Movies That Suck: Memorial Valley Massacre (Son of Sleepaway Camp)

Yep, we've got another lousy wilderness slasher movie here, folks. Brace yourselves. This one I first heard of when the Cinema Snob reviewed it under its alternate title of Son of Sleepaway Camp, even though he began the review by referring to it by its more well-known title of Memorial Valley Massacre and acting baffled when the alternate title came up. Son of Sleepaway Camp is a title that was dreamed up for the movie's international release, complete with music from the score of Sleepaway Camp and some pornographic insert shots. Make no mistake, though; there's no connection between this and that franchise. (According to a producers' acknowledgement credit during the ending credits, the shooting title seems to have been Memorial Day.) In any case, the first time I saw this movie myself was in late 2017, as it was part of that Blood Feast DVD collection that my friend, Jeff Burr, left with me. The title sounded familiar but it wasn't until I began watching it that I realized I was already aware of this movie, thanks to the Cinema Snob, and it also didn't take me long to realize that it was every bit as bad as it looked on his show. Like The Final Terror, this is a movie that has very little to offer slasher fans: there are few memorable or likable characters to grasp onto, the kills are lame and devoid of any memorable gore effects (for a set called Blood Feast, it only had one truly gory movie in it: Pieces), the story is completely uninteresting, with a revelation that you don't give a crap about, and, unlike The Final Terror, not even the setting is that memorable or nice to look at in how it's photographed. This is easily one of the prime examples of the slasher genre at its absolute nadir.

It's Memorial Day weekend and a new campground at the pristine and beautiful Memorial Valley is supposed to be open for business. However, Allen Sangster, the man whose development corporation is behind the project, is not at all happy when he's told that the park isn't totally ready due to strange incidents and accidents, like the death of a construction worker and the body of a dog being found at the bottom of the well meant to be the place's water supply. Despite these setbacks, Sangster insists that the park open on time and so, George Webster, the man hired to be the ranger, tells those waiting to get in that they're going to have to rough it while staying there. Sangster's son, David, a naturalist major at college, arrives at the camp for a job and his father allows him to work as an assistant ranger, partly so he has somebody there to make sure Webster doesn't screw things up. Webster makes it very clear to David that he doesn't appreciate his presence and immediately puts him in his place, telling him that he's working for him, not with him. Despite the camp's facilities being slightly more primitive than they expected, the people pour into the campsite, among them a motorcycle gang, a couple with a very large and spoiled son, a former general with a soundproof camper, and an independent, self-reliant woman who doesn't appreciate David's flirting with her at all. Little do the campers know that, as they roam around and sully it with their careless littering, they're being watched by an axe-wielding, caveman-like hermit who lives in the hills and who isn't too keen on letting them dirty up the pristine wilderness he calls home. As the campers begin to fall victim to him, David comes to realize that Webster may know more about what's happening than he's letting on.

The film was directed by Robert C. Hughes, another director who I can find virtually no info on or even a definitive photo of. All I can say about him is that his first credit on his IMDB filmography is working as the director and writer of a 1982 documentary short called Wild Rides, after which he directed his first feature, 1986's Hunter's Blood, which featured Clu Gulager and Bruce Glover, among others. Following that, he directed another documentary, Playboy: Bedtime Stories, episodes of a kid's science show called Dr. Science, and before Memorial Valley Massacre, he did a movie that will probably be featured on another Schlocktober down the road if I ever see it: Zadar! Cow from Hell (sounds kind of like something you'd expect from Troma, doesn't it?) After this film, he directed a crime comedy called Down the Drain (which he also co-wrote a couple of songs for) and his last credit is directing a 1994 TV movie called Lusty Liaisons II (I didn't know there was a Lusty Liaisons I); following that, he pretty much fell off the face of the Earth.

Our lead, David Sangster (Mark Mears), is your typical nice but bland young protagonist. He shows up at the opening of the Memorial Valley campground to work out in the fresh air and sunshine, rather than as an executive for his father's corporation, like he wanted him to. Unfortunately, he's made to work as an assistant to George Webster, the would-be park's ranger, who doesn't like him from the get-go. No matter what David does or how much work he puts into something, Webster is always down on him about being there as someone to keep an eye on him for his dad (stemming from a comment Allen Sangster made) or for being a college boy who he thinks doesn't know what he's doing. Initially, David also doesn't have much luck with Cheryl, a strong-minded woman who tells him right off the bat that she came up there to be by herself. Despite these hiccups, David enjoys being out in Memorial Valley, which he visited a lot with his father when he was a kid and has loved ever since, admiring it for being one of a kind in terms of some of the plants and terrain found there. His poetic musings about the valley, which he's described as nature's "inner sanctum," eventually win Cheryl over and the two of them get together. But, things start to go downhill when one of the campers is found dead, his face with numerous marks all over it. Everyone says it was a bear attack, as one was seen outside of a tent, but David isn't so sure, as the marks look too clean. He's even more dumbfounded when Webster refuses to let him call the police or his father, and refuses to close the place down, besides. They continue to butt heads the next day, when everyone is out looking for the "bear," especially when Webster learns that David warned some of the campers that things weren't as they seemed, and continues to dismiss more strange things they find, until they come across a victim with an axe buried in his chest, proving that the killer has been a person rather than an animal. Moreover, David knows that Webster knew it was a person this whole time and the two of them get into a bit of a struggle over it, needing to be separated. More people are killed and this time, when David tries to contact the police, he finds that all of the available radios have been smashed. Come nightfall, David laments that he knows why his father agreed to go with the idea of the park, as he was just going to build more and more around it until he completely demolished the valley, implying that his dad is partly to blame for what's happened. At the end of the movie, Webster sends David and Cheryl away while he stays to deal with the killer himself. By the time they return with help, it's too late, and David tells the authorities that they won't ever find the killer, as he knows the wilderness too well.

