Iconic ’80s Slasher Horror Movie With Unforgettable Twist, Stream Without Netflix

What is Sleepaway Camp about? Without giving away the film’s bizarre twist, the film follows Angela, the survivor of a childhood boating accident that killed her father and sibling. Later, the anxious girl is sent to the titular camp, but the usual summer shenanigans are disrupted by one grisly murder after another.

Sleepaway Camp has a great cast, though only a few of the actors have much of a Hollywood history. For example, Christopher Collet stars in this film, and you may remember him from his leading role in The Manhattan Project.

This horror hit also features All My Children star Katherine Kamhi and Trading Places star Robert Earl Jones, the father of Hollywood legend James Earl Jones.

However, the big breakout star of the film is Felissa Rose, the talented actor who brings the conflicted Angela to such vivid life.

While never a full-blown scream queen, Rose became a fixture in the horror world thanks to starring in other scary movies such as Silent Night, Zombie Night, Victor Crowley, and Terrifier 2.

And fans of horror host Joe Bob Briggs may know Rose as a frequent Last Drive-In guest with a very special title: “mangled d*ck expert.”

If you’re watching it for the first time, part of what makes Sleepaway Camp so fun is that it constantly subverts your expectations. For example, most 80’s horror films linger on the female body whenever possible, but this film has a prolonged baseball scene dressing its male characters in short shorts and the occasional crop top.

That’s just one of the milder ways this movie explores gender and sex, and the film is now revered among horror fans for its ability to explore compelling themes while still delivering absolutely horrifying kills (I swear, that hair curler kill still gives me nightmares).

Relative to its budget, Sleepaway Camp also managed to kill it at the box office. It earned only $11 million dollars in theaters, but compared to its budget of $350,000, that’s quite a profit.

Enough profit to justify two sequels in the ‘80s and two more sequels in later years, but unlike the Friday the 13th series to which this franchise was frequently compared, none of the sequels really lived up to the original.

As for the first film, it’s one of those rarities in the world of vintage horror: a film that managed to impress even the snobbiest critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, Sleepaway Camp currently has an 81 percent critical rating.

The critical consensus praises how this “standard teen slasher” is ultimately “elevated by occasional moments of John Waters-esque weirdness and a twisted ending.”

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Honestly, that’s a fair assessment, and I’m happy to report that Sleepaway Camp aged frighteningly well. Some of the setup for the story is a little sloppy and the bonkers ending could have been telegraphed more, but none of that matters in the face of the imminently quotable script and wonderfully nasty kills.

There’s a little of something for every horror fan in this movie, including a once-in-a-generation twist ending that still manages to shock new fans every year.

Will you be one of the new fans shocked by this crazy horror film, or will you think this is one movie that should be sent back to summer camp? You won’t know until you stream Sleepaway Camp on Tubi. Remember, watching the movie is free, but the therapy you’ll need afterward…well, that’s gonna cost ya.