Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor (1992 Video) User Reviews

Curiosity killed the cat

[boy_in_red · 3/10 · 9 August 2006]

Here in the UK this 4th disc isn't available as it was in the US as part of a Best Buy exclusive offer with the boxset. Being a bit of a completist a friend of mine in the US kindly sent over his copy, insisting the whole time that it was really quite poor, and still I was excited about getting a glimpse of this incomplete sequel.

I think the first thing that has to be said is though the running length is 30 minutes, you are perhaps only getting 4 or 5 different scenes (totalling maybe 7 minutes if that), but with numerous takes. Some are mundane shots like a person running through the same patch of woods, or screaming, over and over again. So don't be deceived into believing what you will have is 30 minutes of storyline or character development which ends abruptly. Nope- there's so little here that even the trailer struggles to be coherent...and fails.

It is harsh to judge based on just a few minutes of footage but it doesn't FEEL like a Sleepaway Camp movie. It lacks the atmosphere of the first film, the humour of parts 2 and 3, and with only 3 characters on film there's no hint of a camp, so even the setting feels wrong, and far more isolated. It sadly reminded me of those cheap TV soft core films (you know the kind- Red Shoe Diaries type of thing) but set in the woods. I don't know if the film intended to go down the skin flick route but that's the impression you get.

So my advice- if you get this as a freebie, fine, view away and sigh in relief that this film was never completed. If you are a completist (and I know it's hard to be talked out of buying things!) please don't spend too much money tracking this one down.

Unfinished mess of a "movie"

[Fiercesome_Fool · 1/10 · 23 January 2019]

This "movie" is a complete dump. Bunch of stock footage from the first movie strung together with awful footage filmed for this sequel. Doesn't make any sense because the actual movie was never finished. Don't waste your time on this.

Bits and Pieces, never completed.

[Katatonia · 15 September 2003]

If you bought the Sleepaway Camp DVD Boxset from Best Buy then you probably have the exclusive Bonus 4th DVD which contains the unfinished footage for Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor.

Sleepaway Camp IV is not a movie, in fact the production was shut down after only a few days. Very little film footage was actually shot, and the footage which was shot is more like rehearsal footage. It's interesting to watch once, but it's not something you'd really want to watch over and over again...

This isn't even a a real movie.

[13Funbags · 1/10 · 28 September 2017]

This shouldn't be on IMDb. It's not really a movie and no one should ever watch it. Clearly no one from this site has seen it because if they had, they would not let it be here. It was bad enough that parts 2 and 3 used old footage but this is all old footage. Hopefully one day they will make a proper part 4 and have Dave Matthews sister star in it.

A Flashback to Forget

[slasherstudios · 1/10 · 27 March 2012]

"Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor" was the dreamchild of 1992 that sadly never came true. The film was originally intended to be the fourth installment "Sleepaway Camp" series. It was partially filmed in October 1992 but was never completed due to lack of funding. In 2002 the unfinished footage from the first day of shooting was released and made available as an exclusive fourth disc with the Best Buy edition of the Region 1 "Sleepaway Camp" box set.

But...all was not lost! John Klyza, webmaster of SleepawayCampFilms, helped put together an official final cut of the film which they said would bring closure to the Survivor's legacy. The final film would be 70% material from the first three films and 30% new Survivor material. Is the final film one to be cherished into the hearts of Sleepaway Camp fans everywhere or does it deserve to stay as archived material?

Well, the answer my fellow slasher fans is one that you do not want to hear. "Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor" is not good. Everything about it is terrible in every way that you could only imagine and in several ways that you would have thought they wouldn't have been able to screw up. What's wrong with it? In honor of this terrible movie I will be taking my comments and editing them into a half hearted review. Here we go!

* The flashback clips are the worst quality clips they could find. I'm talking VHS copy of a copy bad. It is grainy, distorted, and hard to make out.

* The sound quality is not good. The "new" footage is far too loud and you can't even hear the old footage. Prepare to have the remote handy for adjusting the volume...every few seconds!

