Welp. It may have taken them 8 films to get it right (and even that is stretching the definition of ‘Right.’) but ‘It Kills: Camp Blood 7’ is the first film in the franchise that basically manages to just…DO the thing I want the film to do, without veering wildly off the rails and bursting into flames for no good reason at all…and what a monkeys paw of a film this thing truely is.

The plot? its Fall break, and a group of 5 students are planning on going on a road trip. while on the road they spot a hitchiker named ‘Bishop’ who’s hiking the trails around Camp Blackwood. The gang introduce themselves as ‘Jennie’ an upbeat compassionate lady leader of the group, Anna, a ‘frustrated’ recently single pringle who hates her ex, Lizzy, the bookworm of the group, Terry an upbeat chap in a wheelchair, And Drake. the BIGGEST arsehole i’ve seen realised on screen in a good while (think ‘Alan’ from ‘Return to Sleepaway Camp’ and your not a million miles off) and Annas Ex to boot…

Bishop explains that he’s hiking around Camp Blackwood looking for his wife, who went missing 4 months ago. The police have closed the search for her, so Bishop hopes that by scouring the area himself, he may either finally get closure for himself, or for any of the other families who’ve lost people on the trails at Camp Blackwood. Lizzy also backs this up, recounting the legend of Camp Blackwood. That there was a summer camp there, but some children went missing and two councillors were murdered, so the camps were closed, but its rumoured that anyone wandering the grounds will be killed or kidnapped by a muderous killer clown.

Well; as you can imagine, they arrive at Camp Blackwood. and theres a killer clown…who slowly starts picking them all off. all the while we get treated ONCE AGAIN to the same tropes that were unoriginal in the first film…SEVEN films prior.

Why do I describe this film as a monkeys paw? Well…its because technically; this is the best Camp Blood movie that i’ve seen to date. Its Mark Polonia, so dont expect a studio grade multi billion dollar feature. But the direction is more than adiquate here. Theres a clear vision realised quite well, with decently constructed sequence work (for the most part) the kill scenes are low budget, but handled fairly well given the low budget nature, graphic overlays are used here in places over CG, which I for one am VERY grateful for. The lighting is largely consistent, you can SEE everything thats going on in the film.

Direction of the cast is…passable. Which, for this franchise is pretty miraculous. Polonia has managed to give the cast enough badnwidth to explore their set space and be creative with prop use. But it does feel like he may have been a bit of a stickler for dialogue and delivery. As there are moments where the cast have lines to deliver that dont seem to match the natural cadence or flow of their voice or accent. Its all passably fine. But it does make some of the cast come unstuck at times.

The cine is probably some of the nicest of the franchise so far, and certainly some of the broadest scope. Shots are generally fairly functional over creatively motivated. But given half the films in this series dont even use a tripod and were cut together by people who’d not only never shot coverage or B-roll before, but had LITERALLY never edited before. This is a VERY sturdy work in comparison.

The effects on the kills are a little spotty, but on the whole are about as good as can be expected for the budget, and I REALLY appreciate they keep CG overlays to a minimum as ‘Camp Blood 666’ pretty much put me off them for life.

Theres a handful of continuity and white balance issues, some of the sequence building is a little confusing (it feels like there are multiple clown killers in a couple of places because the line isnt really adhered to) But shots are considered, seemingly loosely storyboarded and you can see Polonias thought process running through this thing. While it is a shame there are a few minor issues throughout such as overzealous camera wobble and some shots ending up EVER so slightly soft focus…again, this series has been in the pits for years. im just grateful its (largely) functional.

The performances are a bit pendulous. When they’re good, they’re pretty decent honestly. Probably some of the best performances since the first 2-3 films…But when they’re bad, they’re easily some of the poorest performances the franchise has seen. Of note in particular is a hillbilly couple who turn up near the beginning of the film, who are seemingly only 30% comitted to Hillbillying, and regularly slip not only out of the southern stereotypical accent…but out of their OWN accents into the kind of voice people make when they’re reading lines from a cue card they’ve never seen before…and they cant read well.

Greta Volkova as Jenny in this is the best performer. Thats a certainty for me. Shes consistent, has very few poor deliveries and IS animate for most of the time shes on screen. Her Co-stars are (largely) fine…but Greta stood out to me, she’s probably one of the best performers in this series up to this point.

Even the soundtrack cues take a step up and a bit of a step sideways, as we finally break free of Sterlings generic audio library for tracks. we DO still use a meaty chunk from it, but we’re using other royalty free sources now on top of it! Which is a breath of fresh air after 3-5 films of the same exact audio cues OVER and OVER again.

No; this films monkey paw? is the script…Because while the visuals, sound and performances are probably some of the best of the series so far in my opinion, excelling most of the other films by a significant margin…The script? is THE most generic, overly safe, plodding piece that the franchise has had outside of ‘Part 5’ which was literally just a clip show of ‘Part 4’ with 10 extra minutes duct taped onto the end of it.

The problems are multi-fold. for a starters, the actual plot is a derivative mesh of ideas from the previous films and THE safest ‘slasher stalker’ plot i’ve seen in a good while…Literally the whole plot is ’30 year old teens end up checking out an abandoned summer camp…during the DAY…and they wind up trapped there and killed in various fairly generic ways’. Theres no twists, no gimmicks, no out of left field additions, no surprises. Its shooting fish in a barrel.

We have multiple tropes returning to pad the runtime such as extended driving sequences, extended wandering around in the woods sequences, scenes of the gang finding an abandoned ‘Camp Blood’ sign, scenes of the gang around a camp fire talking about the legend of the clown killer, extended chase and kill sequences. There is very VERY little here that is unique to this film. and what is, isnt really worth mentioning.

The film isnt in a rush either, expect these extended wandering and ambling sequences to make up a not insignificant chunk of the first 2 acts, while the final act is a bit truncated and largely just an extended chase sequence with kills dotted along the way. its plodding. and even clocking in at 69 minutes long, it feels like it never really gets any kind of steam under it beyond its initial push when the first kill happens.

I think a major problem with this film is that, with them having to shoot in daylight because of lighting issues, it really reduces any sense of tension. the script doesnt lend itself to a sense of unease, so the end result at times feels almost comedic, even in the parts that absolutely wernt aiming for that. the dialogue isnt tailored to the cast, theres a ‘Sterling entertainment’ extended topless sequence in the opening of the film to get the quota out of the way. but the Clown killer as a character, by this point, doesnt even really make a whole lot of sense within this universe. He’s essentially Omnipotent, theres no real reason for him to be killing people, and he can quite literally pop in and out of locations at will, and seemingly can be in multiple locations pretty much instantaineously. The inconsistencies really dont help with giving us any kind of stakes, because why should I be scared of a clown killer that, on a whim, could materialise right behind me silently and end me in less than 3 seconds?

Throw in that the characterizations are all pretty one note and generlized and that theres a distinct whiff of ‘Friday the 13th part 2’ in this entry…and I found ‘Camp Blood 7’ to ultimatley be a bit of a frustrating watch. A film that simultaineously drastically improves the technical skill of the franchise, but marries it to a script thats so generic and by the numbers it actually kind of put me off it. It plays all the right notes, but it kind of fails the vibe check for me.

I’d say if you were interested in the series, this one would be a must see…But do temper your expectations on the plot front.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/it-kills-camp-blood-7/