Nightmare at Camp Monster

**Nightmare at Camp Monster** is a comedy horror film directed by Brendan Payne.

### Synopsis

Noel the cat and his 11-year-old lesbian owner Robyn Jacob attend a camp where Robyn falls in love with fellow attendant Violet Vogel. Unfortunately for them, a cultist (Michael Sheen) unleashes, a curse that turns all of the camp counselors into ghosts and monsters. Armed with little more than bravery, teamwork, and resourcefulness, Robyn, Violet, and co. must fight for their freedom, but will they win?

## Cast

* Robyn Jacob: Robyn Jacob is the protagonist of the film, an 11-year-old lesbian and the love interest of Violet Vogel. Robyn is initially unconfident and must learn courage to save herself and the rest of the campers after the Toe Cult attacks.
* Violet Vogel: Robyn Jacob's love interest, Violet Vogel must choose between blood and love as her father aids the Toe Cult and Robyn opposes them.
* Robert Jacob: Robyn Jacob's father, Robert is imperfect but caring, and also abducted by the Toe Cult and threatened with being turned into a mannequin monster.
* Gemma Jacob: Robyn Jacob's mother, Gemma is daring, resourceful, and a witty team player who aids the fight against the Toe Cult and the rescue of her husband.
* Michael Sheen as Saxton McCloud: The leader of the Toe Cult who intends to dominate the world.
* Lucien Vogel: Violet Vogel's father and a key member of the Toe Cult, he intends to manipulate his daughter into aiding the cult.
* Lucio Balsakhov: A powerful ghost pirate central to the Toe Cult, Lucio Balsakhov is secretly a melancholic figure who wishes to spite the world after inadvertently killing his son with his supernatural powers.
* Ettore: Robyn Jacob's cat, Ettore is killed after trying to stop the Toe Cult before being resurrected as a human. After dying again, Ettore returns as Robyn's cat.
* Oscar: Oscar is a camper who screams excessively but also encourages Robyn to resist against the Toe Cult and move past her fear of them to save the camp and the world. Oscar is gay and based on the titular character of the *Fred* franchise.

## Creature Encyclopedia

* Robot: Creations of Saxton Cloud with the aid of the evil arts of magic, the robots are the most numerous of the Toe Cult's soldiers. The robots have glowing faces and gloves and bleed a black fluid akin to blood.
* Foot Soldiers: One of the most numerous varieties of Toe Cult member, the Foot Soldiers are the only ones without any supernatural modification, just an undying allegiance to fascism. Foot Soldiers wear masks and gloves akin to the robots but are distinguished by their vests and human voices.
* Shapeshifter: Shapeshifters are reborn when they die, changing from human to animal. A shapeshifter can only die twice as both before dying for good. Ettore is the only confirmed shapeshifter in the film.

## Parents Guide

### Violence & Gore

Mild

* Violence consists of some implied, non-descript murders, various scenes of fighting and the hitting of others, some tries at wounding or killing heroic characters (via gunfire and other means), and some slapstick-style material. While played fairly lightly for the most part (some of it's comedy-based, the rest is action-oriented), some of those scenes might be disturbing and/or suspenseful to some viewers, particularly since the villains are sometimes portrayed as a serious threat, which rarely occurs in lower-rated comedies.
* Characters are also shot at and one man is hit in the chest with a fork which has been connected to an electric cable.
* Characters are knocked out with tasers, hit over the head with vases, kicked and pinned to walls.
* A girl suffers an allergic reaction that leaves her face bloated and covered with lumps.
* Characters throw explosives during a fight scene but nobody is injured.
* There is a fight scene featuring kicks, punches and other blows that lack injury detail.
* There is limited sight of blood in the aftermath of violence.
* Handguns/Explosives: Carried and/or used to threaten, attempt to wound or kill, and/or cause property damage.
* Serial killers holds handguns in various scenes.
* Cops arrive to stop the killer and draw their handguns, rifles and/or automatic weapons in the direction of the situation.
* The killer sets off some explosives to scare away the police from stopping him.
* During a chase through the camp, the Zodiac Killer repeatedly shoots his handgun at Bijan and then hits him twice with a rod of some sort (while Bijan whacks him with something soft, simply trying to drive him away). As he tries to escape, the Zodiac Killer continues to blast Bijan at before attacking him. They struggle, with another killer then grabbing Bijan before he knocks him from a height (he falls, but we don't see the impact). The killer jumps and lands on Bijan, knocking him down and sending both falling several into a play area of plastic balls that cushion their fall, with the Zodiac Killer implicitly head-butting Bijan (we only see his head wind back).
* The Zodiac Killer wildly shoots his handgun in one scene. In another, he shoots Bijan's handgun out of his hand after he holds it on him.
* The Zodiac Killer repeatedly shoots his handgun into a small, unsuspecting figure, but it turns out it's just a mannequin.
* Some blood is shown when a person begins to experience cerebral edema at a high altitude and bleeds from the nostrils onto another person. Significance is primarily due to the pallet of the scene being desaturated, so the blood stands out.
* Frozen skin tears easily, and this happens to a person's hands. It is commented on, and seen briefly, but not dwelled on or shown in detail.

### Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking

Mild

* Mr. Vogel is seen drinking and it is heavily implied he's an alcoholic.
* There are non-detailed references to adults doing drugs.
* There is sight of adults drinking and smoking.

### Frightening/Intense Scenes

Mild

* The film features themes of death and bereavement, which are handled in a sensitive manner. In a flashback scene, a car carrying a girl and her parents drives off the road into water; the mother helps her husband and daughter swim free of the car, which then sinks out of sight with her still inside.
* There are brief references to animal experimentation and euthanasia, but these issues are handled with restraint.
* There are undetailed references to an autistic child having been bullied for being ‘different’. In other scenes a woman becomes impatient and sarcastic when an autistic person interprets figures of speech literally. The film aims to empower autistic people and to encourage acceptance of the things that make people 'different'.
* The second half of the film has frequent scenes of peril involving the life-threatening nature of the fight against the monsters and scenes at high altitudes. These scenes aren't overly dramatized, and most of the film maintains an upbeat style.
* A character falls asleep and falls from a great height. They awaken while sliding and scramble for their life. Not too graphic, but jarring.
* People are launched from a mountain during a storm. This is filmed in a frenetic style and is a tense moment that could scare young viewers with its combination of thunder, lightning and peril.

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, action, and brief unsettling images and nudity.

## BBFC

PG for frequent scary scenes, mild violence, threat, upsetting and disturbing scenes, references to discrimination and suicide, injury detail, rude humour

This horror comedy follows children at a summer camp fighting an army of monsters. Moments of violence, scary scenes, and injury detail are counterbalanced with comedy and reassuring outcomes.

**Violence (2/5)**

There is undetailed sight of cars and planes being shot at, on fire, and blown up. Groups of children fight with swords and shields, with some stabbing and slashing. Other scenes of mild violence include characters being knocked out with tasers, hit over the head with vases, punched, kicked, pinned to walls, and hit with other blows, but these lack injury detail. Characters are shot at and one man is hit in the chest with a fork which has been connected to an electric cable. Characters throw explosives during a fight scene but nobody is injured. There is little sight of injuries after characters are hit by fantasy weapons such as laser guns and swords. Villains tie a child to two cars, which stretch him agonisingly, but his friends rescue him before he comes to harm. There are fights with robots that attack with pincers and ninja weapons. These moments of violence are accompanied by comedy and reassuring outcomes, with an emphasis on excitement. In a comic scene, a timid man threatens to ‘get the rod’ during an argument with his wife but is immediately cowed when she angrily asks him to repeat himself. Mild comic violence includes a monster swinging a child around by the hair before throwing her offscreen. In one scene, he seemingly stretches a girl's ear in a fantastical manner. The monster also throws a boy into a bin from offscreen. An evil robot is beheaded during a fight scene and others are speared or sliced in half, creating small sprays of black oil. There are no realistic injuries. A scene of bullying depicts a young boy being held over railings before being pushed down a flight of stairs while people chant a mocking rhyme, resulting in a brief playground fight. Another sequence involves a young boy being pinned against a wall by two bullies before a third punches him in the stomach. The work and other characters do not condone or endorse the bullies' behaviour. A character is thrown from a height, but is swiftly rescued. There are verbal references to a murder.

**Threat & horror (2/5)**

Scary scenes include children being pursued and attacked by fantastical horror creatures including skeletal demons, a puppet, giant insects, ghosts, evil toys, a clown, and dinosaurs. Villains chase a puppet through a night-time landscape and, it is implied, hang him from a tree, where we see him dangling, unhurt. Villains drown a cat by putting it in a box and throwing it into the sea, where it is reincarnated as a human and later back into a cat. In one sequence, an evil puppet watches a teenage girl as she sleeps, and tries to turn the protagonist's father into a puppet. Ghostly figures attack human characters by covering them in a green substance, although they come to no harm. There are brief jump scares and extended action sequences in which the heroes fight or flee from scary creatures. However, these scenes focus on action and excitement with comic elements, and the ghosts are not particularly frightening. Although the heroes are occasionally scared, the emphasis remains on their resourcefulness, bravery and teamwork as they help one another in their efforts to save themselves, and to achieve reassuring outcomes. There are other scenes of threat in which a girl's neglectful parents are verbally cruel to her. In one scene the child's father pushes her to the floor of her bedroom. In another scene a girl lies on a cellar floor after being locked there by a cruel aunt. During a flashback it is implied a woman is about to hit a child. There are scenes in which a pantomime-esque villain threatens to imprison children in tiny cells with metal spikes. There are scenes in which characters are placed in dangerous situations when they are caught in forest and building fires, in storms, at heights at which they are exposed to very cold conditions, and dangled over a fiery volcano. Characters are threatened with being fed to creatures and threatened at gunpoint and held hostage in other scenes. A ruthless villain lifts his henchmen off the ground, sometimes using his hand and sometimes using a magic. He also threatens people with torture, although this is not shown outside of a scene in which a superhuman is zapped with electricity. There is threat to a family as missiles are fired at a car and after it is buried, but this ends reassuringly. There are also fast-paced chase sequences, both in cars and on foot. In one scene, a child falls into a hole and discovers skeletal human remains.

