80's Teen Movies :: the classic, the obscure & everything in between: summer

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State Park [1988]

"Giving nature a bad name"

Three best girlfriends Marsha (Isabelle Mejias), Eve (Kim Myers) and Linnie (Jennifer Inch), set off in their convertible to Weewankah State Park in search of fun, adventure and romance before college starts up in the fall. On a rest-stop during their journey to L.A. are musicians Johnny (Peter Virgile) and Louis (Louis Tucci), two heavy-metallers who sport more studs than all the dog collars in a pet store and more make-up than the three girls put together. The sight of the boys does little to impress Marsha who is of the opinion that any and all "disgusting, lowlife" heavy metallers should be banned from the park.

Meanwhile, crooked developer Mr Rancewell is securing his plans to demolish the park and turn the site into a pesticide factory - something easier said than done thanks to the notorious Weewankah Willy, a mysterious unknown in a bear suit who does all that he can to ransack Rancewell's project.

As the girls settle in (with difficulty), Eve, whose parents have recently been declared bankrupt, signs up for the camp Wilderness Challenge in the hope of walking away with the five thousand dollar prize money to put towards a scholarship. She is disheartened to learn that the orienteering class is full - a class she needed to take if she has any chance of winning the grand prize. Consequently, she and the girls ask for help from Trailor, a kid who works in the park's tuck shop and lives on the land adjacent to Weewankah. He suggests Eve asks his brother Truckie (James Wilder), something of an orienteering expert, but Truckie refuses on the grounds that he has more important things to deal with - like Mr Rancewell. However, Eve is able to swiftly change his mind when she threatens to reveal the secret that is keeping Rancewell from his precious pesticide plant: Truckie is Weewankah Willy. With no parents around, Trailor and Truckie rely on their jobs at the park to get by and allowing Rancewell to develop the land would mean the brothers losing their only means of livelihood.

Over at the beach, Marsha is determined to prove to Linnie, who is engaged to her childhood sweetheart, not to "buy the first dress you try on" and that marriage is no fun at their age. Linnie, although reluctant, soon warms to her best friend's advice when numerous sun kissed beach bods catch her eye. The girl's hunt for guys begins badly when they happen upon the park's local numskulls, Corky and Mando, who reject the girl's blatant advances only because they're too dumb to notice them. In Marsha's pursuit she turns her attention to the hunky Johnny - the sight of the man of her dreams swimming in the lake has her mouth open in awe! While Linnie - having ignored Trailors efforts at winning her affection - is off feeding her supposed hair cutting fetish (one of the more distinctly absurd plot lines), Marsha and Johnny grow closer, as do Eve and Truckie after Eve's flirtatious blackmail sends romantic sparks flying.

Trailor's promotional party for the Wilderness Challenge has Marsha insisting to her friends that they're "just gonna die" when they meet this incredible guy she had spent the day with. To her horror, it is Marsha who almost dies at the sight of her potential summer romance, dressed from head to toe in chains and black leather - the same, unrecognisable, heavy metal Johnny that the girls had seen on their first day at Weewankah. Marsha's dismissive reaction leaves Johnny completely out in the cold and, furiously, he leaves the party. There are troubles elsewhere when Truckie receives a court order in the mail, forcing him and his brother to quit and allow the takeover. The pesticide factory isn't the only thing that Truckie objects to, confiding in Eve the extent of Rancewell's disregard for nature, wildlife, but most importantly, the law. As Truckie tells of Rancewell's shady past - having narrowly escaped prosecution for dumping toxic chemicals in a dried up creek - the pair set out to do all they can in halting the development, uncovering the corrupt plans, and saving the park. They succeed in flooding out the construction site during the night, leaving Rancewell fuming and vowing to have the culprit - the still mysterious Weewankah Willy - caught and turned into "one very dead bear rug".

