I am so angry at myself for paying for this DVD without reading more reviews. It is an Inept, dull, lifeless, low-budget, boring, rip-off of a movie. I threw it in the trash half way through. Avoid this dreck . You have been warned!

This one came into the library where I catalog items, and I snatched it up, since one of my favorite B actors, Eric Roberts, was on the cover. I didn't even read what it was about before popping it into the DVD player.It was an amusing throwback to the 80's slasher films, with today's technology. The opening where Eric Robert's character, Julian, and the sheriff were eating breakfast, instantly made me think of the small town I grew up in. And then when they showed the cabins it looked almost exactly like Edgewater Inn and Cabins where the yearly IndieHorror.TV Cabin Weekend takes place. I felt a kinship with the movie right away.It was very enjoyable, and the kill scenes were pretty decent. Towards the end I was lost for a second when one of the characters was attacked, but then a second later the killer was outside the door. But after I thought about it, it made sense. There was a twist at the end that I did not predict, which was nice. I would recommend this movie, especially if you enjoy 80's slashers.

The fact that Eric Roberts seems to be one of a few competent actors in this movie should tell you something about the quality of acting in Camp Dread. To be fair to the other 'actors' in Camp Dread, I should say that they didn't write the screenplay and the cringe-worthy dialogue by themselves. Someone else did. Director/writer Harrison Smith did. And he botched it. Also the stretch from a has been actor to a has been director is not that big of a leap for Mr. Roberts. He really didn't have to act in this one and collected a paycheck for it. Well played, Mr. Roberts, I guess.The plot is pretty simple as it should be in a slasher movie. A washed up and penniless horror movie director Julian Barret (Eric Roberts) decides to dabble in reality TV to make some money. He enlists the help of his former scream queen, who is now conveniently a licensed youth counselor, and another old friend of his who gets killed off in about 20 minutes into the movie. I can only assume because he seems like a decent actor and they were going for total incompetence or bust. Add about a dozen stereotypical youngsters as cannon fodder. Explain the rules of the Summer Camp reality show. The fake killer, the insane amount of money that goes to the winner, drop a hint or two about the presence of a real psycho killer and we should have a solid setup for a fun slasher movie.If you are a horror fan you've probably seen worse ideas turned into good movies and vice versa. You've seen this done before, right? Summer camp, lots of young good looking people and a psycho killer on the prowl. The movie has some good gory kills and a bit of a surprising twist at the end but it still fails to deliver.The movie is just dull. The setup is solid but once Summer Camp starts, boredom ensues. The kills are few and far between, the fights between the contestants are long and boring. The director tries to generate tension using gimmicks like strange noises outside the cabins, doorknobs jiggling for what seems like an eternity, wrong people showing up in wrong places, etc. I didn't expect any deep character development in this one but it would have been nice if they'd make decision based on logic and common sense. Instead they all seem to have left their brains at home. I've touched the subject of acting already and it seems the big chunk of the acting budget went to Mr. Roberts and Danielle Harris for her ten minute cameo appearance. Some gore and the surprise ending, which really isn't that much of a surprise, don't fix that. The characters just seem to have the memory of a goldfish because they seem to keep forgetting what happened just a few seconds ago. The acting is atrocious at times. The cast is comprised of scrapings from the bottom of the barrel of acting talent. Add a bad screenplay that makes the characters utter some dumb and corny lines and the whole thing results in some cringe worthy dialogues and sometimes monologues. So bad that I had to pause it, rewind and cringe again just to make sure I wasn't hearing things. Annoyed the heck out of me. Even if I'd start to follow the plot and get involved into the story a bit something dumb happened or being said and it just snapped me right back to reality. This is a horrible movie.Camp Dread doesn't have a lot going for it. It seems like its banking on having two known names in Eric Roberts and Danielle Harris, who's in it for about 10 minutes, to lure people in. Then it just goes through the motions of slasher horror until it ends with a surprise twist. And it isn't much of a surprise anyway. A fun throwback horror movie? Just throw it in the trash. That's exactly where it belongs.

A washed up director, played by washed up actor Eric Roberts, sets up a reality TV show where the contestants get murdered. A familiar and simple plot that's been used many times in the 10 years or so since reality TV was topical. But this movie is so ineptly put together that it makes less sense at it goes on.Eric Roberts may as well have been filmed actually reading from the script since he conveys no emotions whatsoever. The movie does have one intriguing idea regarding the reason the contestants were picked but fails to go anywhere with it making the already threadbare plot even less believable.The contestants are so uninteresting that you can sum them up in their entirely with a three word description. Fake leg guy. Girl in lingerie. That's not a sign of a good movie. I didn't expect much out of this but honestly my low expectations were a long way from met. Well, that's just a viewers opinion read the other reviews to see what the makers thought of their own movie. Turns out they liked it.