps more than any other movie in this cohort, Sleepaway Camp has come in for high amounts of contemporary criticism, commentary, reappraisal, derision and applause. “Sleepaway Camp…You won’t be coming home.”

Cheerleader Camp (aka Bloody Pom Poms) from 1988, closes out this horror excursion on a hideous and cornball note. At Camp Hurrah there is a killer amongst the cheerleaders and staff. Is it the creepy chef wearing Suzy’s charm? Or the lascivious handyman? Maybe the horndog camp director?  Is it Leif Garrett? After much competing and partying and slaying, the killer truth is finally revealed.

Now that camp is over and we’re back on campus, let’s hit the books and learn more. Duke Libraries has several titles exploring the slasher genre:
Blood money: a history of the first teen slasher film cycle

Going to pieces: the rise and fall of the slasher film, 1978-1986  

See! Hear! Cut! Kill! : experiencing Friday the 13^th

Games of terror : Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the films of the stalker cycle

So escape to camp this Spooky Season with Duke Libraries and experience this smattering of blood-soaked offerings—“you’ll wish it were only a nightmare…!”

—Stephen Conrad

This October’s Collection spotlight is being hosted by the Music Library—stop by to see all the chilling offerings!

The post Lilly Collection Spotlight: Camp Slash appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.