Does RETURN TO SLEEPAWAY CAMP pick-up after the events of SLEEPAWAY CAMP III: TEENAGE WASTELAND? No, it is a direct sequel to the original SLEEPAWAY CAMP. Why does RETURN TO SLEEPAWAY CAMP ignore the events of SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 and 3? SLEEPAWAY 2 and 3 were NOT written by SLEEPAWAY creator Robert Hiltzik (Although some of the murders used in 2 and 3 were based on a script he had written in 1986). Hiltzik did not like the direction that the sequels went in. He felt that they "copped out" on the original story... WAIT, before you get all defensive, keep in mind that Robert created SLEEPAWAY CAMP and he wanted RETURN to continue HIS original "Sleepaway Camp" story and execute it the way that he envisioned a sequel to SLEEPAWAY CAMP should go.

Why didn't Hiltzik make SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2? Robert did indeed write a script for SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 back in 1986. He had a meeting with producer Jerry Silva shortly thereafter. Silva wanted to turn "Angela's" exploits into a humor-laced horror-franchise, following in Freddy's footsteps with the success of "Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". Robert was not interested in going in that direction. In fact, his first draft of SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 did not even contain any of the characters from the original. It was another slasher who-done-it set at a different camp. As discussions ensued, Robert ultimately decided not to pursue the project, as he and his wife decided to begin a family. He signed over the rights for SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 and 3 to be made without him and those 2 projects went to director Michael A. Simpson. Is it true that RETURN TO SLEEPAWAY CAMP has 4 different endings? Yes and No. 4 different endings were indeed written and the cast members all got different scripts. Ultimately, only 1 of these 4 endings will be the FINAL CUT. There is no way Ricky would go back to camp as a counselor after what happened to him. Why is he a counselor? He's not. Whoever said he was a counselor? Ricky is indeed part of the story and when you see the movie, your question will be answered. Does Felissa Rose play "Angela" in this movie? You'll just have to wait and see. ;) I can tell you that she did work behind-the scenes with me on a lot of things for this movie.

How did you find Robert Hiltzik and talk him into coming back to SLEEPAWAY CAMP after all these years? I was in NY meeting with Felissa. This was the weekend that I did the original Felissa Rose interview. I asked Felissa to dig out anything she could find from the production of SLEEPAWAY that might help lead me to Robert Hiltzik and other cast members. She came across a scrapbook that various cast members wrote back in 1982 during production of the original movie. We actually used a piece of info that we found in this book to make the connection that ultimately led me to Robert's phone. I had a long discussion with Robert and asked him if he would be interested in doing a SLEEPAWAY sequel with some of the original cast members that I had already tracked down (such as Jonathan Tiersten and Felissa). Robert said he would be interested but he didn't know if there was any interest for it. I then sent him to the original website that I created with John Klyza. I told him about the fan feedback we were getting, especially from the "Ricky" Interview that I did in early 1999. His interest was peaked. Then I proposed a Hiltzik, Rose, Tiersten commentary to Anchor Bay Entertainment for their forthcoming DVD release of SLEEPAWAY CAMP. Anchor Bay was very receptive to the idea and told me that if I could set all up within a week, they would send out one of their sound recordists to record the commentary. Needless to say, I set it up right away. After we did the commentary, Robert was really convinced. He dusted off his old SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 script and re-wrote most of it. He took my advice and added some of the original characters back into it and also added many of the other elements that Felissa and I told him the fans liked so much about his original cult classic. Why isn't this movie out yet? It finished shooting in Fall 2003. I wish I got a nickel for every time someone e-mailed me this question. I could own a camp! This answer is a long one. Let’s start by pointing out some facts:

1. Independent movies do NOT have automatic release dates set.
2. When a movie is made independently of a studio, a number of things can happen. You can run into problems with a variety of different aspects and you have to correct these things independently, without the monetary help of a studio. Unfortunately, a lot of fans take this for granted. They just want to see a finished movie and don‘t realize the excessive amount of work and time that goes into making this happen. And who can blame them, they just want to see a finished movie. But rather than bore you with the struggles of independent film-making VS Studio moviemaking...
3. The original CGI effects did NOT work with some of the physical make-up FX. One company tried their best to do it, but ultimately it didn't work. This means that after months and months of work, all that stuff had to be scrapped. And that also means that it had to be done again. In order to make some of the more elaborate fx work better, a couple scenes of physical FX were also re-shot to better composite with the CGI.

Is this SLEEPAWAY CAMP 4 or 5? That is entirely up to you. In Robert Hiltzik's mind, it is SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2. Some people consider the unfinished raw footage from 1993's THE SURVIVOR to be SLEEPAWAY CAMP 4. Techinically, at one point, "The Survivor" was supposed to be part 4, but an unfinished movie (or 20 minutes of raw footage) is not considered a completed entity. So it all comes down to a matter of opinion... and ultimately what you want to believe. It can be 2, 4, or 5, The Rebirth, The Return, The Resurrection! I heard that this movie might get a PG-13 rating! You heard wrong. There is absolutely no way that this movie would ever get a PG-13 rating with the excessive amounts of profanity, violence, and gore. In fact, the movie has to be cut to get an R rating.