Horror Movie Review: Camp Massacre (2010)

Originally released in 2010 and called Sparrow, Amazon UK has got their grubby hands on it and retitled it Camp Massacre. Well, isn’t that a title that stands out from the horror pack?

Directed by Shaun Troke, it’s a relief that Camp Massacre is only 72 minutes long because it is a rough watch. A no budget horror, it has campers being killed and not a lot else.

The story sees six friends head into a forest that is also the site of a supposed historic murder. That presumed incident saw the rise of an urban legend, one we hear about round a campfire. Of course, our horny teens don’t believe it, why would they? However, they probably should have taken it a bit more seriously.

Camp Massacre is a sleep-inducing horror, one that wears its no-budget badge proudly but probably shouldn’t. The story…seriously? camping kids killed in the woods? It couldn’t be any less original if it tried. The total lack of effort extends through every faucet of the movie. From the rubbish story to the awful acting (from most) to the bad CGI effects (baring one). This is a movie that doesn’t try in the slightest to the point of offensiveness.

It’s 72 minutes of wasted time with almost no redeemable qualities except maybe the music and one or two lines of wry dialogue. The major fault with Camp Massacre remains the obvious, it’s so pointless.

Not being original isn’t an issue as originality in horror is hard to come by as everything has been done. If you’ve not got a gripping or interesting story then you have to make up for that elsewhere. Good, defined characters, exciting set-pieces, a memorable villain, splashes of gore and a worthy payoff. Camp Massacre has none of this but worst of all just doesn’t elect any kind of passionate feeling towards it at all.

It will be forgotten the literal minute after it ends.