miltonberle-48-57033 This movie is in the public domain, so it keeps popping up in bargain collections, drugstores and on-line for download, often free and sometimes with phony copyright information. I first saw this film as the second half of a $1.00 double feature DVD with another Cameron Mitchel turkey. Apparently he would turn nothing down. I think it's hard to know what to make of this movie. It starts off with an electronically inserted title card (Memorial Valley Massacre) A pretty good sign that this movie, whether released or not, started out with a different title. Research turned up the the title "Memorial Day" as its filming title. That's not a very good title in that it does not indicate a horror movie. But then, perhaps this is not one. The word "massacre" is misleading also as it makes you expect buckets of gore. Its not here. At least not in this cut. Recently (2011) I found a title "Son of Sleepaway Camp" online for free download. I found it to be the same film only it is a bit different. Apparently re-cut for foreign markets (Or more likely the U.S. version was cut, as it is much tamer. While the U.S. version plays like a slightly daring "made for TV movie" (The most shocking thing is a quickly glanced nipple that probably went unnoticed during editing.) This other version seems faster paced than the "Massacre" version. The title "Son of Sleepaway Camp" is even worst than "Memorial Day". What the heck does that even mean? I no longer own the "Massacre" version so my ability to review is impaired. The title sequence looks like the "real" one. The titles are burned in rather than electronic. The order of events seemed different to me. As though the action and murders are pushed closer toward the end. Mitchel's role seemed longer to me as well. But I cant imagine having a single name actor in the cast and then cutting him out of part of it. The single love scene is the biggest difference. This version is "hard core"!!! It is far too graphic for an R or PG-13 rating. It would not even get NC-17. Be ware if you are purchasing this on-line for a teen viewer and it reads Rated R or any other rating other than X. I am not certain of which versions have what content. I know that it was fashionable to add sex to foreign versions, but I guess they may have cut the sex out for the "Massacre" version. That version did seem ridiculously tame to me when I saw it. THe most graphic murder has a guy set on fire and running around. Its an impressive stunt and is pretty rough. I know they shot it "slo-mo" to make it run longer but I still had to wince. I believe the final murder has some added guts in one version that the other did not, but I'm not sure which version that was. I am not sure I can recommend either version. Though the "Son" version seemed more like a horror movie to me. Did this thing play in US theaters? I had never heard of it or even seen it written about in Monster mags at the time (1988) like Fangoria or Gore Zone. (I was also unaware of Mitchel's passing only a few years later, so I'm not always on the ball.) Where the heck did this thing pop up from?

FilmFatale I think the makers of "Memorial Valley Massacre" may have been trying to capture the heyday of the slasher film even as the genre was on its last legs. Squeaky-voiced fat kid? Check! Slutty Girl? Check! Cameron Mitchell? Check! I'm just still not sure if they meant it to be a comedy or not.Plotwise, we've got people at a campground and some murders. But there IS a discussion about torrential rain that won't let up, even when it's obviously bone dry. It also becomes Memorial Day at 5am too. That reminded me of Slaughter High, where April Fool's day ends at noon. MVM has a decent body count but no real gore (at least in the version I have). And it seems to go on forever, even with a mere 90-minute runtime. Absolutely awful.

gavin6942 A rich landowner and a rugged, alcoholic outdoorsman open up a campground to raise money for surrounding projects (shopping malls and such). But in the maiden weekend of camping, the campers face a bear, nasty storms and a hermit caveman who is none too fond of his peace being ruined.The film has some standard 80s staples: punk kids, a few token blacks (though, unlike many horror films, not killed off right away), a campground (see "Friday the 13th" or "Sleepaway Camp"), metal music, topless girls, etc. If you like 80s horror (and I do) you will find some familiar themes here and that's a good thing, in my opinion. But even a good set-up doesn't always make for the best follow-through.The death scenes are really weak. And the problem with that is, I am not sure if this movie was trying to be a horror film or a comedy. It's not scary enough to really be a true horror film, but not funny enough to be a comedy. What it ends up being is a bland mix of both. The same goes for the caveman: he is in no way threatening, but also not really funny. So what happens? He ends up just being bland and dumb, being more silly than anything. Not to mention the makeup department did a horrible job, and his background story makes no sense. (I won't give it away, but let's just say he comes across a lot more primitive than you'd expect.) Somebody, somewhere loves this film and probably watches it and screens it for friends. I am not that guy. I have no doubt I will some day watch it again, but I can't say it will be soon and I can't imagine why I would unless there was some sort of money or alcohol involved. If you need to see one more 80s film where campers get hacked up, this is your film. Otherwise, just listen to Weird Al's "Nature Trail to Hell"... it's actually less cheesy and more graphic.

Dave Kaminskas Memorial Valley Campground is opening for business, even though they are having a rough start and not quite ready to open. The roads aren't quite ready and no running water are a few of the problems, but the biggest problem is a maniac caveman running around the campground killing off the campers. Extremely dull horror fare is neither gory nor horrifying. Memorial Valley Massacre takes forever to get started and by the time it does you don't even care. The acting is fairly terrible with the caveman being the worst. Who came up with this idea? Even if you are a fan of 80's serial killer movies this is one that is just not worth the bother. BOMB! Zero out of ****