Happy Camp (film)

Happy Camp is a 2014 American found footage horror film written and directed by Josh Anthony in his directorial debut.[1] It was released on video on demand on March 25, 2014 through Gravitas Ventures and was produced through Drew Barrymore's production company Flower Films. The movie stars Michael Barbuto as a man trying to discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance years ago.[2]

Happy Camp
Directed byJosh Anthony
Produced byDrew Barrymore
Nancy Juvonen
Chris Miller
Ember Truesdell
Written byJosh Anthony
Michael Barbuto
Anne Taylor
StarringJosh Anthony
Michael Barbuto
Ben Blenkle
CinematographyMatthew H. Sanders
Edited bySam Bauer
Omar Lagda
Production
company
Flower Films
Hogtown Productions
Distributed byGravitas Ventures
Release date
  • March 25, 2014 (2014-03-25)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

In the 1980s Mike (Michael Barbuto) was adopted by Walt and Sandy and was taken to live with them in Happy Camp, a small logging town, with their son Dean. Mike got along instantly with his new brother and was overjoyed that he would finally have a family. This happiness was cut short on October 22, 1989 when Dean is abducted by persons unknown. Mike, the only witness to the crime, can't remember anything about his brother's disappearance, the latest in a string of over 600 disappearances over the last 27 years. Twenty years later Mike's girlfriend Anne (Anne Taylor) has persuaded him to revisit Happy Camp to try to recover his memory of what happened that day. She also persuades him to allow a film crew to videotape the entire process. However rather than have an experience that will help him reconcile with his past, Mike finds that he, Anne, and the film crew are in serious danger.

Cast
  • Josh Anthony as Josh
  • Michael Barbuto as Michael Tanner
  • Ben Blenkle as Local
  • Teddy Gilmore as Teddy
  • Anne Taylor as Anne

Reception

Critical reception for Happy Camp has been largely negative, and Twitch Film stated that the movie "provides a nice warning to future indie filmmakers looking to mine the nearly bankrupt found footage genre."[3] Several reviewers criticized the movie's found footage angle, as they felt that it did not add anything to the film.[4][5] Bloody Disgusting commented that the film took the concept of found footage too seriously, as they felt that "there’s no reason to try to pass it as authentic – especially if it bogs down whatever thin narrative there is."[6] The final portion of Happy Camp was also heavily criticized, and reviewers from Dread Central and Film School Rejects felt that although the movie's premise showed promise, the film did not ultimately deliver.[7][8] Ain't It Cool News gave a mixed review, commenting that although there were better films in the found footage genre there were also many that were worse and that Happy Camp was overall an "entertaining although typical found footage film."[9]

References
  1. Gallagher, Brian. "'Happy Camp' Interview with Director Josh Anthony". MovieWeb. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  2. Yamato, Jen. "Gravitas Snags Found Footage Thriller 'Happy Camp' From Exec Producer Drew Barrymore". Deadline. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  3. Webb, Charles. "Review: Don't Go to HAPPY CAMP". Twitch Film. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  4. Dee, Jake. "Happy Camp (Movie Review)". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  5. Larson, Ryan. "Review: Happy Camp is Missing Something Pretty Important…". STYD. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  6. "Drew Barrymore's 'Happy Camp' Made Me Very Unhappy". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  7. McHargue, Brad. "Happy Camp (review)". Dread Central. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  8. Hunter, Rob. "'Happy Camp' Review: Keep Driving, There's Nothing to See Here". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  9. "AICN HORROR looks at HAPPY CAMP! HERE COMES THE DEVIL! CONTRACTED! HORROR AT 3700 FEET! 20 FT BELOW! SCREAM PARK! OUTPOST 3: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ! SPARKS: THE ORIGIN OF IAN SPARKS! MONSTERS TV Series! & RETURN TO NUKE'EM HIGH V1!". AICN. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
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