A group of friends are on their way to camp out in the woods when they harass the wrong people in the car ahead of them. Once situated, that bad mistake comes back to haunt them as they are all hunted down and killed. To make matters just a bit worse, those yokels also happen to be cannibals, and they do not just kill for sport.

Such is the plot to Cannibal Campout, a very amateurish production released in 1988 on what is obviously a minimal budget. There is nothing in this movie that has not been seen before, generally speaking. There are a couple of really gross-out moments that will turn anyone’s stomach, yet aside from that, it plays it pretty safe and by the numbers. Is that a bad thing? Not so much, as it lets the audience know what they are in for, at least those who are familiar with the genre, that is. In that respect, it does not disappoint. The teens arrive, fool around, have fun and do all those teen things that teens do. The rednecks show up, looking for a good time and a bite to eat and of course, there is nothing the very unprepared kids can do to fend them off. From there, the movie barrels along at a good pace, still predictable, but given the limited means the filmmakers had, it is not all that bad.

What makes this film enjoyable, at least to a point, is that the ending of the movie is not what one would expect, especially given how paint-by-numbers it is. There are no winners here, even among the villains. In that respect, the picture is quite dark, for even when it ends, one can see where it might lead, a possible future or two and none of them good. Of the teens, one of them is pregnant, and it makes for one of the more heinous moments ever put to film. That alone might drive the horror fiends to dig this one up and see what it is all about. For the regular viewer, it would most likely be too much, and one can either say that the filmmakers went too far or that they were brilliant for doing so. As it stands, this film most likely never received a wide release when it was first distributed. Now, given the current day and age, where everything has a chance of resurfacing, it has the opportunity to reach the audience it could not previously.

When all is said and done, Cannibal Campout will not be a topic of conversation for many, as evidenced by its relative obscurity nearly forty years later. The acting was poor, the story clichéd, and the production was subpar. The camera work could have been better, but it wasn’t all bad, and the special effects were actually quite decent, considering the circumstances. Taking all of that into account, there is something slightly compelling about this trashy outing, and for those who love the horror genre or cannibals in general, watching this might satisfy that deep, dark craving for something to watch.

2 out of 5