Return to Sleepaway Camp
Encyclopedia
Return to Sleepaway Camp is a 2008 American horror film
starring Felissa Rose
, Jackie Tohn
, Paul DeAngelo, and Isaac Hayes
; and was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik
. It is a direct-to-video
sequel
to the 1983 horror film
Sleepaway Camp
(also written and directed by Hiltzik) and ignores the events from the last two installments in the series, Sleepaway Camp II
and III
, effectively retconning them.
. After taking the lighter and attempting to light his own fart but falling short of the other boys' efforts, Alan (Michael Gibney) threatens Eddie (Miles Thompson), Mark (Tommy John Riccardo), Billy (Dino Roscigno) and Pee Pee (Paul Iacono
), but is soon stopped by camp counselor, Randy (Brye Cooper), who is irritated with him. After a failed camp announcement by the owner in the dining hall, Alan gets into a violent confrontation with Randy after he complains about the food. Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) allows Alan to go the kitchen to get something else to eat so as not to exaggerate the fight, but Alan ends up in trouble again, this time with cook Mickey (Lenny Venito
), who throws egg
s at him. Alan then throws a butcher knife at Mickey and the camp owner, Frank (Vincent Pastore
), seeing what he did, argues with Alan after already being annoyed by his past misbehavior. Alan, suffering rheumatic fever
, runs away feeling rejected, with his stepbrother
Michael (Michael Werner) chasing after him. After being threatened, Michael goes back to the camp, telling Alan that he does not care what he does any more. In the kitchen, Mickey is killed after being held above and dumped into the deep fryer by an unseen character
while cooking fries
for dinner. His body is then dumped in the trash compactor
.
During the social
, Alan is fooled by Weed (Adam Wylie
) and Stan (Chaz Brewer) into smoking dried cow manure
, mistaking it for marijuana which makes him cough and falls on Stan's crotch, earning him the nickname "Blowjob
", which sticks and later plays a significant role in the film. After the social, a high Weed is tied to a chair and gas
is squirted down his throat
. The killer then sticks a lit-up cigarette in his mouth and his insides explode. Ronnie starts to suspect that the murders that happened twenty five years ago
are happening again. Frank, in an attempt to ignore bad publicity, states that the murders were accidental and the camp continues to go on with its normal activities. A week later, Alan is bullied by being shot during a paintball game
by all the players. In order to steal Karen (Erin Broderick) away from Alan (who has arranged to meet up with her), Michael makes Alan look like a psychopath
by skinning the frogs Alan sits with in the forest. Karen and her friend Marie (Samantha Hahn) run away. Alan is again bulled by T.C. (Christopher Shand) and Chooch (Lucas Blondhelm), who give him a wedgie
in front of everyone at the waterfront. That night, Michael, T.C. and Marie force Karen to lure Alan to the back of the stage, where they take his clothes off, tie him up, blindfold him and embarrass him in front of everyone at the social.
Ronnie suspects that counselor Petey (Kate Simses) is the killer for being everywhere when Alan is in trouble. Suddenly outside, T.C. and nine others start calling Alan "Blowjob", which causes him to become frustrated and run off into the night. After returning to his cabin
, Frank is knocked unconscious with a hammer and wakes up with his head inserted in a birdcage
. The killer opens up the birdcage, places two rat
s inside and locks it. The rats eat through his head and down into his intestine
s. Meanwhile, Randy and Linda (Jackie Tohn
) go to the pump house
to have sex
. While Randy is urinating, the killer ties him to a tree, using fishing line as a noose to wrap around his penis
. Suddenly, Linda becomes worried (upon returning from getting a sleeping bag and beer) after hearing Randy attempt to placate the killer (who he thinks to be Alan), and drives off in the jeep
, but the fishing line is tied to the jeep and, while driving at 85 mph, tears Randy's penis off. Linda continues to drive, but crashes after driving through a wrapped barbed wire line, which wraps around her face.