Marsha, already regretting her actions, looks for a way to win Johnny over again. Playfully, she teases him about his style, to which he comes back with an attack on her "walking billboard" fashion sense. Eve and Linnie set out to mend Marsha's broken heart by giving her a heavy metal makeover, which leads to all sorts of wildly humorous surprises, including an unexpected appearance by Ted Nugent!

Will Eve and Truckie foil Rancewell's devious plans? Will Linnie get married? Will Marsha keep her extreme new image? And who will win the Wilderness Challenge?

VERDICT: ★★★ ½

Directed by exploitation king Rafal Zielinski, State Park - or, under the more memorable (for all the wrong reasons) Canadian title of Heavy Metal Summer - is a little known, rarely mentioned, but tidily crafted comedy that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Crawling with more subplots than bugs at a campsite, State Park somehow packs each one in convincingly and cleverly without having to tie loose ends with rampant fleeting nudity or over-emphasised adolescent humour. First glances unavoidably give the impression that this is yet another summer camp romp in a long line of watered-down Meatballs clones, and, mixed with the dwindling popularity of the low budget college comedy in the latter part of the eighties, the film brought in an astonishingly low domestic gross of just $421. They probably blew that on hairspray alone.

State Park, among its many pleasantly surprising attributes, takes the uncommon path of aiming towards not hormonally raging males, but the female audience. As opposed to our heroines throwing both caution and their knickers to the wind in a sexual frenzy, they are presented as level-headed women on a quest for romance, with interests that stretch beyond the contents of the nearest available swimming trunks (with the exception of Linnie's peculiar desires).

The underdogs battling evil authority is indeed a familiar tune, but State Park plays it well. And you gotta admit, who doesn't love the instant gratification of the good guys coming out on top? For more Rafal Zielinski hijinks, check out similar Canadian farce Breaking All The Rules.

IMAGES/VIDEOS: [movie clip]

SOUNDTRACK:

01. Love Is Like A Chainsaw - Ted Nugent & Rachel Sweet
02. I Say Yeah - Scream Cycle
03. Easy to Love - Rachel Sweet
04. A Night Like Any Other - Darryl Phinnesse & Anita Sherman
05. Dancin' The Night Away - Reno Wilde
06. Rockin Robin - Bobby Day
07. Out Of My Mind - Colin Gerrard
08. Queen of the Scene - TT Quick
09. Come Beat The Band - TT Quick
10. Asleep at the Wheel - TT Quick
11. Little Miss Dangerous - Ted Nugent
12. I'll Do Anything (For Your Love) - Nancy Hall
13. She's in Love - Colin Gerrard
14. Savin' My Love - Trapper
15. Her Heartbeat - Steve McClintock

Hot Resort [1985]

"Where anything you want is everything you get"

The fat kid, the nerd, the wannabe comedian and the cool kid who travels with only a suitcase full of rubber johnnies. For the next 90 minutes, the mayhem and mischief is on them, as they begin their summer jobs at a luxury Caribbean beach resort. Cut to the pudgy and dis-likable owner of Royal St. Kitts and his scary managerial sidekick, who are ready to enforce a "maximum discipline" regime upon the new staff. With only one thing on their minds, the lads are unimpressed when they are descended upon by the raging manager, Mr Martin, who orders them to put their little peckers on hold or face the consequences. The idea of not getting laid for the entire summer isn't well-received. "Weren't you in a movie with Fay Wray?!", the kids joke.

Among the first guests to arrive are a wacky elderly couple, a sex-crazed guy and gal who are busy bonking in every scene we see them in, a couple of good-looking broads, and lastly (and most ghastly!), a busload of preppies from Ramsey college rowing squad. Calling themselves "The Typhoons", the repulsively snooty team get a taste of their own medicine when the lads on staff are required to move their luggage upstairs.. And move it they do - right over the balcony! And so begins a long-running war between the Ramsey college rats and our four central characters.

Marty (Tom Parsekian), contraception king is thrilled when he delivers room service to the two lovelies he'd met earlier in the day, and straight away has eyes for Liza, the brunette, and leaves the suite betting 20 bucks with geek of the gang, Kenny, that he can score. He soon learns that he isn't the only one after Liza, and the competition for her heart is on between him and leader of the Ramsey preps. And Marty is off to a bad start when Lizas' best friend Franny is eager to hook up with the rowing team.

