Horror Movie Review: Camp Twilight (2020)

If you’ve seen one camp-based slasher horror film, you’ve seen most of them, which might seem dismissive, until you watch Camp Twilight do the bare minimum.

Directed by Brandon Amelotte, who co-wrote the story with Chris Clancy and Felissa Rose. It stars Brooklyn Haley, Felissa Rose, Barry Jay Minoff, Tracey Lear, Dave Sheridan, Thomas Haley, and Steven Chase. Alongside cameos from the likes Linnea Quigley and Camille Keaton.

It’s a substantial cast, which should mean Camp Twilight has plenty of blood to spill, yet, shockingly and disappointingly, it’s really tame. Just another aspect of the film that makes it wholly forgettable.

Camp Twilight aka the Forest Lake Preserve has a past, a dark and gruesome past, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great place to camp for the weekend. This is the idea of teachers Ms. Bloom and Mr. Warner, who are taking failing students with them so they can earn extra credit and pass. Of course, it’s not long before the camp’s past becomes the present, and people start to disappear.

Has the person responsible for the fourteen murders in the past returned? Or is there something much more sinister going on? Don’t worry too much about spoilers here, the identity of the killer is very predictable, even if the motivations are all over the place. You might find yourself going cross-eyed at the end when the killer goes on a lengthy rant as way of explanation, but just ends up making the whole story even more stupid.

These are all the aspects of a camp slasher most expect, and Camp Twilight delivers on them in stoic fashion. Throwing in basic characters with obnoxious personalities, comic relief that is more irritating than funny, and insufferable antics dressed up as ‘entertainment’. None of this is objectively bad, and the cast are all game, but it’s not much fun to watch.

The film just lacks imagination, and that point is hammered home by the look of the killer too. Wearing all black, including a ski-mask, it’s such a bland look. Which would be fine if it contrasted with silly chaos and carnage elsewhere. That’s not the case though, and when it comes to the killer stalking, the film is deadly serious. This film could have stood out if it just tried to be fun.

What should have been fun was a large cast being offed in imaginatively gory ways, but as already stated, that is not what we get here. In fact, most deaths are off-screen, and the few times we do see a bit of blood, it’s not impressive. Which sums up Camp Twilight completely, a wholly unimpressive horror film that elects no passion or excitement.