"Originality and Simplicity counts."
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The best of the series, though still not that great, and a rip-off of HALLOWEEN(1978), this film was one of the many '80s imitators that just happened to take off into it's own series that stars the "unkillable" monster.
Set at a summer camp in the woodland realm, the movie focuses on camp counselors being stalked and killed by a maniac with an agenda, and constantly toys around with what you see, and what you don't see.
A lack of severe amounts of blood/guts/gore assist in making the film more believable, as it isn't just a modern horror movie gorefest that only THINKS it does well.
The coming upon the victims after the killings is similar to that of the blockbuster hit "Se7en" which did the same thing. This film has suspense however, and may show up to the point of the attack on one killing, but totally skip it on another.
The simplicity of it is even more apparent as the story takes place in one night (like Halloween) and features camp counselors/lifegaurds playing strip poker or monopoly or whatever it was, while every once in a while a couple leaves for sex, only to get diced, or someone leaves to fix the generator, only to get arrowed to the door.
This was perhaps one of the best HALLOWEEN imitator slasher films of the '80s, but it's sequels proved to not even come close to it's success in cult horror film status.
An enjoyable film that must be viewed alone in the dark to derive the ultimate horrifying experience, despite that I didn't find this film to be scary at all, but still stayed up 'til 4:00am to catch it from the beginning when I was 11yrs old, but alas, it wasn't scary then either. If you scare easily, or just love cult classics like this, then check it out sometime.
The overall message that today's slasher film-makers can learn from this: Originality and Simplicity counts above all else when it comes to the perfect horror script.
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