Queer Horror: Sleepaway Camp

Showings

Hollywood Theatre Thu, Jun 18, 2015 9:30 PM
Series
Series:Regular Programming
Promotions
Promos in Effect:Member Guest Pass (YES)
Guest Pass (YES)

Description

Thursday, June 18 at 9:30pm  |  $8  |  

The Hollywood Theatre’s new program QUEER HORROR returns with its first feature screening (from a rare 35mm print) of 1983’s cult slasher SLEEPAWAY CAMP. Hosted by Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi, this special edition of QUEER HORROR opens with a dragtastic new horror short specially made to get you worked up for SLEEPAWAY CAMP.

Directed by Robert Hiltzik, SLEEPAWAY CAMP follows the painfully shy and slightly traumatized Angela (Felissa Rose), as she moves in with her eccentric (see also: bizarre) aunt Martha and cousin Ricky following a family tragedy. Martha sends the kids to Camp Arawak for summer camp, and soon after their arrival, a series of bizarre and increasingly violent accidents begins to claim the lives of various campers. Who is the twisted individual behind these murders? Beyond its undeniable queerness – and a suprising amount of queer characters – SLEEPAWAY CAMP is remarkable for being one of the few camp slashers to actually feature adolescent actors, while the final revelation of the killer’s identity is one of the most shocking climaxes in the history of American cinema.

ABOUT QUEER HORROR:

QUEER HORROR is a bimonthly festival of genre works by queer artists, performers, and filmmakers questioning horror’s relation to queerness and what it means to identify with the monster.Maybe it’s the fact that queer people are so often relegated to shadows of otherness that the horror genre is more immediately relatable for us. We grew up with boogeymen. We’ve lived with boogeymen. Goblins and ghosts are a welcome escape from real-life monstrosities.

From the work of James Whale and John Waters to Patricia Highsmith and Clive Barker, horror has deeply impacted queer culture and sensibilities and QUEER HORROR asks why. QUEER HORROR is programmed by Portland artist Anthony Hudson and hosted by his drag clown counterpart Carla Rossi.

Artwork courtesy of Jason Edward Davis