Much to his surprise, the first to get lucky is chubby, happy-go-lucky Chuck (Dan Schneider) who is pounced on by the hot-to-trot hotel cleaner. Meanwhile, Marty spots Liza and Franny by the pool and lays on the charm, and it seems to be working a treat, until two pompous Ramsey idiots crash the scene. Their ego-trip ends in defeat when they shove Marty into the water and in a quick-thinking act of revenge he grabs the college morons and yanks them in too! When news of the incident gets back to the wrathful Mr Martin, he has plenty to lecture Marty about - after all, the rowing squad are the most filthy-rich of all the guests at St. Kitts.. and you know.. "the guests are always right". Overworked and unhappy, wisecracking Brad (Bronson Pinchot) is sacked on the spot when arguing the innocence of his friend. Lead by Marty - who has had it up to here with the whole shebang - the entire summer staff throw two fingers up to Mr Martin and quit.

Before long the hotel is overrun. With no other option, the guys are all given their jobs back.. But the terms are different this time around. A film crew who have chosen the resort as the setting for their tacky soup commercial are in need of a rival team to race the Typhoons, offering the summer staff a whopping 200 bucks a pop for rowing. That leaves Mr Martin to whip the guys into shape - and he's about to make it his personal goal to kick the asses of each and every upper class Ramsey bonehead. Marty has other ideas.. and they're unfolding well as he and Liza finally get closer.

Before the race gets underway, there is one final crazy escapade in store for Marty, Chuck, Brad and Kenny, as they're sent off on a "babysitting" mission.. Although it isn't kids they're looking after - but a dirty old pensioner, who sends them cruising for chicks in his classy automobile! Naturally, they succeed in scooping four sunbathing beauties, ditch the old man, and drop in at the hottest party on the island.

Can they make it back in one piece and smash the over-inflated egos of the Ramsey Typhoons? Will Marty and Liza hook up? And will that randy couple puh-lease put some clothes on?!

VERDICT: ★★

Hot Resort! Finally Cannon churn out a movie - albeit a bad one - that isn't entirely nonsensical! The subject is well-worn, the gags are few and far between, and all the sun in the Caribbean couldn't make the movie any less dull.. That said, it could be much worse. It also teaches you how to smuggle through customs a "grass skirt" made of joints. Ingenious huh? So we've got to give it at least a little bit of credit.

The movie never reaches the same level of zany crudeness as, say, Summer Job, but follows the same basic set up. If it was somehow pulled off in a less drab of a manner - take out the god damn soup commercial subplot and the bizarre, unnecessary appearance by Frank Gorshin, you'd be left with a good old fashioned tale of good guys beating the bad guys and the guy getting the girl. It could be better, it could be worse, but memorable? No dice!

IMAGES/VIDEOS: [trailer]

SOUNDTRACK:

Nothing joyous to speak of, and we all know how essential it is for beach movies to have rockin' soundtracks! Another aspect that unfortunately lets this flick down.

1. Obsession - Dave Powell
2. Body Shop - Dave Powell
3. Love Bites - Dave Powell
4. Welcome to the Party - Dave Powell
5. Get Me to the Show on Time - Dave Powell
6. She Don't Know Me - Ken Brown

Summer Job [1989]

"Wanted: Irresponsible coeds to work in exotic pleasure spa. 'Experience' a must!"

When recruited as summer staff at a hot beach side resort, a bunch of (mainly too old to be) college coeds prepare themselves for the ultimate fun in the sun experience! Somehow, these lucky kids - comprising of a fat slob, cocky jock, daddies girl, surfer chick, cowboy, nerd, and a few other characters sporting obviously aqua-netted hairdos - beat the competition of the six hundred other applicants for the chance of a lifetime; a chance that doesn't begin too well for any of them.

