CAMP is the kind of horror movie that doesn't announce itself. Writer-director Avalon Fast eases us into Emily's world through friendship, campfire conversations, and the uneasy hope that a change of scenery can somehow outrun a lifetime of guilt. Emily, played with remarkable vulnerability by Zola Grimmer, believes she's responsible for two childhood tragedies. Taking a job at a summer camp for troubled youth feels less like a fresh start than a last attempt at self-forgiveness.
What makes CAMP work is how patient it is. Fast spends as much time building relationships among the counselors as she does building suspense. The result is a film that feels lived-in rather than manufactured. When Emily begins hearing a voice calling to her from the surrounding woods, the shift into horror feels organic, as if the darkness was always there waiting at the edge of the frame.
One of the film's greatest strengths is its sense of place. Summer camp has been a horror staple for decades, but Fast isn't interested in recycling slasher-movie clichés. Instead, she captures the strange intensity of camp life itself—the fleeting friendships, the late-night confessions, the feeling that a few weeks in the woods can somehow change who you are. That emotional authenticity gives the film a foundation that makes its supernatural elements all the more unsettling.
Shot beautifully by Eily Sprungman, the forests of British Columbia become both sanctuary and threat. The film's most unsettling moments aren't its overt scares but its suggestion that grief can reshape reality. Fast's self-described "Girl Horror" approach finds terror in memory, shame, and the uneasy process of growing up.
Not every narrative thread lands cleanly, and viewers looking for conventional horror may wish the film moved with greater urgency. But CAMP isn't interested in delivering easy scares. It's chasing something more elusive: the feeling of being haunted by your own past. That's a harder trick to pull off, and one Fast manages with impressive confidence.
Funny, melancholy, and quietly unnerving, CAMP confirms Avalon Fast as a distinctive voice in independent horror. It's a film that trusts its audience, embraces ambiguity, and understands that some wounds never fully heal. Long after the final scene, what lingers isn't the mystery in the woods but the emotional truth at the heart of Emily's journey.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 111 mins
Director: Avalon Fast
Writer: Avalon Fast
Cast: Zola Grimmer; Alice Wordsworth; Cherry Moore
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Maybe It's Time to Go Home
Memorable Movie Quote: "Can we show Emily the Attic?"
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Official Site:
Release Date: June 26, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A mysterious traveler blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Eve flight.
