Murder Camp
2023 · 15m · United States
Directed by Clara Aranovich
Genres: comedy, dark comedy, horror
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, theatrical
Two slasher serial killers make the shameful error of serial killing at the same summer camp on the same night, challenging the very fabric of their friendship and identities.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Finally—a slasher that doesn't genuflect to the form, instead weaponizing the stupidity of serial killer ego into genuine comedy; it's the kind of subversive premise that makes you wonder why no one thought to demolish genre reverence this way before.
Aranovich threads a tonal needle between absurdist theater and horror trope-literacy with careful compositional restraint; the film's awareness of its own genealogy—camp slasher, dark comedy, buddy narrative—feels considered rather than clever.
The decision to play the killers' friendship crisis straight, mining pathos from their competitive anguish rather than punching the premise for easy laughs, is what transforms a high-concept gag into something that actually *lands*.
Reviews
The script by Harris and Radin can be a little too wink-wink nudge-nudge at times, but it is mostly clever as it subverts expectations. The cast is having fun with the material, and the director nails the atmosphere of the setting.