Critic Reviews

Horror tropes aside, Camp feels like a response to something that hangs heavily in the air these days: claims about religiosity and victimhood.

This isn’t a film about overcoming darkness so much as embracing it, and seeing what, or who, might be waiting for you on the other side.

Eerie in a way that feels more seductive than scary, the film isn’t bewitched by its demons so much as the process of transubstantiation by which a (self)tortured young woman can transform them into grace.

It’s a huge step forward for Fast after the promise of their debut Honeycomb. I don’t think the budget here is that much larger, regardless of that previous work being done with friends on the cheap, but Camp looks like it was thanks to Sprungman’s eye and Fast’s increased confidence. They’re willing to take huge swings with the potential to alienate the audience, but it’s worth the risk because of their impact on those willing to truly absorb the film.

With Camp, there’s a clarity of emotion if not of the mechanisms behind the witchcraft. It’s the mood that matters, an atmosphere of unpredictability and anticipation, but not exactly of danger — like listening to a slightly terrifying tale by the campfire with an open sky above in the company of people you are certain care about you.

Try to imagine an angsty, indie teen drama that’s parasitically burrowing its way into a Florence + The Machine music video. Now imagine it’s in theaters now and it’s called Camp.