With a psychotic chef in the kitchen; guests suffering from heart attacks at the sight of the room service girl; an obese woman (complete with splodgy sound effects) plodding after whichever lad she notices; a leery old guy chasing the scantily clad beach babes all hours of the day and a whole array of other disasters, the summer staff all begin to get tired of what they thought would be a few weeks of bliss.

Head of staff and UCLA college senior Kathy (Sherrie Rose) continues with her tight-ship work routine, earning herself an instant enemy in the form of filthy rich daddies girl, Barbara. Claws - and sharp ones at that - soon come out and after Barbara is humiliated by one of Kathy's clever pranks, daddies girl is on the warpath and guess who is right on route? Armed with a bottle of purple dye, conniving Barb fixes her new rival's bubble bath and the next night, Kathy is branded the 'purple pimpernel'. That isn't the end to the disasters and when the resort manager catches onto the commotion, Kathy loses her position as head of staff and is demoted to kitchen duties, saving the population of the beach the humiliation of seeing a purple-skinned resort worker. To top things off, Barbara is sacked, much to the satisfaction of the rest of the staff. But they haven't seen the last of her..

To make things worse for Kathy, she hears from her so-called boyfriend that he has been seeing someone else for weeks, so she and the other girls go out to exact revenge on more or less the entire male population of the resort. Meanwhile, the lads on staff try their hardest (no pun intended) at getting laid.

Just when the staff think the waves have settled and their end-of-summer leaving party is in sight, they get a nasty surprise. None other than bitch of the century, Barbara, checks in as a guest. Without hesitation, the staff agree they are in for one bumpy ride. So what do they do? Cook up - quite literally - a cunning plan of action! Can they pull it off and get even with the one person who is making their lives hell? And can they throw the most made-of-awesome leaving party in summer job history?

VERDICT:★★ ½

As far as spring break/summer beach movies go, Summer Job is a fun one. Look at it as a movie, and you'll be bummed out. But look at it as an '80s beach movie, realise that's all it is, and you'll be entertained. There are only a certain amount of things that you can put into a beach movie (sun, sea, sand and tanned bodies, to name the most of them) and none of those things are anything particularly substantial. So if you're looking for an intellectually stimulating experience (and I did said intellectually, as well as stimulating) then you're on the wrong tracks. Generally on the wrong tracks here at this site, I mean.

Summer Job does benefit from a good deal of humour, although it is largely pretty slapstick stuff. Unavoidably with these sorts of movies, the laughs are mostly unintentional, and the best part of the over-emphasised gags fall flat and will probably irritate you a little. Regardless, Summer Job is a double-sized slice of late '80s cinema that goes heavy on the cheese and not-so on the brain cells. Will it encourage you to nab yourself a summer job? Well, see it and find out.

IMAGES/VIDEOS: [movie clip]

SOUNDTRACK:

The song played during the opening credits is "All the Love I Need" by Ike Stubblefield and Kevin Quigley, and is one of the best tracks on the unsurprisingly out of print soundtrack.

1. You're All The Love I Need - Ike Stubblefield and Kevin Quigley
2. Hold On To Your Love - Orkestra
3. Sweet Lover - Jack Green
4. Lady Of The Night - Kenny Moore
5. Kathy's Theme - Ike Stubblefield
6. Some Kind Of Magic - Orkestra
7. Win Your Love - Jack Green
8. Give Me The Night - Ike Stubblefield and Debbie Fosten
9. Don't Turn Away - Orkestra
10. Bring On The Dancing Girls - Orkestra
11. Heartbeat - Ike Stubblefield and Kevin Quigley

Breaking All The Rules [1985]

"She's got one last day to do everything one last time!"

For the third summer in a row, Jack Fleming (Carl Marotte) is busy working at the local amusement park. But, seeing as it's the last day of summer, he's determined to live it up with best pal David (Thor Bishopric), who he sets out to find. But on the way, he spots the gorgeous Debbie, who he has a hard time forgetting.

