{"id":9555,"date":"2026-10-21T18:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T22:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/movies\/?p=9555"},"modified":"2026-10-21T18:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T22:03:15","slug":"sleepaway-camp-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/movies\/sleepaway-camp-1983\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleepaway Camp (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border:none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/43395299\/height\/100\/width\/\/thumbnail\/no\/render-playlist\/no\/theme\/custom\/tdest_id\/4706482\/custom-color\/87A93A\" height=\"100\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" 0=\"allowfullscreen\" 1=\"webkitallowfullscreen\" 2=\"mozallowfullscreen\" 3=\"oallowfullscreen\" 4=\"msallowfullscreen\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n<p>When listener John S. commissioned the 1983 cult slasher Sleepaway Camp, Big D had zero expectations. Gene was cautiously optimistic after two disappointing summer camp films. Neither was prepared for what they got.<\/p>\n<p>What starts as Meatballs with murder \u2014 beehives, boilings, and drownings \u2014 escalates into something far darker, culminating in one of cinema&#8217;s most shocking twist endings. Gene calls it his favorite slasher finale of all time. Big D says it&#8217;s up there with The Terminator, Empire Strikes Back, and Back to the Future Part II.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In this episode:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How Sleepaway Camp earned its 82% Rotten Tomatoes score despite being dismissed as a Friday the 13th knockoff<\/li>\n<li>The legendary practical effects of Ed French (Terminator 2, Star Trek, Buffy) \u2014 going way harder than the budget demanded<\/li>\n<li>Robert Earl Jones (James Earl Jones&#8217; father!) as the camp cook who looks the other way<\/li>\n<li>The most authentic New York swearing since your last family gathering<\/li>\n<li>A thoughtful debate on whether the film&#8217;s famous ending is transphobic or a tragic story of a child failed by the adults around him<\/li>\n<li>Why both hosts agree: watch this movie before you listen to this episode. The twist is that good.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sleepaway Camp is available free on multiple streaming platforms including Plex. Go watch it first \u2014 seriously \u2014 then come back and join the conversation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"650\" data-end=\"1225\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><strong>Subscribe Now<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Android: <a title=\"Android\" href=\"android\/\" rel= \"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/android<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Apple\/iTunes: <a href=\"apple\" target=\"_blank\" rel= \"noopener\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/apple<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Help Support the Podcast<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Contact Us: <a href= \"contact\/\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/contact<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Commission Movie: <a href= \"support\/\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/support<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Support with Paypal: <a href=\"paypal\" target=\"_blank\" rel= \"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/paypal<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Support With Venmo: <a href=\"venmo\" target=\"_blank\" rel= \"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/venmo<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Shop Merchandise: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel= \"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.shatpod.com\/shop<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Theme Song &#8211; Die Hard by Guyz Nite: <a href= \"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guyznite\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guyznite<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/directory.libsyn.com\/episode\/index\/id\/43395299\/tdest_id\/4706482\">Check out this episode!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When listener John S. commissioned the 1983 cult slasher Sleepaway Camp, Big D had zero expectations. Gene was cautiously optimistic after two disappointing summer camp films. Neither was prepared for what they got. What starts as Meatballs with murder \u2014 beehives, boilings, and drownings \u2014 escalates into something far darker,&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20624],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1990s"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sleepaway Camp (1983) Review - Shat the Movies Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Podcast Movie Reviews for the 1980&#039;s and 1990&#039;s Movies that we all loved growing up.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/movies\/sleepaway-camp-1983\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sleepaway Camp (1983) Review - Shat the Movies Podcast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Podcast Movie Reviews for the 1980&#039;s and 1990&#039;s Movies that we all loved growing up.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/movies\/sleepaway-camp-1983\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shat the Movies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShatTheMovies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-21T22:03:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/shatpod.com\/movies\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-Red-SP-512.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dick Ebert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ShatTheMovies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ShatTheMovies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dick Ebert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dick Ebert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/473cad284b192ca56b2123678696d7ee\"},\"headline\":\"Sleepaway Camp (1983)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-21T22:03:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"1990s Best Movies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sleepaway Camp (1983) Review - Shat the Movies Podcast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-21T22:03:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Podcast Movie Reviews for the 1980's and 1990's Movies that we all loved growing up.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/sleepaway-camp-1983\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1990s Best Movies\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/category\\\/1990s\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sleepaway Camp (1983)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/shatpod.com\\\/movies\\\/\",\"name\":\"Shat the Movies\",\"description\":\"The Best 80s &amp; 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