* The new material doesn't make any sense whatsoever and doesn't flow with the editing of the first three films. A random "added" line of dialogue here and there doesn't help matters at all. If anything it just becomes more distracting.

* The old footage (especially from the original film) is so grainy it's hard to know what's going on. I know I already commented on this but after a good Anchor Bay release of the original series, this is inexcusable.

* The tacked on ending is not only super cheesy but it's hard to tell what is even supposed to be happening. All of a sudden our "main girl" is with some burned guy. I don't know what the heck happened.

* The editing of the old clips either start too late or end too early cutting off gags that make the scene work. The pacing is key in order to make a good death and they couldn't even edit them from the first one in a consistent way.

* The deaths are cut in a way that we never actually see what is supposed to be the gruesome aftermath. Once again, bad editing and there is no excuse for this when the material has already been used.

* The voice-over is so bad in the new footage that it doesn't even match what is happening on screen. This only gets worse as the movie progresses.

In short, this movie is only worth owning if you can find it super cheap (hopefully free). Anything over $5 is too much. I really do appreciate the effort but I will never watch this again. If you own the bonus disc, you own ALL of the new material. 30% new material? What a lie. There is barely 10 minutes worth of material here that wasn't originally shown in the first three films. Is it unfair for me to judge this as a final film when it clearly isn't one? Of course not. Nonetheless, is it fair to expect horror fans to pay for material they already own? Absolutely not.

Not As Bad As I Expected

[B-MovieDork · 5/10 · 3 August 2013]

Luckily, I knew exactly what I was getting into before I even watched this. Essentially, this is nothing more than clips from the first three movies intermixed with the raw production footage for the unfinished 1992 sequel that was included as a bonus disc in the first round of Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit boxed sets.

Before you decide to watch this movie, you must first get it out of your head that this is going to be any sort of straight-forward narrative, or wind up being any type of real sequel to the first three films. It really helps to think of this as nothing more than a flashback episode of a television sitcom. It takes all the key scenes from the first three films and melts them together with a new, virtually threadbare story (Just like flashback episodes of Family Guy, Friends, Seinfeld, or any other television show out there). As a huge Sleepaway Camp fanatic, I sometimes find it difficult to decide on which film to watch. And on days that I can't decide, this will do quite nicely, because it is basically having your cake and eating it too. Is this the worst of the series? Absolutely. But is it so bad that I will never watch it again? Absolutely NOT.

And for the record, before any of you IMDb trolls start complaining about my review, I am ONLY a fan, and I DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT work for anyone involved in the production or distribution of these films. Not everyone who happens to like a movie that others seem to hate is a bigwig exec trying to dupe you into spending money.

not a real movie.....

[theromanempire-1 · 1/10 · 25 October 2020]

I'm stunned this is axcepted as a movie here in imdb. half of this "movie" is old footage and only like 30 minutes is new stuff unfinished due to the shut down of the production back in 1992. this new footage should be included as a bonus in the dvd sets of the original trilogy and that's that. the real part 4 of the series is the 2008 sleepaway camp film. apart from this....avoid this stuff. it's not worth your time.

A glimpse at what could have been

[SlaughterHigh · 10/10 · 14 February 2004]

Sleepaway 4 was planned in 1992 to tie together the very different chapters of the series into one cohesive story by dealing with the mysteries via a character of a young woman who may or may not be Angela (she claims to have amnesia) going back to where the killings happened. Someone tries to rape her like Artie did, then the murders begin all over again in the isolation of the deserted forest.

Unfortunately after filming a few scenes they shut down due to various troubles the company was going through. Some claim it was the quality of the footage that shut it down but the company actually shut all their films down that were in production at the time.

Cut to many years later when a webmaster thankfully tracked down the footage and got it released on DVD. While to the average joe who knows nothing about how movies are shot, all the endless takes will be boredom enducing, but to hardcore fans, the unedited footage is GOLD. Just the making of a few of the quite (read: cheap to shoot) scenes in what was to be a gory masterpiece had it "Survived". But nethertheless a glimpse at what could have been.