Allen Sangster is not the only person who wants to keep the campgrounds open, no matter what: George Webster (John Kerry), the man who's hired to be the place's ranger. In fact, you find out that he's the one who sold Sangster on building the park and, despite the problems they're having on opening weekend, decides to let the campers in, telling them they're going to have to rough it for a bit while staying there. He also doesn't care for the presence of David Sangster, who is made his assistant by his father, telling him, "I didn't ask you to come up here; in fact, I don't even want you here, because you're just going to be in the way. But your daddy gave us both a job, so I'm in no position to tell you not to stick around. Huh? That clear?" He makes David stay at the camp's store with Deke, shows him no respect at all, seeing him as just a college boy who doesn't know how to work outdoors and a potential "corporate spy," and tells him to keep quiet about any strange goings on. It doesn't help that Webster tends to drink, making him all the more antisocial and hateful. Speaking of the strange happenings, Webster also clearly knows or, at the very least, suspects something that he's not telling David or anyone else and can sometimes be seen trying to track whatever it is. You later find out that he was a part of the Vietnam special forces and that he was the best tracker there ever was. You also learn that he had a kid once but the kid was abducted by a drifter and the two of them were last seen in Memorial Valley. He's been searching for the kid ever since and, if you read my review of The Final Terror, you know where this is going: the killer in the hills is Webster's son. It's almost the same, exact setup as that movie, only reversed, with the child now being the killer rather than the parent. Webster talked Sangster into building the park in Memorial Valley so he could be there all the time in order to keep tracking his son, whom he's been trying to find for the last seventeen years. Despite the deaths that occurred, which he knows are likely his son's handiwork, he doesn't warn anyone else or allow David to contact the police, going as far as to demolish the store's phone. I don't know why he doesn't just send everyone home, as David suggests, and then stay there by himself, continuing the search without any distractions, unless he thinks that might attract suspicion to himself or knows that the presence of all the people and their littering will bring his son out of hiding. Whatever the case, Webster does get his wish when his son reveals himself and, after sending David and Cheryl away, he chases after him. He corners him and soon realizes that he is, indeed, his son, but before they can be reunited, he triggers a trap that his son set up and is impaled on a spiked log that launches itself at him (again, sound familiar?)

The first interaction between Cheryl (Lesa Lee) and David Sangster involves her coming close to accidentally chopping his toe off when he surprises her while she's trying to hammer a tent stake into the ground with the blunt end of a small hatchet. Already annoyed with him, she makes it clear that she's not interested in his companionship, calling him "Dudley-Do-Right" and telling him that she came up to the camp to be by herself, commenting after he walks away, "And I thought they all lived in the city: dorks in the wilderness." However, that frosty demeanor of hers changes when she hears David's poetic description of Memorial Valley as "nature's inner sanctum," a viewpoint that she shares. When a rainstorm dampens the mood for a big get together the campers were having, she allows David to see her back to her tent and invites him in to dry off and warm up. Inside the tent, the two of them very quickly become more and more close, leading them to remove their clothes and wrap themselves in towels, before David talks Cheryl into allowing him to give her his "bodily warmth." From that moment on, the two of them are an item, with Cheryl sticking by David as they comb the campground, searching for a "bear," and after then realizing that the killer is actually a person. At one point, when a drunk George Webster is lamenting that he never found his son for so many years, despite how talented a tracker he is, she tries to comfort him, telling him that it's not his fault. By the end of the movie, when they're the only three left, Cheryl goes with David when Webster sends them away so he can confront his son by himself. They promise to return with help, but by the time they do, it's too late for Webster. (By the way, I only know that her name is Cheryl because of the credits. They don't mention it at all in the movie.)

One of the few characters whom I kind of like is Deke (Jimmy Justice), George Webster's old friend who runs the park's store. He comes off as just a cool, laid back guy, one who shares David Sangster's feeling that there's something very special about Memorial Valley, both wondrous and, at times, a bit eerie, given the strange things that take place there. During a scene where everyone is held up by a rainstorm that moves in, Deke tells David, who notices Webster wandering around out in the rain, that he met him when they were in Vietnam and that he was "Special Forces Solo Enemy Reconnaissance," the best tracker there was. That's when he tells David about how, after Webster's wife left him, his son was kidnapped and an attempt catch the abductor when he tried to pick up his ransom in exchange for the kid backfired, leading to them losing them in the woods. He also mentions that they went as far as to bring Webster himself to do the tracking but it was too late and that he's been searching for his son ever since. When one of the campers is found dead, Deke goes along with Webster's belief that a bear was the culprit but he does seem as concerned as David over his decision not to close the park. He joins up with the hunting parties when they try to figure out what's going on and, when it's discovered that the killer is actually a person and that Webster thinks it may be his son, Deke has to break up a potential fight between him and David. That night, after they've gathered just about everyone up at Webster's cabin, Deke comments on how what's been going on is no mindless violence but rather, is vengeance; he also tries to help Webster relax when he drunkenly starts going on about how he's never been able to find his son all these years. Not long after that, Deke dies a pretty horrific death when, while trying to put gas in the generator when it suddenly goes out, he's startled by a victim's body hanging down from a tree and he spills the gas at his feet, the killer then promptly setting him on fire with a torch.

Another character I like just because of how cool and badass he comes off is Lt. Brig. General Mintz (William Smith), who's staying out in an isolated camper with his wife, Pepper (Linda Honeyman) (nothing to say about her, other than she's pretty and her name is actually Gloria but, ever since she married Mintz, her name has been changed to Pepper). Smith really makes the most of his character, coming off as real tough and worldly with his gruff, gravely voice, and has memorable lines like, when Webster asks him if he has Jack Daniels, he heartily responds, "Does a bear shit in the woods?" He's content to stay with Pepper in their camper, which they say is soundproof (so much so that they didn't hear whatever turned over their garbage can outside) and has everything they need, saying, "You might say I'm in touch and out of touch at the same time." While Webster is first visiting with them to tell them of their overturned garbage can, Mintz asks him if he'd like to join them in watching a 1958 game between the Army and the Navy, telling him, "Nothing short of World War III is gonna bother you here." The next day, when they're searching for the "bear," Mintz joins the hunt, though he says he's only going to spare two hours because of his bad leg. Nothing happens while he's with the group, other than one of the campers, Rick, getting caught up in a snare, and when Webster decides to rest for a bit before going back out to look for two members of the biker gang who are missing, Mintz heads back to his camper. Later, when more people have turned up dead, one of the campers, Tom, is sent to warn the general that everybody is supposed to meet up at Webster's cabin for safety in numbers. However, Mintz isn't going anywhere and tells Tom to go and tell Webster that, adding that he likes a little one on one. That turns out to be a big mistake, as the killer, after dispatching Tom, messes with the camper's gas line and the thing blows up when Mintz goes to light a cigarette.