At the camp, T.C. has been grounded for the rest of the summer for bullying Alan. After Spaz (Jake O'Conner) visits him again, a wooden spear comes through a hole in the floor while T.C. is looking into it and impales him in the eye. Meanwhile, Jenny (Jaime Radow) and Ronnie find Frank dead in his office. They begin rounding up everyone left in the camp, as Ronnie believes that Angela has returned and resumed her murders. Bella (Shahida McIntash) goes back to her cabin, where she finds that the bunk above her has been replaced with spikes
. The killer, who is also in the cabin, jumps down from the rafters and lands on top of the top bunk, causing it to fall on Bella, piercing her with the spikes. Soon, T.C. and Bella are found dead and after the counselors leave, Ricky Thomas (Jonathan Tiersten
) is called by Sheriff Jerry, while Karen, who discovered Bella with Marie and ran off in fright, bumps into the killer and faints.
Karen wakes up at the rec hall with a rope hanging from a basketball hoop tied around her neck. The killer flips a switch to raise the net, causing Karen to be lifted off the ground. Michael comes in before Karen is killed, causing the killer to run off, and lowers the net. After Karen tells him that she thinks Alan is the killer, Michael grabs a mallet
and goes after Alan, who he beats with the mallet. Suddenly, the killer appears behind Michael as the screen fades to black.
Ronnie, Ricky and Jenny find a badly-wounded, but still alive Alan on the ground. As Ronnie questions Alan who is responsible for his injuries, Sheriff Jerry walks into view of Ronnie and Ricky, explaining through his mechanical voice box that kids never learn and are always mean, and declaring, "I've been waiting a long time for this. A long time." Confirming Ronnie's suspicions, it is then revealed that Sheriff Jerry is Angela Baker (Felissa Rose
). Nearby, Ricky, Jenny and Ronnie find a nearly-dead Michael skinned alive on the ground as Angela laughs maniacally. She suddenly stops laughing and looks at the audience with a vicious expression on her face.
After the ending credits are over, a clip is shown, which takes place three weeks prior to the events of the film. It shows that Angela had escaped from the psychiatric clinic she had been locked up in for twenty years. After somehow acquiring a car, Angela apparently disables it by causing a brake fluid leak and flags down Sheriff Pete (Carlo Vogel), the real sheriff. She drops the car on his head and, presumably, steals his clothes to become the new sheriff.
Hiltzik's three daughters each played a small role in the film, and are also credited in the end credits. Samantha Hiltzik plays Carly, Emily Hiltzik plays Tracey, and Lindsay Hiltzik plays Toby, whose pigtails Alan pulls several times. Lindsay/Toby also has the greatest number of shots and lines out of Hiltzik's three daughters.
in 2003 and was scheduled to be released in early 2006 but was rescheduled for 2008 due to unsatisfactory CGI effects
. The executive producer of the film, Tom van Dell, claimed that the corrected CGI was completed as of December 2006, but the director, Robert Hiltzik
confirmed that it needed more work to meet his expectations. By 2007, compositors and CGI personnel had been hired by Tom van Dell to correct the effects. All works were finished by 2008 and the producers had secured distribution through Magnolia Pictures
. The film was released direct-to-video in the United States
on November 4, 2008 and was released internationally before the end of 2008.
This is the last film released to feature actor Isaac Hayes
, who died in August 2008 after suffering a stroke
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
starring Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose is an American actress, known for her role as Angela Baker in the 1983 cult classic, Sleepaway Camp.-Early life:She was born as Felissa Rose Esposito in Greenwich Village and grew up in Woodbury, Long Island....
, Jackie Tohn
Jackie Tohn
Jaclyn "Jackie" Tohn is an American actress and musician. She is also known for taking part in American Idol season 8 making it to Top 36 on season 8...
, Paul DeAngelo, and Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
; and was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik
Robert Hiltzik
Robert Hiltzik is best known for being the director of the 1983 summer camp slasher film Sleepaway Camp, which garnered a cult following.Hiltzik graduated from Williams College and continued to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for film and then attended Hofstra University Law School...
. It is a direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the 1983 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 cult classic slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik—who also served as executive producer. The film is about teen campers getting killed at a summer camp...