You've Already Seen It

[Lebowskidoo · 4/10 · 13 August 2019]

This is why horror gets no respect sometimes. They produce a Frankenstein's monster of a movie like this clip show and they know we'll show up for it anyway. And here I am, trying to complete the series, watching it too...even though I just saw all of this earlier in the week when I watched the series from the beginning.

There's a few shots added in from some aborted attempt at making a sequel that got shutdown. They add almost nothing, except for confusion. You're basically just rewatching the best bits from the first three movies.

Just a Way to Rip-off Fans

[Michael_Elliott · 24 December 2015]

Sleepaway Camp IV (2012)

BOMB (out of 4)

After the success of SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 and 3, plans for a fourth film were made and eventually filming began. Shortly after that the company behind the picture went bankrupt so the film production stopped. Years later Anchor Bay released a boxset of the three films and as an added bonus they included production footage and outtakes from the fourth film. Then, in 2008, the long awaited RETURN TO SLEEPAWAY CAMP was released but then word got out about a "new" film.

That "new" film turned out to be SLEEPAWAY CAMP IV: THE SURVIVOR, which in the end is nothing but a cheap way to milk money out of fans. This film runs 70 minutes and about ten minutes worth of that is footage from the unreleased part four. The other sixty minutes are scenes from the first three movies. To be more clear, all the death scenes and "highlights" from the first three movies are played here.

There are so many problems with this film but the biggest is the fact that there simply wasn't enough footage to make a fourth film. You get movies like SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 2 where a little footage is shown and then footage from the original is thrown in to make it a feature. That doesn't happen here because there just wasn't enough original footage. Even worse is the fact that the footage from the first three films is of horrible quality and the editing is just awful. The "story" they try to tell with all the footage is just embarrassing.

There's really no point in watching this film when the first three movies are available in wonderful special editions and the fourth film's outtakes can be viewed in many places.

Rip off

[kosmasp · 1/10 · 12 September 2022]

No pun intended - and since this is mostly put together with clips from previous movies ... I will talk about those a bit too. Although not in a revealing kind of way. So I will not tell you what happened in those movies. You will see the kills of those movies in this one though. Because the "new" footage this has ... the surrounding story it has to hold it togehter ... well it is really not worth it.

I will talk about an omission of mine when it came to reviewing the first Sleepaway Camp. I should have used a Brittney Spears song - the I'm not a girl one (not yet a woman). Which is fitting in more than one sense and makes a wonderful pun - and even goes to touch upon the sequel too. You know if you know ... and you probably know. Because I can't imagine anyone wanting or seeking this one out, if they have not seen the previous movies ... on the other hand, if you haven't and for some reason landed here ... go back! Back to the beginning - do not watch this! I have seen a lot of movies - I don't say this a lot, but this is something I would not even consider a movie. Do not waste your time - I and others did that for you ...

Wish I could give it a 0. - THIS ISN'T A MOVIE.

[LennyReviewz · 1/10 · 25 February 2023]

This is not a movie.

Okay, so the story behind this "film" goes like this. The studio supposedly went bankrupt while this was in production. As a result, only about 30 minutes was actually shot.

In 2012, someone pieced together footage from the other films and made it into what we ultimately got. What we got was one big "flashback" of things we already saw.

There's exactly one original scene in this and it occurred within the last 5 minutes. That scene was total crap as well.

NOT A SINGLE KILL IN THIS UTTERLY USELESS "movie."

Don't waste your time. THE TITLE TO THIS IS VERY MISLEADING. DO NOT WATCH!

This gets a LennyReviewz Score of: 1/10***

***I would give it a 0 if I could.***

What the ???

