Camp Blood (2000)

   

Written & Directed by: Brad Sykes

Starring:

Jennifer Ritchkoff .... Tricia
Michael Taylor .... Steve
Tim Young .... Jay
Betheny Zolt .... Nicole
Courtney Taylor .... Harris

Release Date:
Direct-to-Video / DVD: April 4, 2000

 

Rating:

 

Four teenagers go camping on the weekend to a place called Camp Blackwood.
On their way they meet a strange elderly man named Thatcher as he tells them it's not safe to go there. They ignore him thinking he's crazy and carry on their way.
When they arrive they meet up with a tough woman named Harris who helps them out by finding a place to camp out. She tells them a scary campfire tale about a killer clown who lurked in the woods there 20 years ago about two couples that ended up being killed and still roams the area.
The next morning they find her dead and then one by one the killer clown hacks each of them away and they try to survive and escape this madness.

 

We have some boring moments with a couple out in the woods looking for wildlife and photography as this was supposed to almost be suspenseful later on with a killer watching them but this fails especially the fact it was shot in borad daylight which doesn't add the spookiness to it at all as my guess is cause they don't have any lightning to see the characters due to their no budget. Then we spot them making love which looked terribly amateurish and it lags big time too. Then we have the clown figure appearing to attack which looked like a half effort as well as him chasing these people which could've been better and we see the camera shaking as well. Not good.
There's numerous other lame moments as we spot dimwitted redneck hunters looking around and spot a woman barely alive as none of this looked convincing as well as the clown killer doing them in looked very lame to watch as well. This was laughable and not in a good way.
Then we spot the main teens parking to get ready to camp out and spot a strange man who falls down which all of this looked terribly amateurish to watch as well as this crazy fool going nuts and warning the others about the clown killer and the camp area. Sound familiar??? A real terrible ripoff tribute to Friday the 13th but this was way too over the top and annoying to watch as well.
However a perfect moment when we spot the rough and tough chick Harris putting an arrogant teen Jay into his place since he got on my nerves and deserved a good kick in the head since this is a real pleaser.
We also spot a campfire scene with all of them and terrible camera shots on all of them as some were clear and some weren't as well as hearing different sounds of the crickets when this happens which is poor editing as well as Harris discussing the legend of the clown killer in which this was supposed to look effective and it doesn't at all. Yet a nice shot on her with the fireplace blaring.
Then we spot both Jay and Nicole heading it in for the night and having a good romp as none of this was convincing at all and seemed amateurish and forced too which the makers really needed to put more effort into what they were doing here.
Also when the teens freaks out as to what happened to one of the campers looked awfully phony to watch as this was supposed to be intense but misses by a mile.
There's however a fairly well done struggling sequence involving Steve against the clown killer when he tries to swing his machette at him and diodges them along with trying to escape from this maniac against a rocky river but when they're clmbing away from the rocks this looked awfully rough and not fast paced enough.
We spot a chase from Tricia against the clown killer recealing flashback sequences on what has happened which seemed mildly interesting to watch but that's not saying a heck of alot as well as her struggles to try and get to her vehicle and being pitted against this maniac and someone else revealing their true identity as this looked rather annoying to watch and extremely sloppy too.
Towards the ending scene with Tricia freaking out looked impressive too but that's it.
Bottom line: What a piece of crap this film turned out to be. I was aware that it was going to be a bad movie but I didn't know it was going to be really bad. I was thinking when I heard the title it would be a ripoff to Friday the 13th but it's worst folks trust me. This one was barely made on a budget as you can tell with the picture quality and made on a homemade video camera too.

These actors need serious lessons as it looks like they came from the porn industry. Jennifer Ritchkoff (Tricia) potrayed the virgin type of character in this flick as her discussions seemed to work in an okay fashion but when she gets upset or freaks out she is way off. Whyen she screams and runs away her energy is terribly lacking. At the end of her performance however she seemed to get into it a fair deal just losing her mind on stuff and getting scared as well as crying which seemed to show nice timing which made me wonder as to why she waited for that long to perform like this when other times she was amateurishly done.
Michael Taylor (Steve) portrayed the sympethetic boyfriend as he tried to pull off his role fairly well and had the right looked for all of this. Also shows some good energy when trying to didge against the onscreen killer and was dead on doing this but his energy was a bit off when he tries to get away from it all and needed a bit of inspiration.
Tim Young (Jay) grabbed the most attention compared to the rest of the cast members listed here in which he was convincingly annoying with his arrogant behavior just really having a total negative vibe witrhin whatever he did here. His performance was cheesy like the rest of the cast but was one of the only one's who can pull it off in a paasable fashion. He for sure knew on how to get into your face making you want to hit him.
Betheny Zolt (Nicole) portrayed the bimbo type of teen in which she didn't seem to pull her weight greatly but came across as someone whom isn't all that bright in what is going on. When she falls and hurts herself she is phony by doing this as well as her painful reactions as I'm sure she's been hurt before but couldn't relate to any of this whatsoever onto the camera.
However, supporting actress Courtney Taylor (Harris) seemed to pull off her character not too bad as a tough woman camper. She showed off a perfect no nonsense type of behavior as well as doing a good job with her phyiscial blocking when being rough with someone else. Also seemed to do fairly okay when telling a ghost story at the campfire getting into this alright.

There's a big breast shot by Ivonne Armant during the beginning of the film making out in the woods.

The killer clown hacks people away with his machette through people's necks and arms showing a violent bloodshed.
A hunter's decapitated head lands in a river.
All of this looks very fake.

The music composed by Ghost sounded not too bad as it has interesting elements in which we have good low violin playing involving the killer as well as some high echoey piano playing too. There's many scraping sounds which also had an effect in the scene's. We hear some stick clanging and other types of noises too which sounds average though.

Thatcher: Camp Blackwood?! You mean Camp Blood!!!!

Thatcher: You don't listen too good do you boy? You and your friends don't want to go to Camp Blood!!!

Thatcher: Say hello to the clown for me!!!!

Steve: Look, whatever he said, the guy's crazy. He was trying to scare us away.
Tricia: Why?
Steve: I don't know. Maybe he's making moonshine up the hills and he doesn't want anyone to know about it. Tells us scary stories to keep everybody away.

Jay: Alright... but if we gget lost and end up resorting to cannibalism... You're the first to go ok? I'm gonna eat you first
Steve: Don't tease me