The motorcycle gang is, as expected, made up of a bunch of rebel-rousers: three guys, Eddie (Eddie D.), who's the leader; Leon (Dan S. Fambeau); and Morie (Charles Douglass); and their respective wives, Flo (Christina Sullivan), Emily (Karen Russell, using the pseudonym of "Dusty Woods"), and Sara (Livingston Holmes). When they arrive at the camp ground, despite initially being upset that the other members of their gang have effectively given up the lifestyle, they only have one thing on their mind: partying like there's no tomorrow. They don't make much of an attempt to get in good with anyone else: they come off as a bunch of smart-asses when Deke tries to tell ghost stories while they wait out the rain and the men make lewd remarks when one of the campers, Wendy, starts parading out in the rain in a sensual manner, much to their women's chagrin (they immediately go to satisfy those urges with them, however, so the women don't stay mad at them for long). They're not around when George Webster asks for volunteers to go hunt for the bear and so, David Sangster tells them about it, as well as the news that the roads may end up getting washed out by more rain, possibly stranding them there for another week, news that doesn't bother them one bit. They're nice and accommodating enough when David is talking with them, though some of them mock him about his "safari" when he goes to join the hunting party, and once he's out of earshot, Eddie suggests they go hunt for the motorbike that Walter, the camper who was killed, was riding, figuring it may be worth a lot in spare parts. While Morie isn't too keen on doing so with a supposed bear running around, Eddie, who's armed with a handgun, and Leon decide to go for it, making fun of Morie for being no better than those who didn't have the guts to actually show up. But, no sooner do they get out there than they end up lost and unable to find their way back. A couple of hours later, with their wives now concerned, Morie tells Webster about it but he decides to give them some more time to get back and says that if they're not back once they've rested up, then they'll go looking for them. But, during the time they're resting, Eddie and Leon find the killer's cave and poke around in it a little bit, finding some of the stuff he's accumulated in there. However, the killer doesn't take kindly to intruders, as he jumps in, axes Eddie in the chest, and chases Leon through the woods until he forces him into a pit with a bunch of spikes on the bottom. Once their bodies are found, the others are told, with the wives being distraught while Morie is angry about it. Everyone is then assembled over at Webster's cabin, but when they hear the general's camper blow up, they then realize that Emily, who earlier accompanied Deke to the store for some supplies, is missing. It turns out she's wandering the woods (eventually, you see that she's distraught and in a daze), and stays out there until dark. She then tries to get back to the cabin, only for the killer to grab her hair from above and yank her up into a tree. Later, her body tumbles down and startles Deke as he's filling up the generator with gas, leading him to being set ablaze. The other members of the gang die when the killer uses a bulldozer to push a pickup truck on top of them from over a hill.

Another group of campers are the teenage trio of Tom (Zig Roberts), Rick (Michael Inglese), and Wendy (Erin O'Leary). The two guys are a couple of punk troublemakers, acting like complete douches to Walter's parents when they come by their campsite, searching for him, and they're also constantly vying for the affections of the free-spirited, though still pretty bitchy, Wendy, who teases them about which one she does like, saying they'll have to wait until that night to find out. Come that night, when it's pouring rain, Wendy refuses to let them in the tent, telling them to go sleep in the car! But, after they've stood out there for a long time in the cold and rain, yelling at her and calling her a cocktease, she finally relents and lets them in. After having the gall to complain about them being wet, she starts teasing them again, acting as if she's going to sleep with at least one of them. Tom isn't about to fall for that again (though, Rick says he's willing), saying they're doing nothing but sleeping, but then, Rick says he hears something outside their. Wendy thinks he's just trying to scare her, while Tom thinks it's just a racoon, but then, it turns out to be a bear, which claws and almost comes completely into their tent but their screaming drives it away and it walks off into the woods. But, they then find Walter's body on the ground nearby, which leads to the common belief that he was killed by the bear they saw.

The next day, when Webster is taking volunteers to hunt the bear, Tom and Rick are eager to join in, with Rick saying that he wants to get even for the bear tearing the tent (he says, "The bear drew first blood," making me think, "You're making me think of an infinitely better movie. Not wise!"). Initially, Wendy wants no part of it but they talk her into going by spooking her with the idea of being by herself at the campsite, should the bear show up again. During the hunt, Rick and Tom spend their time goofing off with their guns more than being serious, much to Webster and Mintz's annoyance, and then, Rick gets snared in a trap that suspends him upside down from a tree. After they cut him down, Webster, figuring the trap was set up by poachers, decides to have everyone head back to the camp to rest before going to look for Eddie and Leon when he finds out that they're lost. Once the kids are back at their campsite, Tom and Rick decide to go for another try at the bear, while Wendy wants to go home, as she's starting to get scared over what's happening. They leave her at the campsite with a gun, while they go to rejoin the others, who are back out in the woods. The group comes across the killer's cave and find Eddie's body inside. Webster sends Rick back to camp to tell the others what they've found, while they haul the body back. But, on his way back, Rick ends up getting stabbed and shoved into the spiked pit Leon fell into. When they happen across this, Tom runs back to camp distraught, where the rest of the party catches up and tells the others what's happened. David tells Tom to go get Wendy and bring her back, along with General Mintz. Tom stops by Mintz's camper first but the general isn't keen upon going and sends him back to tell Webster that. As he's leaving, he decides to play hero and check the area first, when he comes across the killer fiddling with the camper's gas tank. Before he can do anything, he's attacked and stabbed, but it's revealed that he survived and managed to stumble back to their campsite, only to be accidentally shot and killed by a frightened Wendy. Wendy herself is then grabbed and groped by the killer. She tries to placate him, allowing him to satisfy himself with her and telling him she'll make him feel good, but he then squeezes her really tight, until her spine breaks.

When the couple of Rita (B.B. Selco) and Chuck (Michael Spenard) are first introduced when they go up to Tom, Rick, and Wendy in order to ask them if they've seen their son, Walter (David S. Perry), they get insulted for no reason other than the fact that those kids were being complete assholes. But, it turns out this family can hardly be called likable in and of themselves. For one, Walter is an overgrown man-child who's nothing but a troublemaker, taking a knife that Eddie threw into a sign for no reason other than because he can and blatantly disobeying one of the park's rules and preparing to ride an ATV through it. David stops him by taking away his keys but then, he's confronted by his parents, with Rita saying that she thinks the rule is stupid and that they have a lot of money invested in those vehicles. She doesn't give a damn about the fragile, natural balance of the valley, demanding they give the keys back, but Webster refuses to give up the keys, saying they'll get them back when they check out. After they walk away, the dynamics of this family become clear: Chuck, while the most reasonable of them, is completely henpecked and dominated by both his wife and son, with Rita insisting that Walter doesn't steal stuff anymore after Chuck accuses him of stealing the knife he now has. The way she pats him on the head after Chuck stomps off, saying, "Do you, baby?", shows that she absolutely dotes on her son, thinking he can do wrong at all. Well, later on, Walter uses the knife to get into the camp store's office and take the keys out of the desk drawer... as well as Webster's watch and an apple. He then takes off on his dirt-bike, causing a ruckus when he drives through the campgrounds, but when he reaches the deep woods, he gets attacked and knocked off his bike by the killer. He makes a big mistake by cutting the killer across the face with the knife, leading him to snap his neck and then bash his face repeatedly out of vengeance. His body is later found outside of Tom, Rick, and Wendy's tent and, after the troopers are called, he's taken away and his distraught parents follow the troopers out of the park.