**Language (1/5)**

Language is very mild ('damn,' 'hell,' 'God,' 'screw,' 'butt,' 'jerk', 'jerkwad',) and includes implied mild language in the form of wordplay such as 'shiitake mushrooms' and 'holy carp,' and when a fish person says to other people turned into sea creatures that they are "swimming in our own..." and one tells him to 'shhhh’.

**Sex (1/5)**

There is a cartoon scene where two adults prepare for a romantic night but no sexual activity is seen, only implied. There are some mild comic sex references and innuendo, including a very oblique reference to masturbation and a comment that a cat may have been enjoying his cat baths a little too much when licking himself. Teenage boys look at a woman's chest as she plays tennis, with one commenting on the size of her breasts.

**Discrimination (2/5)**

There are undetailed references to an autistic teenager having been bullied for being ‘different’. In other scenes a woman becomes impatient and sarcastic when an autistic person interprets figures of speech literally. The film aims to empower autistic people and to encourage acceptance of the things that make people 'different'. Men sometimes refer to women in sexist ways, but these characters are presented as foolish and their attitudes are condemned by the film as a whole. A comic character advises another man to exert control over his future wife, but the man’s sexist attitude is not condoned. Another man explains that he has trouble expressing his feelings out loud because boys and men are encouraged not to cry. An unsympathetic character demands an extensive dowry from a prospective bride’s family, but the practice of dowries is clearly criticised. The film also contains references to fascism, which is not condoned but held up to mockery and condemnation. There are also scenes in which people make fun of a person’s weight.

**Injury detail (2/5)**

There is limited sight of blood in the aftermath of violence and a car accident, including blood on a man's face and a bloody stump when a creature is killed. There are brief scenes of frostbite and some bloody head injuries after a fall. A scene from a cartoon shows a wave of blood washing away a character. Human patients' internal organs are briefly visible during a scene of surgery. A piece of metal debris becomes embedded in a child's head, causing a small trickle of blood, but the child survives. There is further very minor bloody detail when some fish are torn apart for eating by a cat. There are images of skeletons, including one of a cat and others of people who died after being imprisoned in cells and attacked by the villains, but this is not very graphic. At one point, a fish person's arm is cut off using a laser sword and the arm is seen lying on the ground. There is brief sight of a man with an injured arm after his hand is sliced off; however, there is limited detail. Parents see small teeth marks on their toddler’s arm and mistakenly think that a cat has bitten her, when it has actually saved the child from falling down a flight of stairs. A magician does a trick in which he rips the heart out of a fantasy character, but without any realism or detail. A man accidentally cuts his finger on a lawn mower and there is very brief sight of blood in the aftermath. There are brief images of an undetailed dead body at a funeral after a person dies of natural causes. A man is seen with a small cut on his forehead after an accident. There is a very brief glimpse of blood when a fish person's hand is pierced with a trident. A girl has sore blisters on the back of her heels after wearing shoes without socks. Robot are seen being injured but the injuries are not realistic. A man is seen in a hospital in bandages after he has been smashed through a series of walls by a strong creature, with sight of a broken bone in an X-ray.

**Suicide (2/5)**

There are undetailed references to the suicides of people in debt to large corporations, including one who died by poisoning. A death by poisoning is falsely attributed to suicide, but it is soon revealed that this is not the case. A man jumps off a building, in an apparent attempt to take his own life, but is saved by a superhuman.

**Theme (2/5)**

There are upsetting scenes of grieving embedded in the film’s exploration of themes of death and mortality, as well as occasional references to mental health and illness, all of which are handled in a sensitive manner. There are undetailed references to abortion, including a woman failing to terminate a pregnancy with turpentine in the 1920s. Young characters are regularly tormented by bullies, but their behaviour is not condoned by others. There are brief references to animal experimentation and sight of animals in a lab but this issue is handled with restraint. Other upsetting scenes include villains being cruel to a cat. It is suggested that a young girl has an unenjoyable home life, but none of these scenes are upsetting. There are references to a boy's parents being killed, which some viewers may find upsetting, although their deaths are not shown.

**Rude humour (2/5)**

There are frequent jokes related to flatulence, vomit, and poo, including use of a 'fart gun' and the shoveling and inspection of animal poo. There are references to 'peeing' in your pants. Three creatures stand on top of each other in a woman's dress, with the middle creature's eye goggles creating an impression of breasts below the dress. There is a comic scene in which a character screams in response to implied nudity.

