The Perfect Summer Camp Slasher Horror Movie, Stream Without Netflix

Sleepaway Camp follows two teenage cousins that are sent away to Camp Arawak for a summer of boating, camping, and fun. Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten) is much more outgoing than his cousin Angela (Felissa Rose), whose father John and brother Peter were killed in a horrific boating accident eight years earlier. Angela witnessed their deaths, and has been withdrawn due to the trauma ever since

Ricky’s mother, Martha (Desiree Gould) took in her niece and raised her like her own daughter. Hoping that a summer camp will help bring the teenage Angela out of her shell, she sees the two of them off on the camp bus.

But the shy Angela is immediately targeted by several fellow campers in Sleepaway Camp, and she’s sexually accosted by a camp cook not long after arriving.

One by one, those who torment Angela are eliminated in the most horrifying ways imaginable.

The cook has a giant vat of boiling soup dumped on him, one camper is killed in an indescribable way by a curling iron, another camper is killed when a beehive is thrown into a locked toilet stall, and several young campers that threw sand at Angela are found cut into pieces with a hatchet.

As these events that were once thought to be freak accidents begin to reek of murder, Sleepaway Camp sees the suspicion fall onto Angela’s cousin Ricky.

Ricky is overprotective of his traumatized cousin and seems in position to give her tormentors a good dose of vengeance. But as the movie progresses and the family’s history is revealed, a different suspect might be more likely.

Sleepaway Camp follows some typical slasher movie tropes but does not relent once the action starts. Following the brutal deaths of two of Angela’s family members in the opening moments, the film doesn’t disappoint with its pace or its high kill count.

And while vigilante justice might not be the socially acceptable thing to do, some of the characters that are disposed of on screen will have audiences cheer at their demise.

Sleepaway Camp uses creative kills to give it another layer of uniqueness. But the killer isn’t a masked psychopath like Jason Vorhees or deformed adult Hell-bent on revenge. No spoilers, but audiences can see that the killer is young (you get glimpses of their hands, feet, and the back of the head). This revelation from the beginning makes the slasher element even more shocking.

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But it’s the twist ending of Sleepaway Camp that got audiences talking. Without giving it away, it’s one of the reasons why this movie, only produced on a budget of $350,000, raked in more than $11 million at the box office in a limited run. Since its release on VHS (and later DVD) this movie has spawned four sequels and a massive cult following.

You can catch Sleepaway Camp streaming for free with Tubi.