Danielle Solzman
Camp Wedding infuses our society’s obsession with social media and smartphone technology by placing it within a horror movie.
If the bride and groom had done their research beforehand, Camp Pocumtuck wouldn’t play host to their wedding. Not when a young girl drowned after being struck by lightning in 1985. Nor with the fact that several women were burned for being witches and the camp also served as the location of a Native American massacre. Knowing this information, one could tell that their walking straight into a horror movie. Maybe that’s why the camp is now available as an AirBNB rental. Hello warning signs!
Mia (Kelley Gates) just wants to have the wedding of her dreams. Together with her bridesmaids, Mia heads out early to start getting things set up into the perfect wedding venue. A few intruders shortly arrive and well, this story is probably not going to end well. Friends begin to start disappearing. A mysterious texter begins asking Mia to hide bodies. This could probably be a textbook horror film if there weren’t so much comedy in the film.
Greg Emetaz’s script for Camp Wedding is largely dependent on social media. He’s able to successfully mash up both the wedding comedy and horror genres. The social media approach is why this works. Believe me, this approach really works for the film. Nobody even realizes that it is happening. Unbelievable, right?
There’s also something to be said here with regards to our relationships. Outside of the times when we see our friends face to face, we’re always communicating with them over text or social media. Hell, you could be in the same place and still text somebody in the other room! It makes for a fascinating approach to a wedding movie…let alone one that comes with a mix of horror. Emetaz tackles this approach in the film with the way the characters communicate. If they are unable to be honest, it probably won’t end well.
I’m going to outright say it that horror is not my cup of tea because I’m prone to nightmares. The biggest reason as to why I can handle this film is because it’s a comedy. This isn’t to say that I didn’t jump a few times because I most certainly did! I don’t know if Camp Wedding is going to develop a cult following. There’s no theatrical release and the film is going straight to digital. Only time will tell.
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Greg Emetaz
CAST: Kelley Gates, Sean Hankinson, Cadden Jones, Wendy Jung, Morgan McGuire, Cliff Miller, John Patryn, David Pegram, Adam Santos-Coy