**Drugs (1/5)**

There are some references to a cat being caught with catnip, in a joke about drugs. Some children are asked if they are selling drugs.

**Nudity (1/5)**

There is some comic buttock nudity as a young man walks through a village naked. There is a comic scene of a cartoon character running through a town with his buttocks and penis seen. Artistic depictions of nudity include a chalk outline phallus.

**Disturbing images (2/5)**

There is a comic scene in which a man threatens to torture fantasy creatures in his medieval-style torture chamber. The creatures are stretched on a table and hung on a noose but neither of these things harm them. There is brief undetailed sight of a dead animal.

**Alcohol and tobacco (1/5)**

Adults drink and smoke and some teenagers drink alcohol. People are seen falling asleep and passing out from drinking. There is a sequence where fantasy creatures become drunk from consuming alcohol.

**Dangerous behaviour (2/5)**

Fantasy characters behave in a dangerously reckless manner, such as by playing with a blowtorch, trying to drive a car recklessly, and holding in their breath until they pass out, but this behaviour is clearly shown to be a consequence of their comic foolishness. There are sequences in which people walk on top of the roof of a moving train. However, the context within which this occurs is unrealistic and difficult to imitate with modern trains. There are scenes of power tools being handled and the use of safety matches to light a fuse.

## Does the Dog Die?

* Does the dog die? Not any we grow to care about but a dog is said to have died.
* Are animals abused? There is a subplot about animal cruelty. A cat is put in a box with a hole in the lid, thrown into the sea, and drowns, but is revived at the end.
* Is there dog fighting? There's dogfighting as in fighter jets shooting each other, but no dogs being forced to fight.
* Is there a dead animal? A cat and fox's skeletons are seen.
* Does a Cat Die? A cat is put in a box with a hole in the lid, thrown into the sea, and drowns, but is revived at the end. Not one we grow to care about but a cat's skeleton is seen in a cage. A brief scene depicts a vampire-cat, implying that at some point said cat was killed to make it a vampire in the first place.
* Does a pet die? A skeleton of a dog that presumably belonged to someone (considering it has a collar) is seen at one point, but its death is not onscreen.
* Are there spiders? Spider monster.
* Are there alligators/crocodiles? Crocodile person.
* Are there snakes? Snake monster.
* Are there sharks? A big shark eats/swallows someone whole.
* Are There Bugs? A mosquito and spider person.
* Is a child abandoned by a parent? Violet is orphaned after killing her abuser but the Jacobs take her in so she's not abandoned.
* Is someone stalked? Oscar gets stalked and eventually abducted.
* Is a child abused? Yes, by parents and authority figures. Oscar in particular is put in harm's way several times throughout the movie, often intentional abuse by adults. Oscar is literally tortured with the aim of making him break down mentally.
* Are there abusive parents? Mr. Vogel is abusive.
* Is someone beaten up by a bully? Kids are hurt by bullies and otherwise bullied.
* Is someone restrained? It is told, but not shown, that many children are locked in cabinets with spikes inside of them. A child is locked in a basement, another child is locked in a bedroom. There are many instances of characters being handcuffed, encaged, and tied up. Some are more comical, others potentially triggering (especially during the final battle).
* Does someone use drugs? No, but there is talk of a cat being experimented on and harmful drug use on the part of the people experimenting on the cat. It is not made explicit but it is in the realm of possibility.
* Is there eye mutilation: Snake monster missing an eye.
* Is there excessive gore: The goriest it gets is a surgical scene fairly close to the end of the movie, which is in semi-graphic detail.
* Does a head get squashed? A creature's eye goggles get trapped in his head around his eyes. He is not hurt because of cartoon logic. This creature is also repeatedly hit with hard and/or heavy things over the head. He is shown completely fine and happy.
* Is there shaving/cutting: In one scene near the end, two people are graphically shown being cut open in surgery. Not sure if that counts, but it's at least similar enough that it could affect similar people. Robots are sliced in half with black fluid but no blood.
* Is someone choked? Twice by a villain, the first time is physical choking that results in an implied fatality, the other is with magic but stopped before the victim is killed.
* Is someone burned alive? Offscreen but smoky skeletons are shown.
* Is someone buried alive? Robyn's family and Violet are buried underground with dirt in their car but everyone stays conscious and survives.
