Review by Stuart Barr
Stars Dana Delany, Andrew McCarthy, Caroline London, Will Denton, Bruce Davison, James McCaffrey, Connor Paolo, Sasha Neulinger, Christopher Denham, Jesse Eisenberg
Written by Van Buskirk
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 95 minutes
Directed by Van Buskirk
Camp Hell is a bizarre little film, slinking out onto a few UK screens before a DVD release soon after. I think it is fair to say that without the presence of one Jesse Eisenberg in the cast it would most likely be gathering dust on a shelf somewhere till the end of time. This is being rather shamefully marketed as a film starring Eisenberg, in fact his appearance is a cameo and amounts to little more than five minutes of screen time. The actor is apparently suing Lionsgate Entertainment over the use of his name and image to sell the film, quite right too.
The miss-selling of the film does not end with pretending an Oscar nominated actor is the star. The movie was originally titled Camp Hope, and is very much not the supernatural or slasher horror film it is being presented as. In fact this is a rather bland drama, purportedly based on real events, about a Christian Summer camp that becomes witness to a very moderate outbreak of teenage religious hysteria egged on by a mildly over zealous priest that results in a humdrum dose of demonic possession that could as easily be interpreted as vapid case of trapped wind. Yes this is a picture that verily takes the mill out for a tame run around the park.
The plot involves placidly troubled teen Tommy (Denton) being sent to Camp Hope by his religious parents (Delany and the ever hamster-face McCarthy). There he comes under the care of Father Phineas McAllister (the fine actor Bruce Davison) who goes a bit heavy on the old sin and damnation spiel after the boy indulges in some heavy petting with one of the girls. Tommy suffers some minor demonic visions, which are confusingly shared by other kids. Is this a case of hysteria, a mass hallucination, or is there something genuinely supernatural going on? Don’t expect an answer. Wether this film is deliberately sitting on the fence trying to appeal both atheists and believers, whether it was messed around with in editing, or whether it is just plain narrative incompetence I don’t know, and you wont care.