The outrageous sixteen year old Debbie is also on a mission to make the last day of summer worthwhile, and after reinventing her image by chopping off her hair and spiking it up, is off to meet best friend Angie. On arrival at the bus stop, Debbie's drastically different appearance manages to fool even her best friend, who has to look twice before managing to identify her! It's on the bus that the girls first spot Jack and David, who they later meet up with at the fun park.

When the four do bump into each other at the park, Jack has no idea that Debbie is the same girl he had seen hours earlier and fallen madly in love with. Put off by her punky look, he decides to take a crack at Angie and forces the shy David to spend his time with Debbie. Both of the girls, however, have an eye for Jack, who shows off by winning them both stuffed toys. But after spending some time with him, Angie realises that the wild Jack isn't her type at all. Similarly, Debbie finds David's company so boring that he almost drives her mad. So the girls and boys swap dates.

As it turns out, the loudmouth Debbie is just the girl for Jack, and David's charms are just what Angie is after. The two couples have a blast in the amusement park and as the sun goes down, things get wilder.

In comes the obligatory '80s subplot involving hapless criminals! Enter Babyface, Patty and Harry - possibly the World's most brainless jewel thieves! Having hidden a diamond inside a stuffed toy earlier in the day, they set out to retrieve it, only to find the toy - and diamond - gone. So begins the mad chase to track down the thousands of dollars worth of rock and of course, the four unsuspecting teenagers are dragged right into the middle of it.

To everyone's surprise, Debbie's stuffed toy is the one containing the diamond, and the kids - following many a madcap chase scenes and a breakdancing contest - manage to end their summers with a bang.. Quite literally.

VERDICT: ★★★ ½

Okay, four teenagers hanging about in a theme park for the day is hardly the most action-packed of storylines, even when a bunch of criminals are thrown into the mix! But miraculously, this little-known Canadian gem is a cheery, kitschy and altogether stellar effort from the New World Pictures team.

From one scene to the next, Breaking All the Rules is packed with laughs and unforgettable moments that - while not creditable for any amount of classiness - will provoke a lot of grins and giggles. From Carolyn Dunn's unmistakably '80s outfits to the comical fantasy/dream sequence (an '80s b-movie staple), if you can disregard the oh so mandatory imbecilic subplot, you'll find yourself enjoying what you see. New World aren't all bad, and neither is Breaking All The Rules. To be honest, it's pretty freakin' terrific.

IMAGES/VIDEOS: [movie clip]

SOUNDTRACK:

It isn't any wonder that the flick was never entitled to its own soundtrack, though some of the tunes are great, especially the classic freestyle tune 'Let the Music Play' by Shannon. The tracklisting for the movie is the following:

1. Manish Bay - Muddy Waters
2. Kid Blue - Louise Goffin
3. Now and Then - The Shoes
4. Breaking All the Rules - Paul Booth
5. Get Up - Paul Booth
6. Fun Park - Paul Booth
7. It's Gettin' Hot in Here - Pieces of a Dream
8. Stop Foolin' Around - Yvonne Murray
9. That's My Girl - Stephen Ritchie
10. Let The Music Play - Shannon

Odd Balls [1984]

"Roll over Meatballs, the Oddballs are ready for summer camp!"

When a bunch of preteen lads have nothing better to do with their summer, where do they go? Camp Bottomout, of course, owned by Mama Fratelli's alcoholic male counterpart, Hardy Bassett. He hates kids, he hates work and he hates his newly acquired camp. When the bus pulls up just after running down an Indiana Jones lookalike, the mayhem begins - mummified bodies in the bunk beds, insane kid vampires hidden in trunks, and an aerobics session with a homosexual cokehead who sniffs a little too much before exercising himself to death. You call that fun?

In come our three main characters, Chris, Og and Francois - three twelve year old lads who spend their time spying on the girls across the lake at Camp Bountiful. Little do they realise that the camp is owned by the money grabbing Skinner who, along with his airhead son Chadwick, are in the process of hatching a plan to demolish the boys' camp and build a shopping mall in its place. Being the calculating 'businessman' that he is, Skinner bypasses the idea of simply buying the camp and instead decides to use Bassett's granddaughter Jennifer as bait for a scam.

