Sleepaway Camp - Summer Camp Slasher 2 (with Joe Vallese and S. Trimble)

Brian Onishi and Jeff Stoyanoff continue their summer camp slasher theme with 1983’s Sleepaway Camp

They are joined by guests Jo Vallese (editor of It Came From the Closet) and T (Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies), and frame the film through queer horror, trans horror, and the queer concept of camp.

They discuss the film’s shift from idyllic opening to tragedy, its child and teen cruelty, predatory cook, and boundary violations, and how its notorious ending positions Angela as both killer and “final girl,” raising questions about identity, consent, and whether Angela’s gender is self-determined or imposed by Aunt Martha.

The panel explores reclamation and rehabilitation, audience reactions (including a NYU screening with trans and nonbinary students), the Reagan-era backdrop, a gay male gaze reading via Viet Dien’s Sontag-inspired essay, and how the film differs from Friday the 13th through accidental camp, queer rage debates, failures of adult authority, and unusual violence against children.

Dont' worry, they find joy too.