Veteran actor Cameron Mitchell, who ultimately had nearly 250 movie and TV shows to his credit, appears at the beginning of the movie as Allen Sangster, the man who runs the development corporation that built the park. He's only there to come off as the typical arrogant, unscrupulous businessman whose only concern is that the park opens when it's supposed to. He's not at all fazed or cares about the fact that a construction worker has recently been killed or that the construction site's guard dog was tossed down a well (after the latter, he asks if the water is fit enough to drink, to which Webster asks, "You want to try it?") When Webster decides to open the park, despite all of the setbacks they've run into, Sangster is more than happy about this. He's then surprised to find David waiting at the park gate for work, since he'd hoped he'd take a job as an important executive. But, he decides it might be a good idea to have someone around to, "Watch my interest," a statement that instantly causes a feeling of resentment from Webster. He then leaves, again telling Webster not to screw things up, since he has a lot riding on this investment. After that, he's never seen again, not even at the end of the movie, when just about everyone is dead and the camp is left to be reclaimed by mother nature.

It really is amazing how much this movie is like The Final Terror, especially in regards to the killer (John Caso), who's billed in the credits as "the Hermit." An inverse to the situation with Eggar and his mother in that film, here the killer is Steven Webster, George Webster's long-lost son, who was kidnapped by a drifter when he was very little. After an attempt by the FBI went south and they lost the kidnapper and the boy in the woods, he grew up out in the wild and took to living virtually like a caveman. Literally, his lair is a cave up in the hills, he wears an outfit that's made up of animal furs and skins, his hair is a big, matted mess, and has neanderthal-like features in his face and crooked, ugly teeth. He seems to be unable to talk, instead making a bunch of primitive grunts and yells. It's unclear whether or not he knows who Webster is or if he's even aware of he himself is. After he kills Walter, he spies Webster's watch, which Walter stole, as it lies on the ground and picks it up. When he opens it and hears the chime inside, it sends him into a sudden rage and he stabs into Walter's face again and again and again. Despite that, he does keep the watch. Later, when he sneaks into Webster's office, he sees a picture of a family who I assume is Webster, his ex-wife, and young Steven, and this, again, whips him into a frenzy, leading him to destroy the shortwave radio and completely sabotage the jeep so they can't escape. In addition, there's a hint of interest in human sexuality, in how he watches David and Cheryl making love from outside their tent and, when he corners Wendy, seems to be interested in her sexually, only to become frustrated and breaking her spine with a powerful bear hug. There's potential for some psychological insight into the killer here but, this movie being what it is, makes these incidents into nothing but a bunch of randomness with no clear meaning.

One thing is definitely clear, though: this guy is not happy about the campground being built at Memorial Valley, endangering the delicate balance of the place's natural order. He's shown to be a real friend to the place's wildlife, in how he frees a rabbit that gets snared into a trap and, when he sees a mouse crawling around his cave, picks it up and kisses it, and so, he's going to do what he can to make sure that none of them get out alive. He throws a guard dog down a well, likely caused the death of a construction worker that's mentioned, puts some poisonous snakes in a couple's cooler, and sets up various traps and snares in the woods, like a lasso vine trap, a rope that he stretches to knock people to the ground, and a spiked pit, among others. Despite growing up in the wild, the killer is well aware of how to use various tools as weapons, as well as how to sabotage vehicles and communication devices in order to render them useless or deadly. By the end of the movie, he's managed to cause a man to set himself on fire and sends a bulldozer into Webster's cabin, demolishing it completely. Once he's done all this, he seems intent on getting Webster to follow him into the woods, trying to lure him into some deathtraps he's set up. It gets to the point where Webster corners him and asks him if he knows who he is and if he is Steven Webster. The killer seems to understand what he's saying to some degree and takes out his watch and shows it to him, opening it up to play the chime. Thinking he's realized who he is (we don't know if that's the case, as it's never said if Webster's watch worked as any sort of connection between them when he was a little kid), Webster walks towards him, only to trigger a trap and get impaled on a branch that has a bunch of spikes embedded in it. Immediately realizing his mistake, the killer tries to warn him to stay back but it's too late, and once Webster is dead, the killer walks up to him, places his watch on the ground near his hanging arm, and sobs about it.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: movies like Memorial Valley Massacre are really hard to review because there is nothing engaging about them. The direction and cinematography here, for example, are very ho-hum and standard, with Robert C. Hughes and his DP doing little to make it spring to life (there are some instances of slo-mo and some sequences where the film cross-cuts between a victim and the killer stalking them nearby, but that's it), and the characters are very ho-hum and uninteresting for the most part, with a lot of bad acting to go around. The location, which was Gold Creek Ranch in California, is nice enough to look at, with its green fields, lush forests, and lovely hills, but it's nothing special at all and comes off as kind of generic. The production design by Douglas Forsmith (whose credit, oddly, is the very last one shown at the end of the final crawl) is very so-so, with the central hub of the park being the general store, with a small office and pretty cramped main room, and a little storage shed out in front of that, along with George Webster's isolated cabin nearby, which you never see the inside of. It is an interesting change of pace for a horror film set at a campsite to involve people either sleeping in tents or in campers, rather than cabins with bunks, like in so many summer camp slashers, but there's not much to say about that, otherwise. The only really noteworthy location in the film is the killer's cave, which is a small space with a fire-pit in the center, a skeleton that's presumably that of the man who kidnapped him years ago, a wallet containing a newspaper clipping of said kidnapping, a handful of human skulls, and trinkets and other items that he keeps in a small box, but, again, there's not much to say. The traps that he sets are also pretty "eh": foot snares, cords to throw people off their feet, pits with spikes on the bottom, and trip-wires to trigger rock-slides, falling trees, and spiked branches.