The plan is well underway and when Jennifer turns up at camp to help out, Skinner dishes out orders for Chadwick to 'seduce her and marry her!' in order to inherit Bassett's land, to which his son replies: 'what does seduce mean?'. Before long, Chadwick is off to Camp Bottomout, his first attempts leading him nowhere. With his car at the bottom of a river and Jennifer totally uninterested, he retreats back to daddy to work out plan B. And plan B fails when Chadwick is chased from the camp by some dude in a bear suit.

In the meantime, Francois and Og are busy.. well.. ogling over camp nurse Miss Kitten, while Chris is desperately in love with Jennifer. Throw a horny sex ed teacher and a screwy punk kid into the equation and you've got trouble. After an unsuccessful field trip to a local bar in the effort of picking up some chicks, the guys return to camp just prior to the Bottomout/Bountiful dance, the setting for the grand finale of Skinner's conniving arrangements. It turns out to be perfect timing when the camp loudspeaker is accidentally switched on, revealing his scheme to the entire party and leaving him looking pathetic.

It seems that the camp has been saved and the villains long gone, until Bassett reveals the sad truth. The kids are disheartened to learn that Camp Bottomout is no more, sold for $300,000 to the sleazy Skinner. But allowing the place to be torn down is the last thing on their minds.

VERDICT: ★

Odd Balls, also known as Screwballs Vacation and All Shook Up (how many names does this movie need?!) is an insanely bad Canadian Meatballs ripoff, with the budget of half a shoestring and the acting talents of a goldfish. The humour is mindnumbingly terrible:

"We already have a social director honey, Billy Wankey"
"Billy Wankey! He's a convicted child molester!"
"..and he'll work for free".

It took me three occasions to finally sit through this abomination from start to finish. Losing a good few brain cells is pretty much all you'll get out of Odd Balls, and the nonsensical scenes and lack of any real plot leaves you wondering why and how movies like this are made, let alone given DVD releases. 2004 saw Pegasus DVD in the UK bring this one out, sold for next to nothing, along with many other forgotten titles, including Preppies [1984], Wacko [1983], and the surprisingly enjoyable 1985 movie, Breaking All the Rules. But Odd Balls is one summer camp movie that should have been thrown to the dogs way back in '84.

IMAGES/VIDEOS:

SOUNDTRACK:

None available.

Welcome to 18 [1986]

"It took a little danger, a little romance, a big 'gamble', and a lot of luck to get them this far.."

Welcome to 18 begins with us meeting best girl-friends Lindsey (Courtney Thorne-Smith), Joey (Mariska Hargitay) and Robin (JoAnn Willette). School is over and the girls decide to have an adventurous summer together; they raise their glasses to 'freedom and fun' and are then off in their convertible to Lake Tahoe, where summer jobs await them.

The three end up at a ranch, which at first sight seems like the perfect summer vacation. But as soon as they are assigned their jobs, Lindsey, Joey and Robin all begin to wish they had stayed at home. After a long week of hard work and no play, the girls wait with anticipation for their wages. This turns out to be the last straw, however, and when they are each paid less than a satisfactory wage they pack up their suitcases and leave.

With nowhere to go and barely any money for a room elsewhere, the girls deliberate over what to do. Robin convinces Joey and Lindsey that she knows the perfect place - they take her word for it and drive out there. Soon they turn up at a flashy lakeside condo belonging to two guests Robin had met at the ranch, Talia and boyfriend Roscoe. The couple let them stay, and soon the girls and new best friend Talia are having a total blast.

It's not long before Roscoe has fixed the girls up with fake ID's in order for them to work at a local casino to earn some money. This allows them to move out of Talia and Roscoe's place and into a small cabin, where they are neighbour to outrageous transvestite Fuschia. Things seem to be going great until the girls are invited to a party at Roscoe's and it gets busted by cops. They are arrested on prostitution charges and thrown in a cell until Roscoe agrees to pay their bail money. Once released, they are given an ultimatum; pay up and get out of town or else.