* Is someone tortured: Oscar is put in a spinning chair for 48 hours and forced to listen to nonstop polka music with a saw nearby; he is unharmed, just dizzy. The clockwork robot scene is the most played up, it goes on throughout an important scene, so it can't be skipped. The villains say they're going to and try to tear Oscar to pieces by tying him to the arms of two robots that stretch him further each minute, he gets semi-mildly (it’s played for laughs, but painful) hurt, (no gore) he survives. Not onscreen, but, before the story, a cat was the victim of experimentation in a laboratory. It's heavily implied that a man is tortured with a needle but this isn't shown and he isn't in any obvious pain later, he's just lying unconscious. It isn’t shown but there is a lot of talk about the “spring-trap” which is a torture method involving a closet covered in spikes. At one point a child cries and begs not to get tortured and it is very triggering. No graphic or realistic physical injuries, but cartoonish torture of children is implied like exaggerated throwing, ear stretching, and force-feeding. Many characters towards the end are held hostage and have a gun pointed at them, others are forced into a car that is stuck in the bottom of the sea and others are buried alive.
* Is there amputation: A fish person's arm is removed by a laser blade and it is shown bloody and severed on the ground. There is also a kidney transplant and a pirate-themed character with a hook hand and eyepatch.
* Are any teeth damaged? A skeleton's tooth is broken.
* Are hands damaged? Robots and plant people have hands cut off and damaged with black oil or green plant goo in place of blood. A van door closes on a hand from just offscreen, jarring and painful. There are at least two more hand squishes (one being a robot). One a brief flash like the van door, the other (the robot) is stomped on until it's torn apart. It's not connected to the robot at the time and no pain is implied.
* Is someone burned alive? Offscreen, skeletons are seen with smoke coming out of them. A creature burns another alive, his face chars black in a cartoonish manner. Gemma gets hurt by fire (not graphic, just ash marks and burned clothes).
* Does someone asphyxiate? Two characters are choked, one nearly to death. There is a scene where Robyn's family and Violet are trapped in a car underground, they worry that they are going to suffocate but they end up being able to get out.
* Is someone unconscious? A kid passes out twice after falling.
* Does someone break a bone? Not visibly aside from non-graphic X-rays but a child and an adult have limbs broken and wear casts for the rest of the film. A skeleton's skull is crushed.
* Does someone fall down stairs? Robyn is pushed down stairs offscreen and Violet is said to have been thrown down into a basement, but we only see her sprawled at the bottom of the stairs.
* Does someone fall to their death? A character is shot with a yelp before falling into an abyss.
* Does someone struggle to breathe? See "Is someone choked?" While a car is buried with the heroes in it, there is no scene of them struggling to breathe. They mention the fact that they need to use as little oxygen as possible, but they flee before oxygen is an issue.
* Does a kid die? Robyn's younger and older brothers died before the events of the film. Children are regularly endangered in a jovial and cartoonish tone for the plot but none of them die.
* Does someone sacrifice themselves? When a child does not step forward to take the blame for "transgressions" against the monsters, another child is either chosen or forced to get punished. All of the children eventually voluntarily take the blame for Robyn after she fights against them. The stakes of doing this are high with non-lethal threats but they make it out unharmed.
* Does someone die by suicide? A murder is covered up as a suicide and there are references to farmers committing suicide, but there is no off or onscreen suicide.
* Does someone have an eating disorder? A boy food that belonged to an abuser and is force-fed an absurd amount of gruel as punishment. No explicit eating disorder.
* Are there anxiety attacks? Violet often gets anxious around her abuser and a lot of the children are anxious and scared of the monsters with many anxiety attacks shown.
* Is there autism-specific abuse? Robyn is autistic and Violet is autistic-coded and both are abused for traits that support this interpretation (e.g. special interests, not following social hierarchy rules). Mr. Vogel is awful to everyone and bullies Violet for other reasons as well, although she is not explicitly autistic in the film or thought of as such by her abuser. However, some of the bullying is autism specific like destroying a toy she is attached to and limiting her special interests.
* Is a child's toy destroyed? Quite excessively, some of the monsters are living toys who are destroyed and others are toys belonging to children. Mr. Vogel destroys one of Violet's toys during an argument and she becomes upset and runs away after this.
* Does a parent die? Oscar's parents are killed off-screen and we are shown their smoking skeletons. Mr. Vogel is killed but he's abusive and isn't mourned.
