Zena’s Period Blood: SUMMER CAMP is a Lesson in Unpredictability
Zena Dixon
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It can be difficult finding horror films of quality, so allow me to welcome you to your salvation from frustration. “Zena’s Period Blood” is here to guide you to the horror films that will make you say, “This is a good horror. Point blank. PERIOD.”
“Zena’s Period Blood” focuses on under-appreciated and hidden horror films.
Your summer sucks if it isn’t filled with unpredictability. Who wants to see the same thing or visit the same places all the time? Answer: no one. Unpredictability is exhilarating. It’s the reason we have great masterpieces like the film Summer Camp, directed by Alberto Marini. Summer Camp is the definition of unpredictability, bringing great laughs, hot bodies, spicy conversations, and maybe – viruses and death. Yes, unpredictability includes a few negatives. So what? While you’re healthy and alive, go ahead and electrify your summer with a viewing of the unpredictable Summer Camp.
Like a plumber’s buttcrack, Summer Camp begins small but gradually reveals more as it bends and turns. It opens to a forest in Spain. Four American camp counselors review activities for the first day of El Buho English Summer Camp. After some trust exercises, the four counselors return to camp, preparing to receive the bus of children tomorrow. The day’s activities turn to night’s leisure with terrific food and conversation. Antonio (Andres Velencoso), aroused by sexual tension, heads to the cellar with Will (Diego Boneta) to retrieve wine. As Antonio reaches for a bottle, he growls. Black liquid seeps from his mouth as he turns to Will. Words have no effect on Antonio; only a sharp claw, which Will defensively digs into Antonio’s chest. Christy (Jocelin Donahue), hearing the boisterous boys, opens the door to discover Will panting over Antonio’s lifeless body. Suspicion and a spreading virus consume the night, leading the remaining three to rushed and often wrong decisions for survival.
Although Summer Camp takes place in a few locations, intelligence permeated the design and use of these locations. Art director Sylvia Steinbrecht and unit production manager Albert Roca created a two-fold world of peace and pain. It was thrilling to watch a camp bedroom become a hiding spot from the infected – or an empty swimming pool become a pit of hell. Alongside the locations, the ingenious prop use elevated this film. Once the camera focused on a prop, you predicted the ways and moments the prop would be used. However, your assumptions were always wrong. For example, we were introduced to an electric drill to fend off an infected, but we never imagined it would devilishly spin inside the bottom of an uninfected’s foot.
This film is one big rubik cube. Seeing the completed product, you can’t help but marvel at the people who initially set out to solve it. Writers Alberto Marini and Danielle Schleif created a unique narrative in which this rabid (zombie-like) condition lasts for about twenty minutes. That also became the huge fear of the film. Can you last twenty minutes around a rabid person, or should you ever become rabid on purpose, knowing you would become human again if no one killed you?
Summer Camp remains a “must watch” for summer viewing. It is a film that raises the heat with its unceasing tension. If you’ve never seen Summer Camp, shame on you. If you’ve seen it in the past, shame on you. You should be watching it right now. This movie is excellent in too many ways. Point blank. Period.
In addition to contributing to Dread Central, Zena Dixon has been writing about all things creepy and horrific for over six years at RealQueenofHorror.com. She has always loved horror films and will soon be known directing her own feature-length horror. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @LovelyZena.
Categorized:Reviews Zena's Period Blood
