Text © Richard Gary / FFanzeen, 2018
Images from the Internet
Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre
Written and directed by Dave Campfield
Fourth Horizon Cinema
75 minutes, 2009
Okay, this is a bit ass backwards:
I’ve seen the films that followed this one, such as Caesar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas (2012) and Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween (2015), but never the original
Caesar and Otto (2007), nor this one.
Well, one down and one to go.
I’ve been a fan of the CandO films
for a while now, and they’ve gone through some metamorphosis / growth over time
thanks in part to additional experience in writing and direction by
Campfield, plus the actors becoming more comfortable with their roles.
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| Foreground Ari K. Garg, Dave Campterfield, Paul Chomicki |
The focus is on the two Denovio half-brothers:
the insanely controlling, uptight and sexually ambiguous Caesar (Campfield),
and the older and slovenly Otto (Paul Chomicki), who is the polar opposite of
Caesar in every way. They don’t usually get along very well, but they rely on
each other in ways that go below the surface. Added to this formula is their
horn-dog grifter father, Fred (Scott Aguilar), who is self-assured and suave in
ways his sons both detest and admire. In all the films, Fred keeps popping up
in the strangest places at just the right (or wrong) times.
I am hardly the first person to say
this, but this series is often compared to the Stooges, but I have my own
theory: they have the slapstick of the Stooges, the anger of Abbott and
Costello, and a wit like the Marx Brothers… okay, there is only one Bros. Marx,
but there is a sharpness here amid a certain sort of purposeful witlessness
that elevates this to beyond slapstick… and believe me, there’s plenty of that,
as well. If the viewer takes it on the surface, it’s a fun escape piece of
cinema nonsense that’s good with beer and pizza. But if one is a genre fan and
pays attention, there is a level beyond the obvious, full of references to other
films – the later CandO ones, even more so; it’s a bit tad more subtle here – and
the humor is nearly constant, which goes well with, well, beer and pizza… and a
game of spot-the-allusion. Take a drink every time you connect to one, and
you’ll be blitzed by the end.
 |
| Felissa Rose |
On the run after a road rage incident
(Caesar is a rage-aholic with boundary issues – but then again, what rage-aholic
doesn’t? Am I right?), CandO hide out by becoming counselors at a sleepaway
camp where nefarious things are afoot. It’s run by Jerry Griffen (CandO regular
Ken MacFarlane, who always plays someone evil named Jerry and has a last name that
starts with a “G”). Among the counselors is the moody and hyper-sensitive Dick
(Deron Miller) and the mysterious Carrie (Regina
ula italiana Felissa Rose, also a producer of this and other CandO films;
she’s will be forever known for a role she did as a youth that includes one of
the oddest and longest still frames in horror cinema, which is the basis for
this film; oops, reference, so take a sip of that beer!).
So much of the cast here, in its
nascent troupe form, is a group that
would be recurring in many of those CandOs to come. For example, there’s Avi K.
Garg as a fellow counselor who has a running gag through all the releases, self-titled
(and rightfully so) Scream-Queen Queen Brinke Stevens who is a shady character that
has latched onto Otto, and Joe Estevez (brother of Martin Sheen) as an kinda
nusty authority figure who is a fictional version of himself. Also worth noting
in hindsight is another counsellor, Trai Byers; he would go on to become a
regular on the remake of “90210” (2012),
and more recently “Empire” (2015-present).
Everyone in the camp has their own
agenda, including murder, thievery and cowardice, all of whom often make their
hands present, even if the viewer doesn’t always know whose those are… yet.
 |
| Scott Aguilar |
As for the murderer, well, I figured
out for sure who the killer is at 43 minutes in, but not the why until the reveal. And speaking of
time, there is a great visual gag at 35:50 that made me laugh pretty hard, and
re-played it a couple of times more before moving on. The head count is not
extremely high, but it’s plentiful. Despite the budget and cheesy flavor of the
whole she-bang, Richard G. Calderon’s make-up SFX is quite worthy of notice.
The acting is done a bit campy,
especially Campfield’s ham-fisted Caesar character who is – ta da – a bad actor. In later films Campfield
will tone down the pretentious line reading (again, purposeful). Chomicki’s
Otto is like a big child, hopeful and innocent in a kind of girl-hungry way,
fumbling into relationships; Chomicki plays him with glee. As for their roguish
father, Aguilar just looks like he’s having so much fun. In fact, most of the
cast seems to be enjoying themselves, and that transfers to the viewer nicely.
This film is a lead-in to two horror shorts,
the 9:39 minute Caesar and Otto in the
House of Dracula (2009; HERE) and the 16:51 Caesar and Otto Meet Dracula’s Lawyer (2010; HERE), which features yet another famous
actor’s sibling, Ed Dennehy (bro of Brian), who plays Steve Dracula (brother
of… you know who). They’re completely shot on green screen and make an
interesting experiment. Plus, look for the cameo of Pigzilla!
If you’re in the mood for something deep, well, you’ve sorta come to the
wrong place. I mean, there is a certain well of depth if you’re looking for it,
but most people are going to see this merely as a fun way to spend an
afternoon. Both ways are viable and I respect both approaches to looking at it;
that being said, there is more to be gained by going beyond the surface, in my
opinion.
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