‘Sleepaway Camp’s’ legacy as a queer horror classic goes way deeper than its short shorts and bare midriffs

A film equally celebrated and criticized to this day, cult slasher flick Sleepaway Camp marks its 40th anniversary this November.

But, seeing that it’s currently the hot, hazy days of August, there’s perhaps no better time to revisit this seminal work of summer-camp cinema, one with a particularly thorny legacy among queer horror fans.

*Spoilers ahead for Sleepaway Camp.*

Back in the early ’80s, we were in the “Golden Age” of slashers after the breakthrough successes of films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas in the ’70s gave way to future franchise-starters like Halloween and Friday The 13th.

The latter film—wherein a mysterious assailant gruesomely murders teens at Camp Crystal Lake—set a clear precedent for 1983’s Sleepaway Camp, but this was no carbon copy. First-time writer-director Robert Hiltzik had some big ideas for his gore-fest that made it truly unique among the slasher genre, resulting in one of the most shocking twist endings in horror movie history.

The Boys Of Summer (Camp)

Right out of the gate, Sleepaway Camp differentiates itself with a family boating trip where we see two young siblings enjoying a day on the lake with their father and his boyfriend. That’s right: Gay male partners with a family! In a horror movie! In the early ’80s! It was truly unprecedented, and just our first taste of how queerness factors into and informs the movie.

But the sunny summer bliss doesn’t last long when a boating incident claims the lives of the men and one of the young siblings. Cut to eight years later, surviving child Angela has been living with her eccentric aunt and cousin Ricky, and the two teens having just arrived at Camp Arawak for the summer.

Like many other slashers, the film gives us time to get acclimated with the camp setting, introducing audiences to plenty of other campers and counselors—all of whom are potential victims and suspects—before the body count starts to rise.

And here’s another area where Sleepaway Camp—whether intentionally or not—queers the tropes of the horror subgenre. Many classic slashers don’t shy away from nudity, verging on exploitation as female characters are sexualized and then “punished” it by becoming the killer’s next target.

Hiltzik’s camera, on the other hand, lingers more on the male characters, hyper-sexualizing the guys in their midriff-bearing cut-off tees and short shorts. If you’ve seen the memes that go around Twitter/X every couple of months saying things like, “when will men start dressing like this again,” they’re usually accompanied by images from this movie.

Additionally, Angela is shown to have surrealist flashbacks to a time when she and her sibling accidentally caught their father in bed with his boyfriend. Again, given the time, it was pretty radical stuff to see two men in bed together—but the insinuation that this deeply traumatized the young kids is a complicated subject Sleepaway Camp doesn’t even begin to unpack.

The Big Reveal

But if you want to really talk complicated, well then we’ve got to get into the film’s truly audacious final twist…

*And just one more courtesy warning here for the spoiler-phobic!*

With campers and counselors alike dropping like flies—and each murder more gruesome than the last—everyone’s on high alert and trying to get to the bottom of the killer’s identity. However, no one seems to connect the dots that all of the victims have wronged Angela in one way or another.

At the film’s climax, an aghast Ricky discovers who’s been behind the murders before he’s struck with an arrow, and then we’re treated to a flashback in which it’s revealed that actually Angela is the child the died at the lake all those years ago. Instead, it’s her surviving sibling Peter sent to live with their aunt, who decides to raise the kid as the daughter she never had.

In the final moments, two counselors stumble upon Angela in the woods, growling like an animal. She’s holding the head of another victim, covered in blood and completely nude—male genitals on full display. As the music swells, the credits begin to roll, letting you sit in utter shock.

Nearly 40 years later, audiences are still reeling from the ending of Sleepaway Camp. Its finale hinges on the “reveal” that Angela is transgender—or is perhaps a boy wrongfully forced to live as a girl, depending on your read of it—and is the film’s “slasher,” driven to kill in part by childhood trauma. The implications here are head-scratching, at best, and incredibly problematic at worst.

So is Sleepaway Camp transphobic? Even as our language around identity and sexuality has evolved, it remains a point of conversation as queer film critics and scholars continue to argue both for and against the movie.

In a 2021 piece for Fangoria, trans activist and horror fan Calpernia Addams sums up the complicated feelings around the film quite nicely: “I would just say that I enjoy Sleepaway Camp for what it is, which is schlocky ’80s horror with a unique twist ending. And I think it’s the worst possible portrayal of a supposedly trans storyline, a la Buffalo Bill [in Silence Of The Lambs,] or Dressed To Kill, or any of those types of films. But at the same time, I don’t want it censored or canceled. And if you just sit back and let yourself, it can be an enjoyable watch.”

With the film’s 40th anniversary right around the corner, we’re sure to see another round of critical reappraisals and reckonings contending with its legacy, and what it means to the LGBTQ+ community in 2023.

And, on top of that, later this fall, 1984 Publishing is releasing Sleepaway Camp: Making The Movie And Reigniting The Campfire, a definitive behind-the-scenes book from author and filmmaker Jeff Hayes, which tells the story of the cult classic featuring exclusive interviews with the cast and crew, never-before-seen set photos, and more.

In other words, maybe it can answer, once and for all, one of our most burning questions: “What were they thinking when they were making Sleepaway Camp?”

Sleepaway Camp is currently streaming on Crackle, Fubo TV, Peacock, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Shout TV, and Tubi. It’s also available for digital rental via Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV.