Despite the franchise’s successes, Sleepaway Camp 4 took twenty years to release, came out after the fifth film, and it only contains about thirty-four minutes of original footage!
A sleeper hit, Sleepaway Camp proved to be one of the most memorable slasher films from the '80s with its unforgettable performances, insane kills, and iconic twists that left audiences slack-jawed. The sequels, while not as iconic, proved to be just as popular. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland came out back-to-back in 1988 and ’89, exploring the murderous exploits of now-camp counselor Angela. The franchise was on a roll, but a few wrenches thrown into the works kept it from being as productive as other major slasher franchises of the era, such as Friday the 13th and Halloween.
In the end, Sleepaway Camp 4 was a film that took twenty years to create, and it only exists because of the fans, proving how devoted horror lovers can be about their favorite movie franchises.
Sleepaway Camp 4 Took 20 Years To Release - Here's Why
After the release of Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland in 1989, the sequel was underway. The film had already gone through pre-production, there were cast and crew attached, the script was written, and production had already started. Only thirty-four minutes of footage was shot when the trailer was released. The film seemed to be well underway until it was abruptly canceled. As it turned out, poor critical reception hadn’t killed the Sleepaway Camp franchise, it was the budget — specifically due to the fact that the movie’s production company, Double Helix Films, went bankrupt.
The reason why Sleepaway Camp 4 is the fifth movie released is that Robert Hiltzik, the director of the original Sleepaway Camp, wanted to make a sequel to his original film and ignore parts two and three. That film, Return to Sleepaway Camp, was completed rather quickly, especially when compared to the fourth film. Hilzik waited until 2008 so he could properly improve its special effects. Thus, Return to Sleepaway Camp was released in 2008, marking the second time in his career Hiltzik had ever directed. Once the fifth movie in the franchise was released, fans were invigorated into finding and finishing the fourth film, as at that point, the entries were released out of order.
While browsing through all the DVDs and special releases, fans found something interesting. In 2002, a ‘survival kit’ was released that contained the first three films, however, there was a version of this ‘survival kit’ that had an exclusive fourth disc containing footage shot during the first days of Sleepaway Camp 4, which proved to be a starting point to finally finish twenty years after the fact. Fans used stock footage from the first three movies to finally create the fourth film. In 2013, the fourth Sleepaway Camp was released. An amalgamation of stock footage and a little more than a half-hour of footage shot twenty years previously, Sleepaway Camp 4 stands as a testament of how far diehard fans will go when they want to see a sequel even with a potential remake on the horizon.
