A killer cast thrills in CAMP COLD BROOK – a campy, clever summer camp horror romp. With familiar horror faces like Danielle Harris and Courtney Gains, it’s easy to dive immediately into the fun and fear behind this spooky campfire tale gone modern.

Jack (Chad Michael Murray) heads a team of paranormal investigators, called the “Haunt Squad”, whose television series is on its last legs. They only have so many more shots before they’re completely canned by the network.
Jack and his team sit down to plan a last-ditch effort to save their show. Emma (Candice De Visser) suggests Camp Cold Brook, a summer camp that’s been shut down since a series of mysterious accidents many years before. The team decides to hedge their bets and head out to the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma, where Jack is from, to visit the camp and see what they can see. The mysteries of the camp soon reveal themselves, along with some mysteries about Jack and the Haunt Squad that throw the whole mission into jeopardy.

I wouldn’t go as far as calling CAMP COLD BROOK a thriller. There are plenty of jump scares and spooky moments, but the stakes are too low for anything to reach the levels of super-scare. The most successful piece of CAMP COLD BROOK isn’t the scares, but the story behind them. A series of twists and turns leads our heroes to a spooky surprise ending, that while not incredibly original, is satisfying and ties things up perfectly. I love movies like CAMP COLD BROOK – truly fun horror that makes you gasp and sit up in your seat and allows you to forget real-world horrors for a little while.

The atmosphere and visual impact of CAMP COLD BROOK drive the story, and visual and makeup effects combine to create striking images to sell it. While I can’t imagine there was a huge budget behind this film, it’s clear that having Joe Dante (yes – that Joe Dante) as executive producer added some gravitas to production – while the effects may not be top of the line, they’re impactful and effective. It’s always fun to see visual and practical effects coexist peacefully, and CAMP COLD BROOK pulls it off with style.

CAMP COLD BROOK provides classic summer camp horror fun in a neat, pretty little package. A killer cast and a fantastic atmosphere and look make up for any of the little flaws along the way, and while it’s not bound to be a classic, it’s a fun romp through the woods I’d be happy to revisit again.

7/10 stars