* Are There Jumpscares? Yes, many. [MINOR] The first shot of the film shows a black background with the title before cutting suddenly to a car whooshing across the screen. [MINOR] Throughout the movie, humanoid plants and vines made of black goo slither around and grab people, but this is rarely too startling. [MINOR] Characters start glitching out many times with a jump-scare effect. [MINOR] While Robyn looks at a robot, the robot activates and speaks, causing Robyn to freak out. [MODERATE] While one of the counselors tries to call the others about the Toe Cult, he asks "Why is nobody responding?" then is suddenly tackled. [MODERATE] Oscar enters a cave and investigates a dead spider, it "glitches out" unexpectedly after he pokes it with a pen. [MODERATE] When Oscar is hiding from the snake person behind a tree in the forest, the snake suddenly appears next to him (although he doesn't notice him, as he looks with his eye that has been removed). [MILD] We suddenly hear a door getting slammed, startling both Robyn and Violet [MILD] A pistol suddenly goes off into a roof [MILD] A ghost pops up from above a table, startling Oscar [MILD] A ghost suddenly flies past the screen, towards Oscar [MILD] Robyn opens the Necronomicon, which loudly screams when opened. It stops screaming after Robyn quickly closes the book. [MODERATE] Gemma hears a noise in the distance and puts her ear to a window; Robert says he doesn't hear anything, and immediately after a robot arm smashes through the wall. [MAJOR] A guard backs to a door and the crocodile monster bursts out, its purposely a jump-scare with a loud surge of music and sound. [MILD] When Oscar is tasked with cleaning a pool, an alligator unexpectedly jumps out of the pool, revealing that it's full of alligators. [MAJOR] Biggest scare in the movie: after the heroes leave a building and they argue, a loud explosion goes off behind them mid-sentence. [MAJOR] Second biggest scare: Gemma is sad and says she wants people to leave her alone. Immediately after, something is shot at her. [MODERATE] A plant person is decapitated out of nowhere. [MODERATE] A robot helps Robyn get into an important room. After they have a brief talk and the robot is about to join Robyn, it is suddenly destroyed. (You'll know when the robot is on the right side of the screen.) [MINOR] When a rocket launcher is assembled, Oscar makes Robyn and Gemma jump by yelling "Boo!" [MODERATE] There's a point where Robert looks out a window gladly, thinking that the heroes have won. An abrupt explosion occurs. [MINOR] As a character has a flashback in a tense, quiet scene, there is a loud cut to a robot powering on. [MAJOR] After the heroes have a heartfelt talk and we see a group shot of them together (the film is blatantly winding down), a loud thud is heard offscreen.
* Are There Ghosts? Yes.
* Are There Clowns? Yes.
* Is someone kidnapped? Characters are held hostage and at gunpoint in the climax of the movie.
* Is there Copaganda? The police are portrayed in a negative light, petty and violent to others and their alternative ideas.
* Are there mannequins? One of the villains is a mannequin who tries to turn Robyn's dad into another mannequin.
* Does Someone Vomit? The main ghost briefly vomits akin to The Exorcist, bright green. It is implied that a creature does in a toilet, he turns green and runs to it. Nothing is heard or seen, but it cuts to him wiping his mouth.
* Does someone wet/soil themselves? Robert wets himself at one point.
* Is there farting? There's a fart gun with a visible and graphic green/brown smoke effect and another character farts with disgusted reactions from other characters.
* Is there electro-therapy? A superhuman is tortured with electricity and a typical human is repeatedly shocked with electricity after he fakes a stroke. The latter incident is mainly played for comedy, though.
* Are there "man in a dress" jokes? Ettore is male and wears a dress as a human, this isn't ridiculed or portrayed as anything atypical. No transphobia is present, either.
* Are there nude scenes? Cartoon cock and ass briefly. A creature ends up getting his clothes off by a vacuum and his bare bottom is shown.
* Is a male character ridiculed for crying? Robyn's dad cries when he realizes she is being abused, this is portrayed as love and not ridiculed.
* Are there anti-abortion themes? The film is pro-choice but a villain is anti-abortion and tries to indoctrinate children by having them handle inaccurate models of fetuses. Robyn unsubtletly calls him out for this.
* Does a Plane Crash? Planes explode from getting shot, sometimes with a cut to the pilot screaming as the plane explodes but no injuries shown.
* Does a Car Crash? Cars explode from getting shot offscreen. During the climax there are cars crashing against each other/falling many times.
* Is Someone Hit by a Car? A monster person.
* Is there gun violence? Yes, but the only gun violence that results in onscreen killing is from blaster rifles, the rest is offscreen. There are also tranquilizer darts used many times. The films opens with a gunshot that is not seen, we see the muzzle flash reflected on a wall. Later, the gunshot and impact are mildly depicted in a poorly-drawn cartoon. There is also an extended period where someone is pointing a loaded crossbow at people as a threat.
* Is there a nuclear explosion? There's a massive explosion that kills an entire enemy camp but it's not nuclear.
* Does someone drown? A cat is put in a box with a hole in it and drowned offscreen, he's revived at the end but it's screwed up. Someone tries to drown others using a car underwater.
* Is there blood/gore? A fisher and cat gut live fish and crabs below camera with resultant gore onscreen. It's extremely amusing/disheartening based on your stance, but overall an extreme scene. Also, a very graphic kidney transplant scene with blood splatter and breathing flesh. It's made to resemble a documentary recording from a distance and a fixed view, rather than an exploitation scene, but it's quite graphic too. There is some "alien blood", but it's purple/green and not realistic-looking at all. There is also icky plant slime often enough, not bloody, but kind of disgusting.

