Happy Campers
“Isn’t fun GREAT?!”
Ah! What an idiot! I watched this at a loss tonight if only because it was short and starred Dominique Swain. I was hooked before the opening credits even finished running, and then, finally, the writer-director’s name appeared – Daniel Waters. I knew this already, but it’d totally slipped my mind; even when I considered watching this last, a few weeks ago, I saw the name but didn’t make the big Heathers association. I should’ve known this movie would be good, and I should’ve watched it way sooner.
It is just a fantastic, funny, scary look at the whole summer camp thing. It reminded me a lot of the This American Life episode, Notes on Camp, which attempted to close the gap between people who “get” camp and those who don’t and for the most part, considering I was in the latter party for most my life, succeeded. Dominique Swain is perfect as the far too perky for her own good counsellor, exemplifying the ongoing subtext of the truth bubbling under the surface gloss of these places. I still think I’m yet to see a better camp movie than Addams Family Values such is, even after more considered examples as this and the TAL episode, my overriding attitude to the places; but this is certainly worthy of Waters’ name and the Heathers connection. The shot of 3 teenage girls standing by the lake tasting “salty pancake batter” is just about as hilariously inappropriate as the mass teengasm scene in Ginger Snaps Unleashed lol and there’s more such irreverence to behold as the movie gets more and more out of control.