Whilst director Ruggero Deodato's two most famous films (Cannibal Holocaust and The House On The Edge Of The Park) have had a huge amount written about the censorship that both films have faced,I was surprised to find out that this very entertaining,overlooked backwoods Slasher from Deodato had also faced some small censorship troubles.With the BBFC cutting out around 40 seconds of footage from the film.Searching around online for a while,I was thrilled when I at last discovered a completely uncut version of the film,which led to me deciding that I would take an (uncut) look at Deodato's backwoods terror.The plot:Attempting to patch things up after a very nasty row,a teenage couple decide to spend some time at a near by woods,in the hopes of spending some quality time together.Unbeknowst to the couple,the woods that they have chosen to visit is rumoured to have an old Indian graveyard underneath it that has caused the spirit of an Indian shaman to haunt the woods and kill anyone that it does not welcome into the woods.Despite a family occupying a cabin near by,the teenagers become the unlucky victims of the Indian shaman's latest killing spree.15 years later:A group of college teens are driving around in a van during their summer break.On the way to their latest destination,the gang pick up a hitch hiker called Ben,who when asked if he knows any good location where they could all hang out at,tells them that he would be more than happy for all of them to spend a few days in a woodland area,which he and his family live near by.Despite Ben's dad loudly voicing his fears of a shaman "boogyman" coming back to kill them all,the gang decide to pay little attention to the "crazy man" and to instead get all set for a fun couple of days in the woods,where they will discover that not all "boogymen" are fake…View on the film:For the screenplay of the film,the four writes really seem to struggle in making the films two main plot threads both equally interesting and connected to each other.Whilst the main "teen Slasher" part of the film does allow director Ruggero Deodato to show some really good moments of the teens being killed off,the story sadly does not match up to his gory directing,due to the whole of the teens plot feeling very aimless and empty.Luckally,despite the teens Slasher side of the film being disappointing,the "adult" plot thread of the film helps to really keep the film going,thanks to the great performances of David Hess and Mimsy Farmer,who along with Deodato having an eye for the woodlands setting and a terrific,industrial edge score by Claudio Simonetti are able to do really well in showing an old married couple who are worn down and nervous about their only son experiencing the outside world for the very first time on his own.

Camping del Terrore (1987)* out of ****Directed by Ruggero DeodatoWith Luisa Maneri and David HessNo novelty if you have seen "Friday the 13th". Campers goes to for a weekend of sex but they find a crazy killer out there; each by one going to be killed. End of plot. Interesting Simonetti score but not so good as its other works. Sensacionalist Deodato almost do it with some camera moves and one "flashback" scene, but that don't help much. Look for David Hess ("Last House on the Left" and it's rip-off "House on the Edge of the Park" - other Deodatto! -) in the same pulse of always. Nehh.

I rated this film highly because I knew what I was getting myself in for and I was drunk when I first watched it. I like a good old fashioned slasher that makes very little sense and is laughably bad.The Dialog sounds as if it was added at a later date and the situations that people put themselves in (while some of the friends are currently missing) are just plain stupid, but the film doesn't take itself too seriously and so I don't either.The fact that somebody is actually credited for 'continuity' is quite comical given the amount of mistakes in the movie.These may sound like bad points but they all add up to a funny (if unintentionally so) film.I recently bought this film and watched it sober. I was not disappointed

Ruggero Deodato's rather belated entry in the then trendy "Friday the 13th"-inspired 80's summercamp slasher horror sub-genre is a much more solid, enjoyable and even fairly scary fright feature than it's usually given credit for being. The dead simple story can be summed up in a single sentence: a hairy, homely, horrible homicidal Indian shaman viciously bumps off an affable bunch of fun-loving teens vacationing in a lovely, remote campsite that's located on a cursed area of land that was once owned by Native Americans. Yep, that's about it as far as a complex narrative is concerned. And that's about all you need, if you ask me. I mean, in a body count pic like this the plot really doesn't matter, now does it? The toothpick-lean plot aside, the film delivers the goods overall: spaghetti splatter specialist Deodato (the sweet, subtle, sophisticated gent who blessed us with the infamous "Cannibal Holocaust") provides adroit direction, the slick, sinuous, expansive cinematography is real easy on the eyes (the shots where a fluid Steadicam goes snaking hither and tither amongst the trees are real nice), Goblin's Claudio Simonetti hits a righteously spooky, shimmering groove with his throbbing rock score, the kill scenes pack a gruesome, lingering wallop (throat gashings, a girl gets dragged through broken glass, the ol' axe in the noggin bit, that sort of grisly stuff), the characters are appealing, well-developed and attractive, there's a hefty amount of gratuitous nudity (mostly female, but there's a naked fat guy, too), the rapid pace never falters, and the picturesque forest locations evoke a harrowingly palpable sense of ambient menace. The choice trash movie supporting cast qualifies as another significant asset: the ever-intense David ("The Last House on the Left") Hess as the grouchy, unfriendly camp caretaker, the always winsome Mimsy ("Riot on Sunset Strip") Farmer as Hess' sweet, neglected, unfaithful wife and the great Charles ("Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") Napier as the bluff, helpful sheriff Mimsy's having an adulterous fling with, plus brief appearances by John ("Deported Women of the SS Special Section") Steiner and Ivan ("Jungle Holocaust") Rassimov. Sure, this movie sure ain't no classic, but it's still a superior sylvan slaughterfest just the same.