(also written and directed by Hiltzik) and ignores the events from the last two installments in the series, Sleepaway Camp II
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers
Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers is a 1988 sequel to the movie Sleepaway Camp, written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. Unlike Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp II is more of a comedic spoof than a horror film...
and III
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland is a 1989 comedy-slasher film and the second sequel to Sleepaway Camp written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It stars Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Mark Oliver, and Haynes Brooke.-Plot:The film opens with Maria...
, effectively retconning them.
Plot
Several boys are in their cabin lighting fartsFlatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
. After taking the lighter and attempting to light his own fart but falling short of the other boys' efforts, Alan (Michael Gibney) threatens Eddie (Miles Thompson), Mark (Tommy John Riccardo), Billy (Dino Roscigno) and Pee Pee (Paul Iacono
Paul Iacono
Paul Stanley Iacono is an American actor. He appeared in the 2009 remake of Fame and was also the star of the show The Hard Times of RJ Berger on MTV.-Early life:...
), but is soon stopped by camp counselor, Randy (Brye Cooper), who is irritated with him. After a failed camp announcement by the owner in the dining hall, Alan gets into a violent confrontation with Randy after he complains about the food. Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) allows Alan to go the kitchen to get something else to eat so as not to exaggerate the fight, but Alan ends up in trouble again, this time with cook Mickey (Lenny Venito
Lenny Venito
Lenny Venito is an American actor who has made appearances in movies such as Gigli, Men in Black II, and War of the Worlds.Starting in 2006, Venito has been featured in The Sopranos as the character nicknamed "Murmur," who helped shake down actor Ben Kingsley and violently mug actress Lauren Bacall...
), who throws egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
s at him. Alan then throws a butcher knife at Mickey and the camp owner, Frank (Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore is an Italian-American actor, often cast as a mobster and best known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos.-Early life:...
), seeing what he did, argues with Alan after already being annoyed by his past misbehavior. Alan, suffering rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
, runs away feeling rejected, with his stepbrother
Stepfamily
A stepfamily, also known as a blended family or reconstituted family, is a family in which one or both members of the couple have children from a previous relationship...
Michael (Michael Werner) chasing after him. After being threatened, Michael goes back to the camp, telling Alan that he does not care what he does any more. In the kitchen, Mickey is killed after being held above and dumped into the deep fryer by an unseen character
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
while cooking fries
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
for dinner. His body is then dumped in the trash compactor
Compactor
A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of waste material or soil through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by homes and businesses to reduce the volume of trash....
.
During the social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
, Alan is fooled by Weed (Adam Wylie
Adam Wylie
Adam Augustus Wylie is an American television and motion picture actor, as well as a Broadway musical performer and a former Crayola spokesman.-Early life:...
) and Stan (Chaz Brewer) into smoking dried cow manure
Cow dung
Cow dung is the waste product of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle , bison , yak and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue of plant matter which has passed through the animal's gut. The resultant faecal matter is rich in minerals...
, mistaking it for marijuana which makes him cough and falls on Stan's crotch, earning him the nickname "Blowjob
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
", which sticks and later plays a significant role in the film. After the social, a high Weed is tied to a chair and gas
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
is squirted down his throat
Throat
In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebral column. It consists of the pharynx and larynx...
. The killer then sticks a lit-up cigarette in his mouth and his insides explode. Ronnie starts to suspect that the murders that happened twenty five years ago
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 cult classic slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik—who also served as executive producer. The film is about teen campers getting killed at a summer camp...
are happening again. Frank, in an attempt to ignore bad publicity, states that the murders were accidental and the camp continues to go on with its normal activities. A week later, Alan is bullied by being shot during a paintball game
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
by all the players. In order to steal Karen (Erin Broderick) away from Alan (who has arranged to meet up with her), Michael makes Alan look like a psychopath
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
by skinning the frogs Alan sits with in the forest. Karen and her friend Marie (Samantha Hahn) run away. Alan is again bulled by T.C. (Christopher Shand) and Chooch (Lucas Blondhelm), who give him a wedgie
Wedgie
A wedgie occurs when a person's underwear or other garments are wedged between the buttocks. While a wedgie can be created naturally, the term is usually associated with a prank or as a form of bullying...
in front of everyone at the waterfront. That night, Michael, T.C. and Marie force Karen to lure Alan to the back of the stage, where they take his clothes off, tie him up, blindfold him and embarrass him in front of everyone at the social.