Speaking of which, the kills are very uninteresting, with makeup effects that are nothing to write home about, either, both of which really suck when you're talking about a slasher film. The corpse of a German shepherd is found at the bottom of a well and a Doberman pinscher is killed off-screen; Walter gets his neck broken and his face bashed a bunch of times; Eddie gets an axe in his chest; Leon is chased and forced down into a spiked pit; Rick gets speared and pushed into the same pit; Tom gets stabbed into the chest and ends up getting shot; General Mintz and Pepper get blown up; Wendy gets her spine broken with a powerful bear hug; Emily gets yanked up into a tree and her body later falls down from the branches; Deke is set on fire; Morie, Flo, and Sara get a pickup truck pushed on top of them by a bulldozer (in the shot of it falling down the hill and coming to a rest, you don't see any sign of them, but when it cuts away and then cuts back, now they're suddenly underneath, squished); and Webster is impaled by the spiked tree branch. You can tell they had no budget for any elaborate, Friday the 13th-style deaths, and likely put all of their money in setpieces and stunts like the exploding camper, Deke running around on fire, the bulldozer destroying Webster's cabin and pushing the pickup truck over the hill, and the last few traps, like the rock-slide and the falling tree. Ironically, this only makes the movie all the more forgettable.

The movie also tries to have an environmental message, with the notion of Memorial Valley being this pristine area of wilderness that is one of a kind, has never been touched before, and now, people are coming in, throwing trash and junk everywhere, wrecking the ground and foliage with ATVs, and disrupting the fragile natural order of things. It's also the killer's motivation behind what he does, as he's lived out in the wilderness his entire life and is not going to let them destroy it, and by the end of the movie, once everyone but David and Cheryl have been killed, the decision is made to let nature reclaim it. Again, there's potential for some genuine commentary there but it doesn't go any farther than being a horror version of, "Give a hoot, don't pollute," implying that you'll get murdered if you do. That's right, here, you die for being messy, not for having premarital sex or doing drugs.

Finally, the movie is agonizingly dull. When you have few characters you care about, no interesting or really cool kills, and an uninspiring setting, it's pretty bad, but add to that the fact that the "action" sequences are not shot or edited in a way of creating excitement, most of the middle is spent watching these people fart around the woods and occasionally getting picked off, and that the fifth of the movie goes on longer than it feels like it should, and you've got a formula for a really boring viewing experience, even if it is only 93 minutes. You'd hope that, when Webster follows his son into the forest at the end of the movie, it would lead to some kind of exciting confrontation, but instead, Webster simply dodges a couple of deathtraps, corners the killer, discovers that he likely is his son, and then, with his guard down, triggers another deathtrap that does him in. As with a lot of these movies we've been talking about this month, by the time that moment comes, I'm way past caring.

The movie takes its sweet time in getting going. While all the would-be campers wait to get into Memorial Valley at the gate, including David Sangster, Allen Sangster is arguing with George Webster and another man, Brady, about how the park isn't ready, even though it's opening weekend. Brady mentions something being wrong with the water supply and in the next scene, two other men pull the body of a dog that was meant to guard the construction site out of the well and dump it on the ground in front of everyone. With that, plus the death of someone at the construction site, Brady and his men decide that they've had it and quit the job. Despite this setback and the fact that there's no running water on the grounds, the place opens up anyway and David is allowed by his father to work with Webster, much to the latter's displeasure. Webster announces to the waiting crowd that, for the time being, the place is going to be without restroom facilities and they'll have to do their business out in the woods, with bio-degradable toilet paper, which sends some of them heading back to home. Once they're gone, Webster gives those who stay the rules and they're then allowed in. Everyone heads into the fields and forests and begin setting up their tents and campers, as well as causing damage to the scenery and cluttering the place with trash. Elsewhere, Webster and David are taking some supplies to the storage shed, when Webster walks in and sees that the back window has been knocked off to where it's hanging by the upper-left corner. He pushes it back into place before David sees it and when he asks, Webster says it was nothing major and they'll fix it later. David then walks away and Webster grabs some toilet paper before leaving the shed. When he closes the door behind him, it's revealed that the killer was standing behind the door the whole time. He looks out the window, watching them walk away, when a pickup truck pulls up with a couple of people and a Doberman pinscher in the back. One of the people gets the dog, Byron, riled up, making him bark and bare his teeth, and his barking upsets the killer, who clamps his hands over his ears and lets out an angry yell, before proceeding to ransack the inside of the shed. After being constantly provoked, Byron jumps out of the back of the truck and runs to the shed, walking through an opening in its wall that the killer kicked open. Seeing him, he starts barking at him, the killer backing up into the corner, afraid. He continues barking and antagonizing him until the killer decides he's had enough and lunges at him. The film cuts back outside and you can hear Byron whimpering before falling silent.

Later, David and Webster are digging a couple of latrines when Webster decides what they've dug is good enough. That's when he first takes out his watch and it plays its distinctive chime when it pops open. Suddenly, they hear someone yell for help and go running, coming across a couple who tell them that there are snakes all over their food. It then cuts to their campsite, where there are indeed snakes slithering and writhing all over their table. When they get there, David says that the snakes are poisonous (they're clearly just garter snakes, though), and Webster takes his shovel to them. David then runs to the camper, grabs a fire extinguisher out of the front, and sprays the snakes with it to immobilize and freeze them, making them easier to smash with the shovel. Once the snakes are all dead, the husband of the couple decides that this is the last straw and that they're leaving, despite David trying to talk them out of it. David figures someone had to put those snakes in their cooler but Webster tells him to keep quiet about it and not spread it around. Despite complimenting him for how he handled those snakes, Webster makes it clear that he still doesn't care for David and gives him some fliers to put up before driving off to do some more work. Later, while he's putting the fliers up, David sees Walter is about to take off on his dirt-bike, and when he refuses to listen to him, he takes away the keys. That's when, after arguing with Rita about it, Webster takes the keys himself and tells them that they'll get them back when they check out. Deep in the woods, the killer is shown somersaulting off of a tree branch, landing on the ground, and running off through the woods and hills, when he comes across a rabbit that's gotten snared in one of his tripwires, this one being for a makeshift alarm with rattling cans. He untangles the rabbit's foot and lets it go, before re-straightening the wire. He then heads to his nearby cave and, after putting some more sticks on the fire, lies down beside it, pulls some berries out of his pouch, and eats them. He spies a mouse on a nearby rock, picks it up, and feeds it a little bit of berry, kissing it gently on its head.

