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There have been no shortage of camp slashers over the past 40 years. Even films that aren’t called Friday the 13th have tapped into the zeitgeist and delivered horror in a setting that is supposed to be all about fun. From Sleepaway Camp to The Burning to You Might Be the Killer, if there is one thing that we know as horror nerds, it’s that bad things happen at camp, and you should steer clear.

This is most definitely the case with Thomas Walton’s new camp-based slasher Camp Pleasant Lake. It’s a film that seems to try to reinvent the camp slasher film, but doesn’t really succeed in filling it with life. It tries to do several things, in fact, and doesn’t really succeed in any of them.

But let’s start at the beginning. The Very beginning. 20 years ago, in the midst of their parents’ divorce,...

The classless practice of traumatic profiteering is alive and well in Thomas Walton’s micro-budget slasher Camp Pleasant Lake. We’ve become a society obsessed with gnarly true crime documentaries and podcasts, lifting infamous serial killers to celebrity status. As superfans once wrote letters to Charles Manson in prison, studios now churn out streaming programs about despicable icons like Bundy and Dahmer to capitalize on trending viewership. Camp Pleasant Lake is an intriguing commentary on selling someone else’s grief and loss for your next payday, but at no point does Walton’s execution do his “Horror LARPing” concept justice.

The film takes place at Camp Echo Lake, where new owners Rick (Michael Paré) and Darlene Rutherford (Maritza Brikisak) have reopened as an immersive Halloween experience. For $10,000, attendees are treated to “Camp of Terror,” an all-inclusive murder party that ties back to a horrible crime committed on the grounds 20 years prior.