CANNIBAL CAMPOUT - I've been watching a few examples of that 'first wave' of shot-on-video 80s horror recently. 'Sledgehammer' was a genuinely bizarre and baffling standout, a piece of dreamy alienation with a really oppressive vibe in places (maybe mostly due the soundtrack if I remember correctly). 'Cannibal Campout', on the other hand, comes across as amiable if sadistic parody peppered with bleaker, sleazier moments. There's the domestic camcorder look which to me always suggests something a little forbidden - it associates with porno, washed out bootlegs and maybe things on tape you just shouldn't see (ie. 13th generation Robert Palmer videos playing at 3 am in an empty room). That bad 80s VHS look has come back recently (ie Trash Humpers), but in a way this seems competently put together - so many films like this don't use editing in a dynamic way at all, whereas this one at least seems to carry some forward momentum and pace. Anyway, some standard teens go on a camping trip into the woods where a trio of cannibal back-woods types lurk (yeah it's not revolutionary). Some surprisingly mean spirited gore happens after plenty of wandering and talking. Could have been a weird anti-classic if the comedic tone hadn't jammed the darker signals it seems to send at points.
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