When you think Kenan Thompson, you tend to think comedy. Saturday Night Live, obviously, but also early work like All That, and even later projects like his two-season NBC sitcom Kenan. (A fun fact we think about sometimes, in our idle moments: Thompson has spent fully 61 percent of his 47 years on the planet as a regular cast member on at least one mainstream TV comedy.) You don’t think so much about “’80s cult horror,” which is why it’s a little surprising to hear that the sketch star has just moved into production on a remake of cult classic 1983 slasher flick Sleepaway Camp.
This is per Deadline, which reports that Thompson is producing the film through his AFA production company, which he co-owns with John Ryan, Jr. The duo are also recruiting original Sleepaway Camp writer and director Robert Hiltzik to perform those same duties on the new film; reluctance to involve Hiltzik directly in the new story was reportedly a sticking point in previous attempts to get film rights to the franchise. (In a press statement, Hiltzik expressed his delight at “introducing Sleepaway Camp to a whole new generation.”) Meanwhile, Thompson and Ryan’s own statements suggest that the latter was maybe the driving force behind this particular acquisition: Thompson’s was a simple “Excited to work with the original genius Robert and bring back to life a camp classic!!!” while Ryan stated that “I’ve been obsessed with the Sleepaway Camp franchise since I was a kid. We’ve wanted this title for 20 years and we’re over the moon Robert came back to write it. We’re staying true to the OG story while Robert adding in some insane new twists, we’re going crazy with the merch too!”
We will note that Sleepaway Camp is going to be an odd movie to adapt to modern sensibilities, mostly thanks to its famous/infamous ending. (Horror film scholars have been arguing about the sexual and gender identity politics of the film in general, and of its final twist specifically, for four decades at this point. Also, we have a hard time imagining Hiltzik getting away with the bit with the curling iron now.) No word yet on when a Sleepaway Camp remake might hit theaters, or which studios will end up biting at the project.
