„Camp“" is one of those horror films that doesn't rely so much on sudden startling moments as on a gradually building sense of unease. The Canadian production by the young director and screenwriter Avalon Fast made its festival premiere in September 2025 and received a limited theatrical release in the United States through Dark Sky Films in June 2026. The film immediately attracted attention among fans of independent genre cinema with its unusual mix of psychological horror, mysticism, and a coming-of-age story.
The plot follows young Emily, who carries the weight of two tragedies from her past and lives with the feeling that she is marked by a curse. On the advice of her father, she goes to a camp for troubled youth, where she starts working as a counselor. At first, the new environment seems like a chance for a new beginning - the other youth welcome her warmly, and the atmosphere is filled with promises of healing and forgiveness. Gradually, however, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen around the camp. A voice from the forest seems to warn her that something is wrong, and the feeling of hidden danger becomes stronger and stronger.
At the center of the story is Zola Grimmer, which builds a convincing image of a girl torn between guilt, hope and fear. Next to her stand out Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Leah Rose Sebastianis and Ella Rees, whose characters create the feeling of a closed community in which everyone hides their own secret. Although the cast is composed mostly of lesser-known names, this is precisely what contributes to the authenticity of the story and allows the viewer to perceive the characters without prior expectations.
The greatest virtue of "„Camp“" is the atmosphere. The film is shot in an almost dreamlike visual style that constantly blurs the line between reality and the heroine's inner fears. The forest surrounding the camp becomes a character in its own right – beautiful, yet frightening, alluring and repulsive. Rather than offering easy answers, the script leaves room for interpretation and encourages the viewer to piece together the puzzle themselves.
The film was met with surprisingly good critical reception. Specialized horror publications praised the atmosphere, cinematography, and Avalon Fast's ability to combine psychological drama with elements of contemporary folk horror. The film received high marks from early professional reviews and quickly began to be mentioned as one of the interesting independent genre titles of the year.
„Camp“" doesn't have the ambition to be a mass horror hit and probably won't appeal to viewers who expect non-stop action and shocking scenes. It's a slower, more contemplative film that uses elements of horror as a means to talk about guilt, forgiveness and the impossibility of escaping one's own past. It's this combination of psychological depth and dark fairy-tale atmosphere that makes it one of the more curious independent horror offerings in recent years.