At the camp store, Walter futzes around and, spying the door to the office, he makes sure that no one's around before using the knife he took from Eddie to open up the door and sneak inside. He rummages around Webster's desk a little bit and opens up the main drawer, wherein he finds the keys. He also takes Webster's watch from in the drawer, as well as an apple from the fruit basket. He heads back to his dirt-bike, puts on his helmet, and takes off, driving through the campgrounds before heading off into the woods. In his cave, the killer is still sitting there, when he hears the sound of the dirt-bike and runs outside after it. Walter continues driving on down a dirt road, splashing through a puddle, driving past a van coming up the road from the opposite direction, and over a bunch of shrubbery. Unbeknownst to him, the killer is chasing him along the woods' edge, wielding a club in his hand. At one point, Walter appears to get a quick glimpse of him and stops and looks around for a bit. Not seeing anyone, he puts his helmet back on and continues onward, still being tailed by the killer. He gets ahead of him and, ducking down behind a tree trunk, he grabs a vine that's stretched between it and another across from it and pulls it taut, knocking him off the bike when he comes through. The dirt-bike gets turned over on its side and the killer attacks it, beating it with his club, as it whirls around in place. He turns around and faces Walter, who's sat up, and approaches him, in a manner that's somewhat threatening. Panicking, Walter takes out his knife and slices the killer across his left cheek. He yells and moans in pain, before coming at Walter, kicking the knife out of his hand, grabbing him from behind with a headlock, and snaps his neck. Walter's body collapses to the ground and the killer then looks down at the ground and spies Webster's watch, which fell out of Walter's pocket. He picks it up and opens it, causing it to play the chime. The sound of it causes him to have a complete freakout and repeatedly beat the body with his club.

Later that night, when a rainstorm drowns out a party that all of the campers attempt to have at the picnic area and they're forced to take cover, David notices Webster roaming around out in the rain. He asks Deke what he's doing and he's told that Webster is tracking, as well as that he's one of the best trackers ever. Deke then goes on to tell David about Webster's past, about his kidnapped son, and how he's been searching for the past seventeen years. Wendy then jumps out into the rain and starts making a spectacle of herself by dancing around provocatively, which is enjoyed not only by Rick and Tom but by the men of the biker gang as well. When she starts to get a little too much attention for their liking, Rick and Tom had back to the tent with her, while the bikers do the same with their wives. David then escorts Cheryl back to her tent, the two of them passing by Rick and Tom, who are stuck out in the cold ran because Wendy won't let them in the tent. At her tent, Cheryl invites David in and the two of them quickly become very, very close, to the point where they take off their wet clothes and proceed to make love. Little do they know that the wild hermit is standing nearby, watching the silhouette of their lovemaking created by their lantern. Back at the other tent, Wendy finally lets the boys in and starts to tease them again, but Tom decides they're not falling for it this time and says that all they're going to do is go to sleep. Rick then says that there's something out in their campsite, which Wendy thinks is just a ploy to scare her, while Tom figures it's probably just a racoon. A snout pokes through the lower, unzipped tent opening and Wendy thinks it's a dog. But, the animal pushes itself through the opening, revealing itself to be a large bear. All three of them scream, prompting the bear to retreat back outside. They peek out into the rain and they watch the bear disappear into the woods. Scanning their flashlight, they spot Walter's body lying beside the nearby picnic and let out another series of screams, which David and Cheryl both hear from nearby. In the next scene, Webster, David, and Deke bring Walter's body into the camp store, clearing off a table and setting him down on it. Looking at his scarred up face, Webster deduces that it was a bear attack, likely the one seen at the campsite, but David doesn't think so, as he says the wounds look too clean to be the work of an animal. David goes to call the police but Webster stops him, saying he'll do it, and he also stops him from calling his father. Webster says that he'll notified by the proper authorities and, to make sure David doesn't go around him, he rips the receiver out of the box. He then tells David that they still have the shortwave radio to use to call the police. The rangers are then called and Walter's body is loaded into an ambulance, which his grieving parents will follow to the hospital. The head ranger, Paul, tells Webster that the rain has made the roads impassible and has Memorial Valley isolated, meaning they won't be able to get them any help until the next week. Webster tells him that he's going to organize a hunting party for the bear the next morning. Once they're all gone, Webster makes one thing clear to David: he's not closing Memorial Valley.

The next morning, with just about everybody gathered at the picnic area, Webster tells them that he's organizing a hunting party and volunteers are to show up at the store, where they'll be supplied with rifles and ammunition. He adds that the roads could wash out and that they'd have them back in service by the following week, saying that the place will remain open. Many of the campers, however, decide to go ahead and leave (incidentally, the scene of the remaining characters watching them leave at the store feels like it should take place later on, as it looks as if they're there to begin the hunt; moreover, General Mintz, whom Webster had to talk into joining the hunt, is there as well). David goes and tells the bikers of the situation and about the hunt for the bear, before leaving to head back to the store. Once he's gone, Eddie decides to go looking for Walter's missing dirt-bike, thinking it might be good for spare parts, and Leon decides to go with him. Armed with a handgun, as well as some extra beers, the two of them head off into the woods. Meanwhile, Rick and Tom talk Wendy into joining the hunt with them, while Webster does the same with Mintz at his camper. After he agrees to help, Mintz mentions that David stopped by that morning and warned him and Pepper that things "weren't liked they seemed," but Webster assures the general David doesn't know what he's talking about. All of the hunters then gather at the store, armed with their rifles, and Webster tells them they're going to make a sweep out to the south back into camp. They then head out, while deep in the woods, Eddie and Leon stop for a break. Deciding that they're probably not going to find the bike, they decide to go back, but then realize they don't know which way is back. With no other options, they decide to take a path they find behind the spot where they're resting. Elsewhere, with the hunting party, Rick and Tom are running around, yelling like idiots, with Webster warning them that they'll scare the bear away. The two of them run on ahead, when Rick gets snared and hung upside down from a tree. Webster gives David a knife and he cuts him down, Rick falling on his back. Webster figures it's the type of trap a poacher would make, but David notes that the snare was a vine rather than a rope. Deciding that there might be more of those traps around, making it unsafe, Webster decides to have everyone head back to the camp. As they do, the killer is shown to be watching them.

