Movie Review: Spirit Camp (2009)

Spirit Camp is a really nice throwback film with a lot of nostalgic value. It has a lot of the basic formula you would expect from one of those 1980’s slashers. It has Cheerleaders, nudity, drugs, sex, booze, a camp, a killer, and the characters are all stereotypes you would expect in on of these films. This is a classic formula, and executed well here.

The story is about a group of cheerleaders who are going to a cheerleading camp to improve their skills. The film doesn’t actually go into much detail about the actual cheerleading part, as there wasn’t a lot of time to fit that in, and it did feel like they could have touched on that a bit more when it comes to the story but it was a good premise to work from. There is also some classic misdirection when it comes to who the killer could be, and a final girl who is pretty easy to spot early on. The killer doesn’t waste much time and gets to work on the cheerleaders pretty early in the film, but it does a good job spacing it out. There are also a couple of nice nods to Halloween with the lake being called “Lumis”, and one character being named “Mrs. Haddenfield”. There are also some scenes with some very Michael-esque kills, and done from some familiar camera angles, which was a nice touch.

This was Kerry Beyer’s directorial debut, and he also plays the role of Bobby in the film. It was a really good effort for a feature debut in horror. The cinematography was good, and there were a couple of scenes that really stuck out as nicely done and unexpected. There were a couple of scenes where the sound could have used some work but for the most part was also good. The acting was good, as the characters were supposed to be cheesy for the most part, so I’m sure they acted with that in mind and did a pretty good job. And there was also some good use of practical effects which is always more than welcome when making a horror film.

Overall, this was a pretty good nod to 80’s slashers. The quality of the film as a whole is great for an indie production, and anyone who likes cheesy slashers would definitely appreciate it. Definitely recommend checking this out. It’s available to purchase or watch for free if you have Amazon Prime.