[crazyferret-03421 · 1/10 · 13 April 2020]

I love the first sleepaway camp and return to sleepaway camp, didn't really care for the two sequels though I liked Pamela Springsteen in the Angela role but this movie is not a movie at all, more like it was put together by a fan with poor editing skills using the footage from the 3 Sleepaway camp films with very little new footage making very little sense showing Angela as a bikini clad model who looks nothing like the two actresses Felissa Rose and Pamela Springsteen. I would call this a very sloppy made fan made movie. Don't get fooled thinking this is a real movie.

Know what to expect

[mirrorfaces · 5/10 · 16 May 2017]

This movie was never finished due to budget problems. In my opinion it could have been left unfinished. However, it was enjoyable in it's own way. Most reviewers hate this film but if you understand the circumstances and the idea behind the project.

It's more of a review of the previous films than anything. The new bits could have used some better explaining or more thought in the opening text but overall it's a sort of call back to the original trilogy. If you understand the project was cut and then they attempted to salvage it, it's really not too terrible. I wouldn't spend a dime on it and I certainly wouldn't want it again. But if you are marathoning the movies in order and/or want to be a completionist fan, give it a gander with the full understanding what you are getting into.

Sleepaway Camp 4-REAL?!

[Binquin_Black · 1/10 · 21 May 2019]

Just a mashup of scenes from the first three movies with only less than 5% of original film (that includes the opening and credits scenes) and you can't even understand what's really happening. I know that they had budget problems and that they did it this way to finish it but they should have left it unfinished. This should not be consider a movie at all.

A lot of fun (so long as you know what it is)

[evilibloodstock · 9/10 · 21 April 2015]

Quite a few years ago I watched the original Sleepaway Camp trilogy (that being the Robert Hiltzik original and the two Michael A Simpson sequels) I loved them so much, they were fun 80s slasher movies but I wanted more, Halloween had 9 movies (at the time) so why couldn't Sleepaway Camp have more than three.

Eventually my curiosity was peaked when looking through one of the sleepaway camp websites, apparently in 1992 there was going to be a sequel to the trilogy called "Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor" it got shelved though when the production company ran out of money. I had mixed feelings toward this, on one hand it sucked because it was most likely never going to be made, on the other hand though I needed to find out more about this project, what was the plot going to be? was anyone going to return from the last movie?

I read the script treatment for it, watched the trailer made up of the footage they shot and even wrote a fan novelization for it just for fun. Then I put it away and got on with other stuff I wanted to do.

Years rolled by "Return to Sleepaway Camp" came out and I was happy because it felt like Sleepaway Camp and could conceivably fit into the canon of the Michael A Simpson films. However I felt like Sleepaway Camp 4 should've been the Survivor, it should've had stronger ties to the trilogy but I had written my little fan novel and was content to let it go.

Then in 2012 I find out Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor is completed and available on Amazon, naturally I am very shocked and happy and confused. I buy it, watch it and... it's a clip show! - a clip show edited rather perfectly with the footage they had shot for Survivor, new music and a story told quite well given the fact that they really didn't have the budget to do a lot - there's a narration linking the story and the flashbacks together and it feels like something made in the early 1990s.

I've seen a lot of sites rip this film apart because of the things I mentioned in the paragraph above but I believe it's something to be proud of - it feels like an early 90s slasher, it feels like Sleepaway Camp, it's creative, it's ingenious. Do I think it's perfect? Of course not! but do I think it's fun - hell yeah and it's also got one hell of a nice DVD cover to go with the rest of the Sleepaway Camp films I own.

If you know what Sleepaway Camp 4 is - chances are you'll love it. If you don't, learn about it, I think the treatment, trailers etc. are still online.

A disjointed mess

[dnm-37695 · 1/10 · 8 November 2019]

Of all the movies I've ever seen in my entire life this one, by far, made the least amount of sense. This movie must never be seen by anyone. I really wish I could give it zero out of 10 stars, but IMDb does not allow for that. They should change policy for this one movie alone. My son wanted me to give it 2 stars. His reasoning was that at least somebody went to the trouble to splice all of the grainy archive footage together. I'm sure it was quite a bit of work. Some work, however, is better left undone.

Not a movie! Never Made!