Meanwhile, while Eddie and Leon find themselves in a small ravine, Morie meets up with the party and tells them that they're out there. Although David, Cheryl, Rick, and Tom are willing to go looking for them, Webster says that they should give them some time to get back first. Mintz decides to go on back to his camper, while everyone heads back to the main campsite. As they do, Deke warns Webster that he feels they shouldn't be out there. Back with Eddie and Leon, Eddie sits down for another break, while Leon heads on up the ravine. The sound of rattling cans echoes and nearby, as he drinks from a stream, the hermit hears it and realizes that someone's in his territory. While sitting down, Eddie looks on the ground and finds his knife, which has blood on it, when Leon calls for him. Eddie joins his friend and shows him that he's found a cave, which looks like it's inhabited. Heading inside, they find the den with the fire-pit and items and tools the killer has accumulated. Now sure that someone lives there, Eddie figures they'll wait for him and let him lead them back to the camp. They then find an old skeleton in a space behind some rocks, and when Leon looks through a wallet next to it, he finds nothing but an old newspaper clipping that reads, "Kidnapped Boy Held for Ransom." Leon finds a skull amongst some candles and decides to take it as a ghoulish souvenir. He goes outside to see it in the light, while Eddie pokes around inside the cave a little more. When he does, he finds a small box full of little items and trinkets, including a tiny photo of what looks like a group of young kids and a tiny toy car. Suddenly, the killer jumps down through a hole in the ceiling, grabs an axe on the ground, uses it to make Eddie miss when he attempts to take a shot at him, kicks him down, and puts the axe in the side of his chest. Leon comes back in, having heard the shot, and is immediately chased outside by the killer, who grabs a spear. Elsewhere, at his cabin, Webster gets an unexpected and unwelcome visit from David, who admonishes him for not doing anything about the gunshot that just sounded through the woods (don't know how they could have heard a gunshot that went off in a cave but, whatever). Webster tells him to get Deke and some volunteers together, while Morie is to stay behind to cover them. Among the volunteers are Rick and Tom again, but this time, Wendy stays at their campsite, armed with Rick's rifle. Once again, everyone meets up at the camp store, loads up, and heads out into the wilderness.

Leon, still clutching the skull that he found, runs through the woods and hills, the killer hot on his heels. While going down the side of a ridge, he trips and falls very roughly. Quickly sitting up, he sees the killer stop across from him, threatening him with the spear. He asks him if he wants the skull and tosses it to him, telling him to just take it and leave him alone, before running off again. Picking up the skull and looking at it, the killer continues the chase, pursuing Leon through some woods and up the side of a hill, where he threatens him with the spear, forcing him up the hill, and over the edge of a pit with spikes lining the bottom, where he's impaled and killed instantly. Elsewhere, the party hears Leon yell, but Webster tells them not to let their imagination run away with itself. Finding a discarded beer can on the ground, Webster knows they're on the right track. Back at his stream, the killer is washing the skull he took from Leon, when he hears rattling cans again, signaling that he has more visitors. The party follows the trail of beer cans to the cave and, inside, they find Eddie's body. Looking at the axe and knowing that the killer has been a person this whole time, David confronts Webster, saying that he knew and that he could have stopped it. Webster says it might be his son, which angers David and the two of them get into a scuffle, having to be pulled apart by Deke, who tells them that they need to get out. Cheryl says they need to warn the others back at camp and Webster, in turn, sends Rick to the camp store to do so, while he and the others stay behind to make a stretcher and haul Eddie's body back. As they start making the stretcher with the large sticks they find in the cave, Rick rushes back along the trail towards the camp. He stops at one point, apparently sensing that he's not alone, but when he scans the area and sees nothing, he heads on, unaware that the killer is following and skirting alongside him. Rick runs on, when he comes to the edge of the spiked pit and sees Leon's body down below. He turns around, only to get speared in the gut and sent falling back into the pit with Leon. As the others head back to camp, carrying Eddie's body on the stretcher, the killer, having made his way back to the camp store, sneaks into the office through the window and looks around. He notices a small picture on the desk, one of Webster, his wife, and son, and picks it up and studies it. The more he looks at it, the more distraught he becomes, until he tosses it aside and ransacks the room, before ducking back out of the window. He then goes to the truck, opens the hood, and rips out its innards, before stabbing at the front right tire and ripping out the radio.

Following the trail back, the party stops when Webster says that he can tell that Rick's trail has now veered off in the wrong direction. He tells them to fan out and see what they can find. It isn't long before they hear Cheryl scream and when they go to her, they find Rick's impaled body lying at the bottom of the pit with Leon's. Deke worries that the killer might be between them and the camp, but Webster tells everyone to clam down. Tom, however, is unable to do that, seeing that his friend has been killed, and runs off, while David takes Cheryl back to the camp. Tom runs back to the store and, out of breath and distraught, sits down, ignoring the others when they ask him to tell them what's going on. The rest of the party arrives and they're told what's happened, with Flo and Emily learning that their husbands are dead. Deke figures that the best thing to do would be to barricade themselves up at Webster's cabin and David tells Tom that they need his help and that he's got to go get Wendy and bring her there. He's told to tell General Mintz to join them as well. Once he takes off, David says they're going to call the police, but when they walk into the store's office, they find that the hermit smashed the radio during his tirade in there earlier. David then goes to try the jeep, which he's told has a CB, but finds the innards ripped out of the engine and that the CB itself has destroyed as well. Before going to get Wendy, Tom stops by Mintz's camper to warn him and Pepper, but Mintz isn't interested in "safety in numbers," telling Tom to tell Webster that he can take care of himself. He's sent away and is about to leave, but when Mintz and Pepper close the camper door, Tom decides to check the perimeter before leaving. Walking along the front of the camper, he looks down its right side and sees the killer fiddling with the vehicle's gas line. He's quickly spotted and attacked, the killer knocking his rifle out of his hands, slamming him against the side of the camper, and stabbed in the chest from behind. The killer pushes his body to the ground and goes back to what he was doing; inside the camper, Mintz thinks he heard something but Pepper says she didn't hear anything.

Everybody prepares to hold up at Webster's cabin, making sure the generators have plenty of gas and with Deke and Emily going to the store to get some food. Morie then shows up and tells Webster and David that all of the vehicles have either been sabotaged or are missing altogether. Back at General Mintz's camper, Pepper asks him if he's doing the right thing by not going back to the camp and he says he is, adding, "Besides, those yahoos couldn't punch their way through a wet cracker anyway." He then flicks his cigarette lighter, when Pepper asks, "Do you smell gas?" Mintz's eyes snap open wide and the camper then explodes in a massive fireball. Everyone hears it at the cabin and, from where it came from, they know it was the general. David is about to take charge and tell everyone what to do, when he notices that Emily is missing; she's then shown wandering the woods in an apparent daze. Meanwhile, at her campsite, Wendy is listening to the radio, when she hears some rustling in the nearby brush. Grabbing the rifle the boys left with her, Wendy calls for them but doesn't get an answer, and goes on the defense, taking cover inside the tent and backing up into one of the corners. She sees some bloody fingers poke through the claw marks that the bear left in the tent and yells at whoever it is to go away or she'll shoot. The person doesn't retreat, so she fires a shot, but ends up shooting and finishing off the seriously injured but still alive Tom. The killer is then revealed to already be in the tent and she tries to get the rifle ready for another shot, only for him to rip it out of her hands. She jumps outside, with him after her, and, unable to get away, she tries to placate him, as he becomes interested in her, grabbing and fondling her. He forces her down on her knees, as she promises to make him feel good. He goes in to hug her, which starts off gentle, but then he squeezes her tighter and tighter. She struggles but is unable to get loose from his grip and then, her spine breaks. He lays her body down on the ground and, after looking it a little longer, flees the scene. David and Webster then come across the burning wreckage of Mintz's camper and head on to Wendy's campsite, where they find the aftermath of what just happened there. Elsewhere, Emily continues wandering around the woods.