## Common Sense Media

age: 11+

Light frights, action, and surprising nudity in tween-friendly ghost bust

Parents need to know that *Nightmare at Camp Monster* is an occasionally creepy but more frequently humorous and uplifting adventure for tweens and up. Intense rather than horrifying (and tamer than comparable films like *Shazam*), the bulk of the film's scares stem from the concept of villains who turn into common but relatively tame fears. That means ghosts, sharks, clowns, and many bugs and spiders are summoned and terrorize a summer camp. If that sounds at all humorous, it is; the comic elements and campy cheese of the effects minimize the scare factor. That said, some villains -- namely threatening, weathered toys like a clown marionette that just won't die -- are creepy in a way that could linger with young kids. The same goes for skeletal and mud-like demons who are creepy, dark, and quite scary, with claws, sores, and one sporting an unnaturally wide, gash-like mouth (reminiscent of The Joker's) with razor-sharp teeth. An early scene reveals that a girl's mother died in a car accident (the camera shows only the girl, who survives). Several violent battles/confrontations involve tense chases and pursuits, fire, and lots of sword-fighting/weapons and close-range combat, including the removal of hands with Lightsabers. While none of the kids are seriously injured, there are plenty of close calls. More so than that, expect many scenes of intense danger and gunfire between cars and planes, but kills aren't shown. Other peril includes falls from heights that are survived (including a cat falling) and a person slamming into the ground and being dragged along by a car. The monsters put children in a work camp and rule them through fear, punishing them for things they haven't even done. Methods include force-feeding a child, locking them in a spiked cage, and grabbing one by the hair and implicitly throwing them offscreen. A father also abuses his daughter appallingly, but, despite all of this abuse, the children show much bravery in standing up to their abusers and defending each other. Characters also argue and deal with fairly intense bullying. There is brief, but shocking, sight of a penis during an animated sequence, along with a scene showing a brief, blurred-out bottom. "Damn" and "hell" are used 50 times each, along with cruel, bullying language. However, the film has a diverse cast and obvious themes of teamwork, courage, and ingenuity, and it taps into relatable situations for kids: complicated friendships and crushes, exploring with friends, interacting with kind but quirky peers, and dealing with bullies. It could be a hand-clencher in the theater, but it is the kind that lets most kids rest easy as soon as the credits roll. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.

Violence & Scariness (4/5): Reference to a character's suicide. Intense, frequent moments of danger during dangerous car and plane chases, including gunfire with cars and planes being shot up and exploding, as well as several instances of people falling -- some plummeting from a mountain to their implied death, some surviving despite great odds. Many scenes of intense and sustained, but bloodless, violence. A host of weapons, from pistols to bombs to lasers, are used in several battles between monsters and heroes. Bullets whiz by a child who dodges them with superpowers. A young girl's mother dies in a car crash (camera shows only the girl, who survived) An evil cult magically turn their faces into that of common fears, like clowns, sharks, etc., with a demonic-looking skeleton, mud monsters with glowing eyes and weapons, and a demon with an unnaturally wide, gash-like mouth, sharp teeth, and threateningly extending arms being particularly creepy. Some have sores and bleed black blood. Several scenes in which kids (and then kids-as-bugs) are in peril from demons, creepy skeleton warriors, and evil Venus Fly Traps that attack them and even invade one's home. A monster turns a child into a cat. The special effects when the kids are turned into animals might be scary for younger children. Villain announces his hope to get rid of all children in the world; kills another for asking a question, turning them into ash. Two children are turned into bugs. Lots of monster are turned into vicious rats and are then killed with brooms and feet. Suspenseful chases/big battles between the monsters and kids who use homespun weapons to defeat them. Skeletons of murder victims are shown, and references are made to people who've died in various ways. A father believes his family has been killed in a car crash, and the family comes near death many times. Hand-to-hand fights are also portrayed, and characters punch and push each other. A man tries to commit suicide by jumping off a building. Another man saves him, but then is taken to court where they talk about how the man should be allowed to kill himself. Overall, the body count and violence is higher than in a kids movie. Jump-scares. Weathered toys and particularly a clown marionette come to life with superpowers are a bit scary. A teen is injured by the marionette by being forced to fall down stairs. A person slams into the ground and is dragged. Scary moment when a cat drops from a high altitude (but is fine). Unrealistic, fantasy cruelty towards children by the monsters includes being grabbed by the hair and swung around before being thrown offscreen, being send to dark cages with protruding spikes that they are locked in, stretching a child's ear, and force-feeding a child. Father verbally bullies his child and treats her roughly. Plant, bug, and robot monsters cut up with discolored goo. Apocalyptic vision of the future if kids don't succeed. Preteens are bullied; intimidation, threat of punching, picked on, taunted, pushed, hung upside down, etc. Violet gets in a fight with one, who later wants to retaliate with another bully as backup. Robyn falls in a construction site, looks injured. Animated battle violence in backstory sequence. Talk of instability throughout world: fear, crisis, division. Arguments.

Sex & Nudity (3/5): Brief sight of a penis and buttocks in an animated scene. Subtle reference to masturbation ("more than two shakes is playing with yourself). Chalk outline phallus in a work of art. Sight of a man's blurred-out, bare buttocks. Teens kiss. A character cheats on his girlfriend. Romantic relationship between two preteens. Awkward flirtation between two adults. A woman and a feminine man wear skintight bodysuits that bare much of their legs.

