Movie Review: Camp Cucamonga (1990)

Camp Cucamonga (1990) - USA - Comedy - TV Movie

Directed by Roger Duchowny

Starring John Ratzenberger, Chad Allen, Jennifer Aniston, Candace Cameron, Danica McKellar, Dorothy Lyman, Jaleel White, Lauren Tewes, Richard Herd, G. Gordon Liddy, Sherman Hemsley

Summer camp activities, pranks and romance with a lot of 80s and 90s up and coming stars is actually a fun movie.

The kids, middle school to high school age, are just arriving for summer camp, but not everybody is happy to be there. There will boys trying to spy on the girls, competitions, conflicts and romance among the campers and counselors. The camp, however, faces the possibility of not receiving accreditation and being shut down while one of the campers has to deal with news of her parents' divorce and running away from camp. The kids band together to help solve both situations.

Filled with stars who were either popular during the 80s and 90s stars in their prime, Camp Cucamonga had the right mix to draw an audience of the time, and still has a good mix of stars from their early days to appeal to audiences of today. A youthful Jennifer Aniston is gorgeous as a camp counselor and the daughter of the camp owner played by an appropriately accident prone John Ratzenberger. Young stars like Chad Allen who really had an incredible confidence on screen for his age, Danica McKellar and Candace Cameron provide stars who were "in" at the time and are given actual characters to work with and do an excellent job.

Unlike too many summer camp movies which come off like a collection of discarded jokes and pranks that wouldn't work anywhere else cobbled together with a weak plot solely to hold everything together, Camp Cucamonga is well developed and though it does have cheesy moments its strength is in having the comedy and drama develop from its story. The characters and stars who play them are likeable, the situations are not all that predictable, and even cheesy moments have a charm and humor to them.

My Rating: 4 Fingers. I think this will mostly appeal to tweens and teens as well adults who would find the nostalgia of value.

You can get it on DVD but presently the prices are outrageous. You can find it on YouTube to watch.

Movie Review: Motel Hell (1980)

Motel Hell (1980) - USA - Horror - Rated R

Directed by Kevin Connor

Stars Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Wolfman Jack, Elaine Joyce, John Ratzenberger

A movie that truly and successfully 'serves' up an odd dish of humor and horror, perhaps with an even odder mix of characters.

Vincent Smith is the small town owner of the Motel Hello and somewhat of a product celebrity as he makes and packages his own meats under his Farmer Vincent brand which brings tourists seeking out his meats, and provides him with a very special ingredient he uses for his meats. You see, in order to cut costs and remain competitive, Vincent uses people as one of his ingredients in his meats, and while procuring more stock early one morning, one of his would be victims is a pretty young woman he immediately has a soft spot for and ends up nursing her back to health. Well this new lady also catches the eye of his younger brother, also the sheriff of this one-horse small town, and the competition between the two brothers over her puts Vincent's secret at risk of being discovered and creates a friction between the two brothers.

Though Motel Hell is essentially a horror movie, it is also a black comedy. Paul Linke is humorous as the small town sheriff, and only in a town like this could his character become a police officer. Rory Calhoun does a fantastic job of wearing two faces as Vincent: that of an easy going farmer who injects bits of humor into his antics in acquiring and tending for his 'livestock', and yet he has an intense, frightening side that reminds us this is a horror movie too.

Motel Hell is not your typical movie as it does not easily fit into a general category. It has strong comical elements, strong horror elements, and it is quite satirical as it has influences from various 70s horror themed movies that one could look upon it as wrapping up the 70s horror scene just before the slasher craze took off. Motel Hell succeeds in telling a story, developing its characters, and very well at that even if it occasionally drags a tiny bit due to that, and gives us a chuckle, a scare or two, a classic chainsaw duel, and one of the funniest lines ever uttered by a dying character in a movie.

My Rating: 4 Fingers

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