What do we do with Sleepaway Camp? Infamous for its twist ending, the cult-classic slasher has a thorny legacy to say the least. While some fans (justifiably) decry it as transphobic shock-value slop, others love it subversively — like trans horror critic Harmony Colangelo, who co-wrote a book on Sleepaway Camp alongside her wife B.J., and who called it “one of the most gender-affirming films ever released” in her 2019 “Transgender Defense” of the film. Sleepaway Camp refracts our intentions and predispositions back to us — whether you think it’s schlock or (ahem) a camp classic, something in it will surprise you. It’s an exercise in Death of the Author by entrapment in a bathroom with angry bees. See it for yourself: Just in time for Wrath Month, Sleepaway Camp screens as part of the Belcourt Midnights series on Friday as part of a one-two weekend slasher punch with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood.
Midnight at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