Ronnie suspects that counselor Petey (Kate Simses) is the killer for being everywhere when Alan is in trouble. Suddenly outside, T.C. and nine others start calling Alan "Blowjob", which causes him to become frustrated and run off into the night. After returning to his cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
, Frank is knocked unconscious with a hammer and wakes up with his head inserted in a birdcage
Birdcage
A birdcage is a cage designed to house birds as pets.Antique birdcages are often popular as collectors' items or as household decor but most are not suitable for housing live birds, being too small, or of unsafe materials or construction...
. The killer opens up the birdcage, places two rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s inside and locks it. The rats eat through his head and down into his intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
s. Meanwhile, Randy and Linda (Jackie Tohn
Jackie Tohn
Jaclyn "Jackie" Tohn is an American actress and musician. She is also known for taking part in American Idol season 8 making it to Top 36 on season 8...
) go to the pump house
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
to have sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
. While Randy is urinating, the killer ties him to a tree, using fishing line as a noose to wrap around his penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
. Suddenly, Linda becomes worried (upon returning from getting a sleeping bag and beer) after hearing Randy attempt to placate the killer (who he thinks to be Alan), and drives off in the jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
, but the fishing line is tied to the jeep and, while driving at 85 mph, tears Randy's penis off. Linda continues to drive, but crashes after driving through a wrapped barbed wire line, which wraps around her face.
At the camp, T.C. has been grounded for the rest of the summer for bullying Alan. After Spaz (Jake O'Conner) visits him again, a wooden spear comes through a hole in the floor while T.C. is looking into it and impales him in the eye. Meanwhile, Jenny (Jaime Radow) and Ronnie find Frank dead in his office. They begin rounding up everyone left in the camp, as Ronnie believes that Angela has returned and resumed her murders. Bella (Shahida McIntash) goes back to her cabin, where she finds that the bunk above her has been replaced with spikes
Nail (engineering)
In woodworking and construction, a nail is a pin-shaped, sharp object of hard metal or alloy used as a fastener. Formerly wrought iron, today's nails are typically made of steel, often dipped or coated to prevent corrosion in harsh conditions or improve adhesion...
. The killer, who is also in the cabin, jumps down from the rafters and lands on top of the top bunk, causing it to fall on Bella, piercing her with the spikes. Soon, T.C. and Bella are found dead and after the counselors leave, Ricky Thomas (Jonathan Tiersten
Jonathan Tiersten
Jonathan Tiersten is an American actor and singer, who is mostly known for his role as Ricky in the 1983 cult classic Sleepaway Camp. He returned to the role in the 2008 sequel, Return to Sleepaway Camp. Tiersten is currently the lead singer of his own band, Ten Tiers and he recently did the score...
) is called by Sheriff Jerry, while Karen, who discovered Bella with Marie and ran off in fright, bumps into the killer and faints.
Karen wakes up at the rec hall with a rope hanging from a basketball hoop tied around her neck. The killer flips a switch to raise the net, causing Karen to be lifted off the ground. Michael comes in before Karen is killed, causing the killer to run off, and lowers the net. After Karen tells him that she thinks Alan is the killer, Michael grabs a mallet
Mallet
A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of rubber,or sometimes wood smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
and goes after Alan, who he beats with the mallet. Suddenly, the killer appears behind Michael as the screen fades to black.
Ronnie, Ricky and Jenny find a badly-wounded, but still alive Alan on the ground. As Ronnie questions Alan who is responsible for his injuries, Sheriff Jerry walks into view of Ronnie and Ricky, explaining through his mechanical voice box that kids never learn and are always mean, and declaring, "I've been waiting a long time for this. A long time." Confirming Ronnie's suspicions, it is then revealed that Sheriff Jerry is Angela Baker (Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose is an American actress, known for her role as Angela Baker in the 1983 cult classic, Sleepaway Camp.-Early life:She was born as Felissa Rose Esposito in Greenwich Village and grew up in Woodbury, Long Island....