Then one night, Talia turns up at their place bruised and bleeding and the girls realise that Roscoe is nowhere near as nice as they once thought. Lindsey then decides that she can win Roscoe his money back in a card game - thanks to learning some tricks in the casino - and the girls convince Talia to leave with them once they've paid up.

Will Lindsey win back his money? Will Talia leave with them? And more importantly, will they get revenge on hard-man Roscoe?

VERDICT: ★★★ ½

In many ways this movie is reminiscent of Modern Girls, the friendship between the three girls, the fashions - even made the same year. The scene where the girls get ready for the party is very similar to the 'getting ready' scene at the beginning of Modern Girls, too, and both have awesomely '80s soundtracks. One nicer aspect of Welcome to 18 is that it's not the usual lower budget '80s teen movie - no T&A! The whole thing is incredibly lighthearted despite the gangster subplot.

Both Modern Girls and Welcome to 18 serve as complete and utter time capsules, but don't take this one seriously - after all, when are summer vacations meant to be serious?

IMAGES/VIDEOS: [movie clip]

SOUNDTRACK:

Coming soon!

Party Camp [1987]

"Party Camp.. the best thing about summer since the bikini."

Jerry Riviera has it all; the looks, the perfect job and the perfect girl - or so he wishes. He spends his days drooling over camp girl Heather Morris, and decides to take up a job as a counsellor at Camp Chipmunk in an attempt to have a summer of fun with her.

It's on the bus ride to camp that Jerry meets D.A. (Billy Jacoby - Terry's sex obsessed brother from Just One of the Guys) and the two decide to hang out. We're then introduced to Jewel Shepard's character, brainless Dyanne Stein, who Jerry tries - and fails - to chat up.

It's less than fun and games when the kids arrive and find that it isn't much more than a strict military training camp - with no alcohol, cigarettes, partying or fun allowed. However, Jerry is determined to transform the camp into one wild party and doesn't take no for an answer.

The camp is then divided into groups, and Jerry is lumbered with the so-called nerds - which include D.A. and a computer geek. Leader of the Falcons, Tad Whitneyworth - total jock and boyfriend of Dyanne - laughs as he assigns Jerry's group as the "Squirrels" and sends them off to their dilapidated cabin. The guys are less than pleased at their new home, but the miserable atmosphere is soon replaced as wiseguy Jerry ignores every possible authority and constantly bends camp rules.

War is declared between the Squirrels and the Falcons, with pranks and stunts being pulled by both groups. The Squirrels always come out on top - planting cameras in the girls' changing room, playing strip poker with airhead Dyanne, blowing up the Falcons' cabin, kidnapping Tad and Dyanne and not to mention exposing camp leaders' weird bug fetishes.

Meanwhile, dreamgirl Heather is beginning to fall for Jerry thanks to his smart-guy antics and agrees to go with him to the camp dance.

Camp Chipmunk then holds a games championship. All the groups enter, with the Falcons eager to beat the Squirrels and the Squirrels determined to thrash the Falcons. But only one can win..

VERDICT: ★★★

You will laugh your ass off at this movie. Jerry Riviera is the most awesome summer camp counsellor you will ever come across - what happened to Andrew Ross anyways? Billy Jacoby is - as he was in Just One of the Guys - a complete dude.

I'd pack my suitcase and be hauled off to Camp Chipmunk any day of the week. Why? 'Cause Party Camp is a RIOT!

IMAGES/VIDEOS:

SOUNDTRACK:

1. Party Camp - Mark Carpenter
2. Hunger - Paulette K. Brown
3. Drugs, Sex & Rock 'n' Roll - Valley Heat
4. Real Man - Adie Grey
5. Boys in Rock & Roll - T. Odd
6. She's Got to Party - Valley Heat