Read a synopsis of Dark Sky Films’ Camp and one is likely to start thinking that Avalon Fast’s witch femme film is The Craft for contemporary audiences, perhaps correcting for the abomination that was The Craft: Legacy. But Camp proves subversive, both in the unconventionality of its storytelling and filmmaking.
Camp stars Zola Grimmer as Emily, a young woman struggling with grief and guilt after one of her friends overdoses and dies in front of her after using her drugs. Her grief and guilt is compounded by another incident when she was sixteen in which she was involved in a car accident that led to the death of a child. Upon her father’s suggestion, Emily enrolls in a summer camp for troubled teens, although soon discovers that the camp is in fact a religious institution. Thankfully for her, she is far from the only non-religious counselor there as she quickly befriends a group of female counselors who have been coming to camp for years and who she begins to suspect may be witches.
We first watched Camp at Fantastic Fest back in September 2025 and haven’t been able to get the film out of our heads since. Coupled with her first feature Honeycomb, Camp cements Avalon Fast’s status as a bold craftsman of strange movies. The film will certainly not be for everyone as its pacing teeters on grating and its final act goes to unexpectedly trippy and experimental places. But those heading into the film knowing that it is less like The Craft and more like The Blackcoat’s Daughter will be treated to something that, if not entertaining, will at least linger in the memory.
Many witch movies are consistent with historical depictions of witches, which paint them as ill-intentioned villains. But Fast’s film is less Roald Dahl’s The Witches and more Practical Magic in this regard. At its heart, Camp is about a young woman plagued by the trauma and guilt of her past who finds solace in a community of female friends. Things aren’t as entirely wholesome as the preceding sentence suggests, however, as the witchcraft that the young women engage in is off-putting and even brutal at times.
But Fast seems disinterested in making moral judgments of her characters, in particular Emily. Our protagonist is indirectly responsible for the deaths of two people and the film does little in the way of excusing Emily for her actions nor redeeming her. Instead, it focuses less on forgiveness and more on acceptance, which she attains through the kinship with her de facto coven.
Sprinkling in creative animations throughout and fluctuating between HD to VHS at times, Camp comes from the mind of a filmmaker singular in her vision and execution. But, as Fast continues to refine her craft, there is a rawness and lack of focus that holds her film back from excellence. The film is filled with Christian symbolism and touches on ideas of faith and redemption but is a tad too restrained when it comes to giving these themes the attention they deserve. Moreover, Fast eschews traditional storytelling in a third act that, while admirably experimental, doesn’t give the narrative a satisfying resolution. There isn’t a big narrative punch, twist, revelation, or climactic event; rather, the film is content simply letting its audience sit with a surreal and contemplative oddity of a movie.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
With Camp, Avalon Fast tightens her grip on a truly unique filmmaking vision. Her latest film isn’t the contemporary take on The Craft the premise would suggest, nor does it offer much in the way of traditional storytelling or typical horror movie payoff. But as a showcase of an up-and-coming filmmaker willing to do something with a movie and unafraid to explore the complexities of moral culpability in the context of female friendship, Camp largely succeeds, even if it won’t be to everyone’s taste.
