'Sleepaway Camp' Eyed As Reboot Target For New Franchise

The original Sleepaway Camp, from 1983, which follows a bullied girl at a summer camp where people start turning up dead, isn't the best movie in the '80s horror canon. But it is notorious for its ending, and for generally being a nasty piece of work. (For example, it goes so far as to suggest that one character's psychosis was caused by witnessing their father's loving homosexual experience with another man.) But those elements make it a favorite among some fans, even as they generally dismiss the three "unauthorized" sequels (and one "legit" one from the film's original director, Robert Hiltzik) that followed. There isn't another film quite like it, and it seems unlikely that it would get made today.

But while an original film like Sleepaway Camp probably wouldn't happen now, a reboot can more easily take flight. Jeff Katz, formerly of Fox and New Line, wants to reboot the film, and potentially start a new franchise. The idea is to write a modern version that sets up "a new film series that echoes its legacy and the psychosexual elements that made the first pic such a memorable cult favorite." There's no writer or director yet, so it's way too early to know what this version will do with the ideas of the original.

If you've never seen that first film, it'll be out on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory next year. [Deadline]