The Sleepaway Camp series got a sudden revival in the late 2000s as the original director, Robert Hiltzik, decided to make more sequels, which ignore the three previous films.
Return to Sleepaway Camp, which was released in 2008, follows yet another summer camp where people mysteriously start to turn up dead. The identity of the killer is kept as a mystery, just as in the original film, but it still retains some comedic elements from previous films.
Hiltzik has planned more continuations, with Sleepaway Camp Reunion being the next in line.
This film has the examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Even for this franchise, there weren't many likable characters. Especially not the ones who ended up dead.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: During the big reveal, Angela, after revealing herself yet again has a moment of hysterical laughter before quickly looking directly at the camera before the cut to credits.
- Call-Back: There are several to the original, and even a few possible ones to the previous sequels.
- One example of the latter comes when the stoner kid called Weed dies in a similar way to the pot-smoking Shote sisters from Sleepaway Camp 2.
- The Cameo: Members of the heavy metal band CKY as unnamed camp counselors. Their lead singer/guitarist, Deron Miller, is Felissa Rose's husband.
- Canon Discontinuity: Return ignores the preceding sequels.
- Casting Gag: Isaac Hayes (in his last role before his death) plays a chef with a distinctive red shirt and white apron.
- Catchphrase: Alan's "Your ass stinks!"
- Crapsack World
- Dead Person Impersonation: Angela has done it to the sheriff.
- Didn't Think This Through: T.C. and Spaz in the spear sequence. Sure, let's keep looking down the hole someone just shoved a pointy stick through. What happens next is unsurprising.
- Eye Scream: T.C. gets speared in the eye and through the head.
- Farts on Fire: Featured in the opening.
- Flaying Alive: Michael skins a whole bunch of frogs alive. He is in turn skinned alive by Angela at the end.
- Final Girl: Subverted. Karen is a typical example and does survive, but her friends Marie and Dina and the counselor Petey also survive.
- For the Evulz: Michael and Vinnie skin frogs because it's cool.
- Groin Attack: Randy gets his penis ripped off with fishing line and a jeep.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Alan. He bullies other characters and yet, he gets picked on by other characters. Those who pick on him are killed.
- Jerkass/Hate Sink: Just about everyone, but especially our "protagonist" Alan.
- Kick the Dog: Immediately after Alan tells him that he considers the local frogs his friends, Michael boots one through the air. He and a friend later skin a bunch alive and dump them on Alan.
- Kill It with Fire: Weed and Stan get barbecued.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Almost everyone in this movie has damning marks against them. A lot of the older kids bully Allan in a cruel manner, and his step brother Michael skins his pet frogs alive to taunt him. Alan himself is a jackass who bullies the younger campers, almost as badly as he himself is bullied. And there's Angela, who is killing the bullies, in Alan's defense. Begs the question, who do we root for?
- Meaningful Name:
- Randy. He is played by a British actor and gets killed while about to have sex with fellow counselor Linda. (See entry on Groin Attack for the gory details.)
- Weed. Go figure.
- Nice Girl: Aside from one scene of laughing at Alan (who in that moment was being annoying), Dina and Marie are the only campers to be unambiguously nice to him and others. Petey, on the counselors, is also extremely nice to Alan as well. This is likely why Angela didn't target them.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Weed and Pee-Pee.
- Punctuated Pounding: Micheal screams "NO! MORE! LIEEEEES!!!! as he beats Alan to near death at the end.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Spaz does this after seeing TC die.
- Shout-Out:
- Randy, when Linda thinks someone is following them through the forest, cracks a joke about "the Cropsy maniac".
- Also, one scene in the kitchen shows Alan getting into a fight with Frank and calling him a Big Pussy.
- Issac Hayes plays a chef in this movie, and he’s even called Chef too.
- The Stinger: It shows Angela killing the real sheriff, explaining how she got her disguise.
- Stopped Numbering Sequels: Due to the Canon Discontinuity.
- Stripperific: For some reason, Angela is wearing a pretty racy looking getup in the post-credits scene.
- Token Minority: There are two African-American girls, Bella and Dina. Bella dies and Dina survives.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Isaac Hayes' character suddenly disappears roughly 30 minutes into the movie, with no explanation given. Alan also disappears for a long time after running off from the camp's cabin area.
