Perfect viewing through the milky fug of a few tipples at 3am, 'Summer Camp Girls' is an adult feature brought to us by Gary Graver who you may recognise as his career seems to predominantly consist of a mixture of hard and softcore features, occasionally peppered with more 'family friendly' (I.E Not porn) horror and Sci-fi features.

I personally know Gravers work from 'Trick or Treat' the 1982 horror movie in which a kid 'Dennis the menaces' his baby sitter while an ACTUAL killer slowly stalks the family home…and 'One Million Heels B.C' the B-feature to the infamous 'Scream Queen Hot Tub Party' in which Michelle Baur plays a cavewoman thawed out in the present day who…well…you can imagine…its a softcore feature with Michelle Baur in a fur bikni…You can fill in the blanks.

'Summer Camp Girls' was shot in the earlier phase of his career. Not so early that he didnt have experience by this time, he'd already got 26 credits under his belt by this point, working a variety of different styles in Adult features AND he'd dabbled at least a couple of times with horror and sci fi. But as of today the guy has almost 150 directing credits. So being number 27, is still pretty early.

The plots about as straightforward as these films can get really. As the film opens introducing us to 'Angela' a rebellious teen woman who comes from an affluent background (her father is in some kind of organised crime syndicate) who's family are at their wits end with her. Angela likes bad boys, and has been dating (and is engaged) to a bad BAD boy. Much to her parents disapproval.

At their wits end, her father stumbles on an advert for a 'correctional' camp. 'Camp Quimm' which promises to take rebellious teens and, over several weeks, remove them from the systems that corrupt them, and turn them into model citizens. Her father is intreagued by the option and signs Angela up without hesitation, much to Angelas upset.

On arriving at the camp however, Angela finds that this 'all girls' camp is full of teens like her, who, conveniently, more or less all have the same background and story to her…So she quite quickly gets on and makes several friends.

It looks like its going to be a dull, dry, chaste summer…BUT AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, Literally on the outskirts of the camp, a couple of bikers called 'J.D' and 'Animal' have set up camp while their brothers are passing through the area, they've already captured one girl 'Carla' as their prize. and J.D is looking to bed as many of the camp girls as possible. Leading to the camp councillors to place a ban on them coming into the camp, or any of the girls leaving.

As you can imagine, J.D takes a liking to Angela, much to Carlas AGGRESSIVE disapproval. But it doesnt take too long for the girls of the camp to start climbing the walls looking for men, with two of the girls trying to molest the only male camp councillor on the grounds, who refuses to reciprocate because he'd lose his job, and the other girls planning a daring break to seek flesh.

When news of the breakout hits the staff, they panic and begin plans to try and recapture the girls. This is made all the more complicated however, when Angelas father gets word of bikers and breakouts and sends a memo out to say he'll be visiting the camp in two hours time, and he expects the camp to be full, and the tone to be 'celibate.' Leading to a race against time to recapture the girls before they have TOO much fun.

And…on the whole this is a somewhat upbeat, but surprisingly aggressive adult feature. The script contrasts an upbeat and semi comedic tone with sex scenes that are overly 'hands on' a bit rough and filled with aggressive word play.

The pacing moves at a clip, which is good because I feel this kind of setup very much has the risk of dragging. tonally its a unique mesh that I dont think will really be for everyone, but for anyone with a kink for 'soft' sub/dom dynamics. you'll probably get what you paid for with this one. I found the contrast of forcefulness and gentle humour to be a bit of an unusual mix, but not an unpalatable one. It makes the plot, which could have been very dry without those elements, come to life a bit more and feel altogether more stable.

The dialogues pretty solid, again, with these kind of films theres always a risk of the dialogue feeling a bit corny, and while I will say, some of the sex scene dialogue is a bit cringe at times, the actual plot dialogue is surprisingly well written and does have a bit of an acidic punch to boot! The characters all have very distinct personalities, goals and ambitions and the film does give them enough development to feel like theres a sense of growth across the runtime. ending things in a satisfying, but rather abrupt way.

The direction is about on the level, the non sex scenes are competent, feel solid and have a definite creative vision behind how they play out. This film came out at the back end of a bit of an era of change for the genre, and while quite a few movies of this time STILL clung onto the 'one very seedy looking room, with 2-3 very clearly ill looking people getting it on. Producers and studios were getting wise to the fact that the films where they portrayed good looking NON ill looking people in sunny PLEASENT locations…rather than just a motel room off i95 that was last renovated in 1952…was a more lucrative gambit.

To that end, the cine in this film is vibrant, is well lit, has complimenting colour grades and locations that feel fresh and open. the cast are all clearly being given solid direction on how the scenes are to play out and what marks to hit where, the sex scenes mix up initimate close up shots of the cast members really emoting, and broader scenes that help set the mood and tension. while the dialogue used throughout ranges from 'steamy' to 'cringe'. the cine is very much clued into the vibe of the sex scenes in question and never feels like it drops the ball really.

Sequences are well crafted, the scenes flow very nicely into one another, and this helps bolster the sturdy script into something much more robust in my opinion.

The casting is also relatively solid. While Shauna Grants 'Angela' is the 'In' to the world this film fleshes out, she is somewhat overshadowed almost immediately by several other larger than life performers such as Joanna Storm and Kimberley Carson as Tammy and Veronica, Herschel Savage as J.D, Antonio Crab as Animal…and in much more subtle (but effective) performance; Paul Thomas as Greg.

While the performances of the above are certainly entertaining and bombastic enough to keep viewers glued to their seats. It does come with the rather unfortunate side effect of the film feeling at times like the cast are fighting for the limelight, one upping each other time after time on who can give the biggest, most over the top turn. For my money, that title would go to Tara Aire as Carla, the jealous girlfriend of J.D who is literally only one click away from the kind of intensity 'Judy' from 'Sleepaway Camp' achieved. Shes manic, over the top and intensely campy. I thought she was great.

And as for the soundtrack? its nothing to write home about, but in an era where library tracks were still the common use of the day. This has some original compositions in there, adds mirth to the lighter tones of the film and is used effectively and consistently. I cant say its the best i've ever heard, but its far from the worst.

All in all? 'Summer Camp Girls' is a fine enough adult production. its tailored to audiences who prefer things a bit nastier and rougher, but dont want to go full 'whips and chains'. and it balances a lot of the contrasting tones and vibes within that well. I feel like this is a solid work, that; if your exploring the history of adult film is probably worth your time. While it doesnt do anything exceptionally well in my opinion. its a great example of the era and how the adult film industry was diversifying at that time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/summer-camp-girls/