Zombie Campout (2002)

Like many Junior High teens raised on a healthy diet of Halloween, Friday the 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street I had a dream of making my own horror film. My friends, family and I would spend long bus rides to and from school working on terrifying movie scripts. Our scripts weren't rich in character development or full of surprising plot twists.  Rather, the story-lines for our movies were driven by the reasonably priced gore effects we found at the local magic store. Without the gore, why bother?

After weeks of writing, planning, and saving our newspaper route pennies, we would rent a video camera for a non-stop weekend of film (video) making. Shooting would start Friday night and by noon on Saturday the script was all but forgotten as we turned our focus entirely on the gore and inside jokes. It was hard to deny that we were our own audience.  Details were for professionals so it really never mattered if one “actor” played 4 roles in essentially the same outfit. We would enjoy it all the same.

Zombie Campout is, in many ways, like the movies we in Junior High. The story is simple. Four mid-to-late twenty-somethings head out for a weekend camping trip. When a meteorite shower strikes, zombies rise from a nearby cemetery hungry for naive teen flesh. Not the most original plot but the opportunities to put your spin on the zombie genre are endless.

As many other reviews have pointed out, this is a low, low, LOW budget movie. Case in point, writer/director/producer Joshua D. Smith also has 22 other credits to his name including special effects and cinematographer. Way to go, Joshua.  That's how we did it in Junior High.  Then again, Mr. Smith had way more equipment at his disposal than we did for our “movies”. For starters, he had more than one camera (you can see the unused camera in various shots throughout the movie). He had lighting equipment (you can see the extension cords here and there). And he had a boom mic which shows up so often in the movie, it deserves acting credit.

I should mention, IMDB lists 12 continuity errors which I think is generous. If you want a real challenge, try having a drink every time you notice a continuity error. I guarantee you will be absolutely shit-faced before the first zombie appears on the screen.

Speaking of zombies, it is a small miracle that anyone dies in this film. As far as I could tell, there were no more than 10 slow moving zombies roaming the campground and outlying areas at any one time. Not every camping trip is perfect, but with only 10 zombies about, you should be able to enjoy a fine weekend with only the occasional nuisance of a zombie.

It’s hard to say if Joshua D. Smith fell victim to the desire to abandon making a good movie in lieu of something that would would be awesome to share with friends and family. Being guilty of it myself, I understand. You start giving in to those “dude, it would be awesome if…” suggestions and soon you are inserting “nudity” jokes stripped (ahem) directly from the Austin Powers movies. While these decisions are inconsequential when you’re 14, they are inexcusable for a movie on Netflix On Demand.

Now, where are the video cassettes of our Junior High movies?