Save for her, everyone is now gathered at the cabin and they discuss where Emily is, how long it will be before someone is sent looking for them, and why they're being targeted like this. Webster begins lamenting how he never found his son for the past seventeen years, despite being a really good tracker, and reveals that he talked Allen Sangster into building the camp so he could be there all the time to keep up the search. Morie then suggests that it's possible the killer has satisfied his bloodlust and will stop now, but Deke says it's not likely. In the woods, Emily continues her tearful hike, when she sees the cabin up ahead. But, before she can go any further, her hair is grabbed from above and she's yanked screaming up into a tree. Everyone at the cabin hears her screams, when the cabin's lights suddenly go out. Deke goes to check on the generators, despite David's warning not to go by himself, and he, Morie, and Webster put more wood on the fire they have burning out in front of the cabin. Reaching the generators, Deke grabs a gas-can and starts to re-fuel one of them, when Emily's body tumbles down from the branches behind him. Turning and seeing this, he yells and drops the gas-can at his feet, gas pouring out around him. The hermit steps out from behind a tree with a lit torch and menacingly approaches him with it. Deke yells at him to stay away but he continues approaching, jumps around the side of the generator, and, spying the gas at Deke's feet, tosses the torch there. Deke's body is immediately engulfed in flames and comes screaming by the cabin, yelling and writhing in pain, smacking into the fence around the cabin, before finally succumbing to his injuries and collapsing. Having seen this, Flo and Sara begin to panic, the former saying that the killer is going to get them all. Morie asks how long until daybreak and Cheryl, looking at her watch, says that it's 5:00 in the morning (she also mentions, "It's Memorial Day," as if that's somehow significant).

Suddenly, an unmanned bulldozer heads right for them. David and Morie try to stop it with their rifles but they hit the plow, which does nothing. Morie and the women run for cover beyond the fence, behind a pickup truck, while David and Webster get out of the way as the bulldozer smashes into the cabin and demolishes it. It then heads on towards the pickup truck and Morie takes one more shot at it before he and the girls run for it, slipping down a small slope. But, before they can go any further, the bulldozer pushes the truck over and it's sent crashing down the slope, on top of them. Seeing this, David tells Webster that they need to get out, as they can make it out since it's almost dawn, but Webster is reluctant to go. Cheryl spots the killer in the bushes and David attempts to point and shoot, but Webster forces his rifle down, saying it can't be that way. Determined to settle things once and for all, Webster tells David and Cheryl to go on and they do, but not before David tells Webster that they'll send help back as soon as they can. Once he's alone with the hermit, he sees that he wants him to follow him and Webster agrees to do so, telling him he's really good at what he does. He then follows him into the woods and, as dawn takes hold, he tracks him through a ravine and across some rocks. Webster stops upon spotting a tripwire on the ground and he uses a branch to trigger it, provoking a small rock-slide that he must dodge. Seeing that the trap didn't work, the killer heads further into the wilderness, Webster still behind him. Up ahead, a tree comes down (whether it was coincidence or a trap isn't clear) and Webster just barely avoid getting squashed by it. He heads on and comes to the top of a dirt slope. Looking down at the bottom, it looks like he has the killer cornered. He asks him if he is his son, Steven, and asks him if he recognizes him. He gets no response and says that he wishes he could be sure. The hermit reaches into his fur pouch and takes out Webster's watch, opening it up and playing the chime. Now, he's sure that he is Steven, and walks down the slope to reunite with him. But, he steps on a tripwire that sends a big, spiked branch at him and he's instantly impaled on it. His body goes limp and he slumps over the branch, as the distraught hermit walks up to him and, realizing that he's dead, sobs as he puts the watch on the ground below his hand.

Later in the day, David and Cheryl have arrived with the authorities and Webster's body has been found. After David positively identifies him, the troopers promises him that they'll find the killer but David says they won't, as he knows the woods too well. He goes on to say, "As far as the Sangster Corporation is concerned, this park is closed. Let it go back to wilderness." He and Cheryl walk away, while Webster's body and the others are loaded up into the ambulance and the other vehicles, and the movie ends on a final shot of the killer standing on top of one of the hills.

Like the director, composer Jed Feuer has very few credits to his filmography, with this being the only true movie he's ever scored (unless you count his doing some uncredited additional music for the 2001 romantic comedy, Someone Like You). His music is completely synthesizer and electronic-oriented, and it runs the gambit from attempting to sound menacing or downbeat and forlorn to being overly comedic and whimsical for some scenes, such as when the campers first arrive in the valley and are messing the place up, and fast-paced and tense for others. The pieces that stand out the most to me are the opening theme, which starts off as tranquil, then tries so hard to come off as creepy, before transitioning back into a more laid back and peaceful-sounding theme; a really forlorn-sounding theme that I know only because it played on the main menu for the disc containing this movie in that DVD set; this theme for Walter that's both sneaky and dopey-sounding at the same time; and the music that plays when he drives off on his ATV, which has a constant, fast beat accompanied by what sounds like a disc-jockey scratching a CD over and over again. Like just about everything else in the movie, the music is ho-hum and forgettable.

This title slides in like it was made on Windows Movie Maker.

Memorial Valley Massacre gives you nothing that you can't get so much more of in numerous other movies and, odds are, what those movies will give you is much more well-done. Other than a couple of memorable characters who are naturally likable and a setting that, while lovely to look at, is okay at best, there's nothing for me to recommend this, even to fans of bad movies. None of the other characters are worth caring about, the acting is pretty lousy for the most part, the story around the killer is not interesting at all or even that well-developed, the direction, cinematography, and editing are all unremarkable and do little to bring the film to life and the low budget is painfully obvious, the killer's traps and the deaths don't offer much for slasher fans, the film has a very superficial environmental message to it, the music won't do anything for you, and the movie is a chore to sit through, even if it is only 92 minutes. My advice? Just watch any of the original three Sleepaway Camp movies and don't fall for this illegitimate "son."