[Don_Flamenco · 17 June 2003]

Sleepaway Camp IV never existed. It was supposed to, but didnt. What anyone who got the Sleepaway Camp box set got was a bonus DVD of scenes that were shot for the movie, but it was never finshed, and what was left over was a bunch of random scenes which barely tied in together.

Barely a movie, more of a curiosity

[acidburn-10 · 1/10 · 16 January 2023]

'Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor' was meant to be a sequel to the original 'Sleepaway Camp' trilogy but unfinished and scrapped due to the production company Double Helix Films going bankrupt. Several years later 30 minutes of footage was featured on the original trilogy's DVD boxset as a bonus disk. Then in 2012 filmmaker Dustin Ferguson assembled a cut of this movie using footage from the first 3 movies which effectively makes this a clipshow at best and the results aren't great unfortunately.

The plot (if you could call it that) centres around Allison Kramer (Carrie Chambers) who suffers recurring nightmares and amnesia. She returns to the camp where the murders took place many years ago to discover the truth and confront the dark memories of her past.

While I do commend the filmmakers for trying to create something out of next to nothing with a wafer thin plot and nothing substantial going on in the new footage which itself has very poor quality and fails to make any sense whatsoever, especially when the flashbacks are inserted into the flick which consists of footage from the first 3 films just adds even more confusion as none of it flows particularly well within the context of the movie itself. This barely qualifies as a movie (if you could even call it that) and its just a cobbled together mess of a release and even if this was completed back in the 90's I doubt this would have fared any better as from what I've gathered from the existing footage it was a bad direct to video cheapness to it, but we'll never know what could have been.

Overall 'Sleepaway Camp 4' is barely a movie in this franchise and only seek out if you're a hardcore fan of the other movies, but don't go expecting a lost masterpiece as you'll be sorely disappointed.

Shocked this was even allowed to be released

[Hayden-86055 · 1/10 · 26 November 2023]

This film is dreadful and should be avoided at all costs, it's hugely made up of footage from the original trilogy with maybe some deleted or alternative shots thrown in. There's no new kills, only two new "characters" (people who appear for a minute or two) and the new soundtrack is awful. Terrible film.

The new footage and actors are terrible, none of it is edited and the sound quality is extremely poor with lots of background noises and sometimes barely being able to hear the actors. The old scenes are often strung together at a bad attempt to create a new narrative based on flashbacks.

1/10: Appalled this was allowed to be published.

Bow before greatness!!!!!!

[erikfett · 10/10 · 27 November 2021]

This is a spectacular vision of what should have been. Please make this happen or at least a solid remake of the original. The bits and pieces that this is was included n the 4 dvd Sleepaway Camp Boxset.

Be prepared to call EMS after watching the trailer

[scottrwn2002 · 15 August 2003]

LOL ... Has anyone ever seen the trailer for this film? I have never laughed so hard in my life...I think both my lungs popped. It looks like a film crew went out in the woods with three actors and shot a bunch of footage and then edited it together. Its almost like one of those trailers that was put together to present at a studio as a "visual aid" for a possible idea for a movie. And the guys echoed voice was priceless.

Amazing

[lorandgyorgy-96671 · 10/10 · 7 May 2020]

A well edited clipshow version from the unmade fourth movie, and footage from the first three.

Raw footage of failed attempt...

[BAREFOOTandINDEPENDENT · 6 April 2023]

This shouldn't be on IMDb, it's raw footage not even cut together. Literally raw footage, take 1 , take 2 ect ect.

It's what you would see in dailies if you were unlucky enough to be above the line personnel on this picture.

Also the director should be extremely embarrassed that we can see this.

It's worse that first year film student projects. I have no idea how anyone funded that outing...

SC 1, 2 & 3 are all amazing! The Survivor is even way worse than Return to Sleepaway Camp.... and that's one of the worst pictures of all time.

I feel bad for the lead as she looks near directionless in the raw footy. I see some potential in there.... hopefully she wasn't discouraged from the industry, but she probably was.