Language (4/5): Over 50 uses each of "hell" and "damn." Also "oh my God," "shut up," and insulting, bullying language used to humiliate and put down the main cast, including like "jerk," "jerk-wad," "losers," "scumbag," "butt-face," "idiot," "shut up," "stupid," "worthless," and "you're a joke." Ableist terms "crazy," "psycho," and "lunatic" are used by villains to describe characters.

Drinking, Drugs, & Smoking (3/5): Smoking. Two men drink many shots of whiskey in one scene. Cartoon characters drink and act drunk. Characters have wine, champagne, and a mimosa.

### Parents Say: age 11+

age: 11+

BBFC was wrong with the PG rating

I agree with reviewers that think the portrayal of heinous, illegal child abuse is horrible for kids, especially sensitive ones. And revenge towards aggressors from children, including killing, is unhealthy boundary setting with bullies, it’s borderline evil and promotes violence. This is the kind of childhood that produces serial killers, it has no business being shown to children who are unaware adults have the capacity for that level of child abuse. I fully understand several children sadly have to deal with bullying, some of which comes from adults. But this introduced a level of abuse my 7-year-old shouldn't be aware of. Being clueless to the horrors of real-life is what makes childhood magical.

age: 10+

Cruel and violent adults get karma, but it's ugly

The overwhelming theme is that of purposefully abusive adults (Violet's dad and the monsters) tormenting children, not bumbling cartoon villains but shockingly furious and hateful, and it never lets up. It was off-putting even as an adult, unrelentingly melancholic, not a feel-good movie. Tread with caution with sensitive viewers.

age: 12+

Uncomfortable scenes of abuse

My kids hated this movie and were very disturbed by the child abuse. I would not recommend this movie for families unless you want to talk about child abuse while watching it. My children fast-forwarded the scary parts and hated it. They said it was the worst movie ever. There were a few kind adults, but overall this was an inappropriate movie for kids and made us all uncomfortable watching the abuse.

age: 18+

STOP. Keep kids away. Kids tortured by fascists?!? WTF

STOP. DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH KIDS!!! This movie has extended scenes of torture by fascists in a property made to look like Auschwitz; this is not fun or interesting. Bullying language simply added nothing (e.g. jerkwad). Next to no uplifting scenes. How dare this be funded for, filmed with, and presented to children. Children!!! Our children held out until, halfway through, they went screaming from the room. They are traumatized. For real. The writers and producers should not be working around children. I agree with mine. They deserve a negative star rating. Awful.

age: 13+

NOT for kids

This is WAY too scary for anyone under 13 years of age. I am in my 20’s and was scared by the monsters. NOT family-friendly. The monsters have claws and terrifying oversized sharp teeth. There is a scene where one breaks and extends all of their bones. Horrifying.

## Trailer

* \*Robyn talking to Ettore\*
* \*Ettore slams into a window and slides down\*
* \*kids laugh at this\*
* Ettore: I'm okay! \*thumbs up\*
* Robyn: Looks like it.
* \*inspirational music starts with a shot of a summer camp\*
* Narrator: Robyn is just your average kid, but when learns Camp Monster's secret, her life will change.
* \*animal pooping\*
* Ettore Cat: Robyn is my best friend, and I can't let anything happen to her.
* \*Ettore Cat eating a fish from a river.\*
* Ettore Cat: Let me eat you, jerk-wad! You're an obvious threat!
* \*inspirational music stops, becomes phonograph music and dark ambient noises\*
* \*funny scene with person\*
* \*cut to same character shrieking in horror at unknown threat\*
* ?: They watch you, and than they kill.
* \*phonograph stops\*
* \*marionette clown jumpscare\*
* \*silence, Gemma breathing hard\*
* \*cheap high-pitched robot jumpscare as Gemma screams\*
* \*Ettore Cat is lost\*
* Ettore Cat: Great, everyone's lost but me! Well, can't get much worse.
* \*A box covers Ettore Cat\*
* Robyn: It's up to us to stop our attackers!
* \*shower scene\*
* \*character sliced by laser sword and vanishing\*
* Gemma: What do the monsters have to say about this?
* Villain: We say that you're an awful butthead and you look like a butt and you are a butt and and you should've been named Uranus because that sounds like butthole.
* Gemma: I thought so.
* Mr. Vogel (partly obscured): How are you losing to them? They're just kids and a cat!
* \*Ettore Cat returns\*
* Robyn: Ettore! You're back!
* Ettore: Damn right I am.
* \*dance party ending\*
* \*character falls from a mountain and is narrowly saved by a bungee cord that drags them precariously, all with screen flicker and intense music\*
* \*quiet scene of Gemma and Robert before an explosion jumpscare and a robot appears\*
* NIGHTMARE AT CAMP MONSTER (colorful logo)

All transitions are jump cuts or fades to black