). Nearby, Ricky, Jenny and Ronnie find a nearly-dead Michael skinned alive on the ground as Angela laughs maniacally. She suddenly stops laughing and looks at the audience with a vicious expression on her face.
After the ending credits are over, a clip is shown, which takes place three weeks prior to the events of the film. It shows that Angela had escaped from the psychiatric clinic she had been locked up in for twenty years. After somehow acquiring a car, Angela apparently disables it by causing a brake fluid leak and flags down Sheriff Pete (Carlo Vogel), the real sheriff. She drops the car on his head and, presumably, steals his clothes to become the new sheriff.
Cast
- Vincent PastoreVincent PastoreVincent Pastore is an Italian-American actor, often cast as a mobster and best known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos.-Early life:...
as Frank - Jackie TohnJackie TohnJaclyn "Jackie" Tohn is an American actress and musician. She is also known for taking part in American Idol season 8 making it to Top 36 on season 8...
as Linda - Erin Broderick as Karen
- Jonathan TierstenJonathan TierstenJonathan Tiersten is an American actor and singer, who is mostly known for his role as Ricky in the 1983 cult classic Sleepaway Camp. He returned to the role in the 2008 sequel, Return to Sleepaway Camp. Tiersten is currently the lead singer of his own band, Ten Tiers and he recently did the score...
as Ricky Baker - Issac Hayes as Charlie the Chef
- Michael Gibney as Alan
- Paul DeAngelo as Ronnie
- Kate Simses as Petey
- Brye Cooper as Randy
- Christopher Shand as T.C
- Shahidah McIntosh as Bella
- Jamie Radow as Jenny
- Paul IaconoPaul IaconoPaul Stanley Iacono is an American actor. He appeared in the 2009 remake of Fame and was also the star of the show The Hard Times of RJ Berger on MTV.-Early life:...
as Pee Pee - Ashley Carin as Alex
- Samantha Hahn as Marie
- Lauren Toub as Joanie
- Miles Thompson as Eddie
- Stefani Milanese as Tammy
- Mary Elizabeth King as Sue Meyers
- Judy Unger as Ellen
- Jenny Cole as Jess Lanmer
- Felissa RoseFelissa RoseFelissa Rose is an American actress, known for her role as Angela Baker in the 1983 cult classic, Sleepaway Camp.-Early life:She was born as Felissa Rose Esposito in Greenwich Village and grew up in Woodbury, Long Island....
as Angela Baker/Officer Jerry
Hiltzik's three daughters each played a small role in the film, and are also credited in the end credits. Samantha Hiltzik plays Carly, Emily Hiltzik plays Tracey, and Lindsay Hiltzik plays Toby, whose pigtails Alan pulls several times. Lindsay/Toby also has the greatest number of shots and lines out of Hiltzik's three daughters.
Production
Return to Sleepaway Camp wrapped filmingWrap (filmmaking)
Wrap is a phrase used by the director in the early days of the film industry to signal the end of filming. Nowadays, the call is more commonly "that's a wrap!"...
in 2003 and was scheduled to be released in early 2006 but was rescheduled for 2008 due to unsatisfactory CGI effects
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. The executive producer of the film, Tom van Dell, claimed that the corrected CGI was completed as of December 2006, but the director, Robert Hiltzik
Robert Hiltzik
Robert Hiltzik is best known for being the director of the 1983 summer camp slasher film Sleepaway Camp, which garnered a cult following.Hiltzik graduated from Williams College and continued to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for film and then attended Hofstra University Law School...
confirmed that it needed more work to meet his expectations. By 2007, compositors and CGI personnel had been hired by Tom van Dell to correct the effects. All works were finished by 2008 and the producers had secured distribution through Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor, and is a holding of 2929 Entertainment, owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films....
. The film was released direct-to-video in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 4, 2008 and was released internationally before the end of 2008.
This is the last film released to feature actor Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
, who died in August 2008 after suffering a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
.