Here’s another bait-and-switch “Massacre” movie on Tubi. The menu calls it, “Summer Camp Massacre”, but the actual on-screen title is “Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre.” Apparently, it’s the second in a series of comedies starring the two eponymous idiots. I’ve never seen any of the others, and I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to check them out, especially considering how bad this one is. The fact that it stars Felissa Rose, Brinke Stevens, and Joe Estevez, made it go down a little smoother though.
Struggling actor Caesar (writer/director Dave Campfield) loses his taxi job when he beats up a mentally handicapped man. That means he and his dim-witted brother Otto (Paul Chomicki) have to find somewhere to lay low. They eventually decide to get jobs as camp counselors. Predictably, there’s also a psycho lurking in the woods looking to rack up a body count.
I’m not sure how there got to be four of these movies (SEVEN, if you count shorts). This one is plain just bad. Not only is the humor painfully unfunny, but it’s often so technically inept that it makes things hard to watch. (There are a lot of jump cuts during dialogue scenes early on.) The film improves somewhat once the action switches over to the camp, although that’s not saying much.
Fortunately, the gore isn’t bad. We get a decapitation, a death by shovel, and a scene where a guy hides in a barrel that unbeknownst to him is full of toxic waste. That’s about all the flick has going for it.
That is, unless you count the supporting cast. While it’s amusing to see Rose, who starred in the ultimate camp horror flick, Sleepaway Camp, sending up her iconic role, the material she’s been given here is less than stellar. (Yes, she makes a Sleepaway Camp reference.) Brinke has a small part as Otto’s girlfriend and Estevez plays an unemployment office worker (who also happens to be Joe Estevez).
The leads are pretty dire though. Campfield looks and acts like Justin Long impersonating Chris Kattan. Or maybe Hal Sparks imitating Andy Dick. The only time he comes close to getting a laugh is when he mentions his favorite horror movie is House 2. Chomicki is barely memorable as he lacks any discernible personality, other than he’s the opposite body type of Campfield.
Bottom Line: For Joe Estevez completists only.
AKA: Summer Camp Massacre.
I enjoyed this one personally though it is admittedly the weakest in the series. the best one would be Paranormal Halloween which has more of Stevens, along with Tiffany Shepis, Vernon Wells and Sean Whalen, Deadly Xmas is pretty fun too as it has more of Stevens and Rose along with Lloyd Kaufman, Robert Z'Dar, and Linnea Quigley. Both other ones are on Tubi if you're interested.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly enough it looks like the first film in the series made way back in 2007 never got any kind of wide release as I can only find two reviews from critics for it. It was apparently produced dirt cheap for 707 dollars: http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/caesar-and-otto-caesar-and-ottos-summer.html