Blu-ray Review: DEER CAMP ’86

Home » Blu-ray Review: DEER CAMP ’86

Jul 15 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

It’s November 1986, and a group of five childhood friends and one of their coworkers make their way to northern Michigan for their annual deer hunting trip. As they head to the remote hunting cabin they’ve rented, the guys stop off at a Native American-owned bar called the Peace Pipe. For the past two years, Wes (Noah LaLonde) has skipped the trip due to his demanding girlfriend, but now that she broke up with him, he’s free to rejoin the gang. In fact, he’s wasting no time moving on, finding an instant connection with bartender Star (Tina Manera). The rest of the group includes electrician Buck (Jay J. Bidwell) and his co-worker Karlos (Josh Dominguez)—a former soldier who spent some time in Lebanon—driver J.B. (Brian Michael Raetz), nervous first-time hunter/gutter guard salesman Egbert aka ‘Ep’ (David Lautman), and Simon (Arthur Cartwright), seemingly named for the fact that he carries a travel size Simon game with him.

After getting into a brawl with some local racist rednecks, the guys head out to their cabin for more drinking before the hunting begins. The guys receive a visit from Sheriff Paulson (Paul Wilson), who tells them that a local indigenous woman had been brutally murdered, and asks them some questions about their whereabouts. He explains that this seems to be an annual occurrence in this area—a young indigenous woman goes missing, followed by even more deaths and disappearances of hunters and other visitors—these deaths always end up unexplained, and just get chalked up to bear attacks. He warns them to be on the lookout, but the guys just laugh this off. However, the hunters soon become the hunted as some deadly supernatural creature starts stalking them, and brutally attacking the friends one by one. They appear to have awakened some kind of ancient Native American spirit, and now they find themselves in a life or death struggle to survive the night.

While this is definitely a lower budget film, the production value is quite impressive, with some very beautiful aerial shots looking down at the forest. The acting is also pretty solid and entertaining. It takes a little while for the horror aspect of the film to kick in, but there are some genuine jump scares and surprises, and some of the kills look quite effective and brutal. Deer Camp ’86 knows what type of film it wants to be—a bit of a throwback to the slashers of the 1980s but with more of a supernatural slant, and it is quite successful overall. I really appreciated the simpler times of the 1980s setting, and how the characters make era-appropriate pop culture references when talking to one another or about their situation. Without cell phones or the internet, the hunters find themselves in a much tougher situation than they would today. Without Google Maps, they are forced to stop off at the bar to get directions to their cabin, which is how everything kicks off. Then, when they find themselves trapped in the cabin with this supernatural creature, they can’t just whip out a cell phone and call for help. Instead they have to use their skills like being electricians to MacGyver up some sort of solution. In general I found the characters to be pretty much your standard 80s horror mix—you’ve got the jock, the nerd, the ladies man, the heavy but cocky guy, the black guy, and the Hispanic guy—and the way they fight, argue and drink felt very natural and real.

Overall I found that the movie had a nice blend of humor and horror, mixing in levity with the tenser moments while still maintaining a level of stakes for the characters. The evil spirit they are fighting has an interesting look, design and lore, and the kills were well done and creative. If I had one minor gripe it’s a bit of the inconsistency around the opening of the film. The guys are heading out to start their hunting trip, and Ep says that he has never been hunting before, but somehow they arrive at the bar with a dead deer already on their truck, which is never explained. Also, the bar is clearly labeled Murphy’s on the outside but some of the characters refer to it as Murphy’s, while others call it the Peace Pipe—is it an Irish bar or a Native American bar and where did the latter name come from?! Finally, there’s also a sign outside with an arrow pointing to the bar that says “Dear Camp ’86”, but I’m not sure what this is referring to as the guys are staying at a remote cabin, not some sort of campsite with other hunters. That said, the film is definitely worth a look for horror fans looking for a short, entertaining, throwback slasher with a supernatural twist.

Mill Creek has released Dear Camp ’86 on Blu-ray, DVD and digital. The Blu-ray video presentation looks great, with a sharp, clean picture, natural-looking colors, and a solid level of detail, even in some of the film’s darker sequences. The guys are hunting out in the woods and there are some beautiful overhead shots of the forest. The audio track makes excellent use of the stereo and surround tracks to provide a fully immersive experience, whether it’s the ambiance of nature, or the creepy sounds of the creature banking and skittering on the roof of the cabin.

The Blu-ray disc is barebones, with no bonus material or trailers, just offering the subtitle on/off and version selection on the main menu. Though the film itself does have some outtakes during the credits. The disc is packed in a standard HD keepcase, and our review copy did not include any slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film (1:25:22):

1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Original Cut), English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (Director’s Cut)
Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Final Thoughts:

Dear Camp ’86 is an entertaining throwback to the slasher films of the 1980s but with a bit of a supernatural slant. It finds a nice blend between the horror and the humor, while still maintaining actual stakes for the characters, and providing some genuine scares and twists. Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but doesn’t include any bonus material. That said, it’s still worth a look either on disc or digital based on the film itself.