# Camp HackNSlash Retrospect Part I



## Mr_Awful (Aug 3, 2005)

Most movie elitists and heck, probably even the average film fan would laugh at the title alone: "Freddy vs. Jason", and consider it an outdated and cheesy gimmick to get fans to see the movie. But for those of us who grew up in the 80's and had nightmares about one or both of those guys and then would spend time out on the playground in grade school talking about who could beat who in a fight..."Freddy vs. Jason" was a dream come true. Yes, it's campy but it was a good kind of campy. That's what "Freddy vs. Jason" is. It's just a good, old fashion popcorn and soda film, not meant to win Oscars or be taken too seriously, and requires one bring out their inner-child to fully appreciate it. It only intends to entertain and make you forget about the stresses of real life. It's not a drama that was made so it could inspire or change people's lives...although it did change mine and I'll get more into that later... 

Like "Rocky Balboa", while I did enjoy the story and am entertained by "Freddy vs. Jason"...the movie is also an all time favorite of mine for personal reasons. Those reasons being that I felt like I was apart of it. No, I sadly wasn't an extra in "Freddy vs. Jason" like I was in "Rocky Balboa", but I did attend Camp HackNSlash which was one of the funniest days and nights I had ever...what's Camp HackNSlash you may ask? Well, pull up a chair and I'll tell you all about it...

The date was Saturday, August 9th, 2003. The place was Driftwood, Texas at Camp Ben McCulloch. Although on that day...the name was changed to Camp HackNSlash. A promotional one day 1970's summer camp experience presented by The Alamo Drafthouse and Ain't It Cool News to celebrate the world premiere of "Freddy vs. Jason", the very long-awaited meeting of two of the biggest horror icons to ever grace the stage of cinema. For those of you who don't know...Jason from the "Friday the 13th" movies became the killer he was after being mistreated at Camp Crystal Lake...so what better place to watch his latest adventure then in a custom-made summer camp, set in the tree-lined wilderness a half-hour away from my hometown of Austin, Texas out in the middle of literally nowhere?

Well, here I am, five years later on the morning after the date and night itself the event took place...and after having some Salt Lick BBQ (which was the food served that evening at HackNSlash) for dinner last night with my cousin right across from where the screening was held, then driving around the old camping grounds for a bit....(There was a Q&A after the screening with the stars and makers of the film and Robert Englund did his infamous Freddy laugh, and as we drove around the old stomping grounds....I swear, I could have sworn I heard the laugh of Englund's Freddy laugh off in the distance.).... followed up with me hanging out at my cousin's place (My cousin had never seen FVJ, so it almost made me feel like I was watching it for the first time again too).....and watching the Camp HacknSlash feature that was recorded and later included in the special features section of the "Freddy vs. Jason" DVD, then after watching all the original "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" trailers (which was something that was done before FVJ was finally shown, except for Friday the 13th VI and A Nightmare on Elm Street III which was not shown at HackNSlash. Guess they were unavailable, but we actually did watch both of those during my reunion tonight)...as well as the "Freddy vs. Jason" trailer (Which was also not shown at the screening. A trailer for the TCM remake was featured, but I decided to replace that with the FVJ trailer).....then after watching the movie itself for the first time in almost year all while wearing my old Camp HackNSlash T-shirt, a pair of my nerdy glasses, blue jean shorts, some white tube socks (I'll explain in a few minutes) and even briefly wearing the Jason mask I made in arts and crafts....(and I tell ya something....I can still smell the sweet Texas BBQ and smoke on both the mask and shirt, and yes both have been taken very well care of in the past five years....On another note, I was also under-age at the time when I first saw the movie and could not drink, but I can now and I had myself some Shiner Bock in honor of Robert Englund because that was the drink he had the night of Camp HackNSlash...)......I decided to come on here and share my thoughts of the event for those that might be interested.

I remember back in 2003, I was already pumped enough as it was about "Freddy vs. Jason". I had never been more excited for a movie release and never anticipated seeing another film more then "Freddy vs. Jason" and "Rocky Balboa"...but "Freddy vs. Jason" was the very first movie that got my heart pumping like a school boy in love for the first time. Now I had read about what was planned to go on at Camp HackNSlash on the Internet, and after just a few seconds of reading...I knew I had to go. My life depended on it. For an event like that to happen in my own backyard, how could I not intend? I was the envy of many people on various message boards, and I was never more happy to be living in Austin then I was right there and then. What could beat going to a summer camp out in the woods surrounded by my fellow horror geek's in dorky T-shirts and dorky shorts doing super nerdy things and then watching the movie we had all dreamed of seeing since we were kids!? The answer? NOTHING!

So I skipped work that day, and I did attend and it was an overwhelming and once in a lifetime experience to say the least. I've been lucky enough to experience a lot of fun events in my life, such as overcoming my stage fright and being in my first play in high school, being an extra in "Rocky Balboa", and a few other films, including "Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story" (Hasn't been released yet) during the school dance scenes and at age 23 for one night I got to be a teenager again....but Camp HackNSlash really stands out. I'm not taking anything away from those other fun days and nights I had, but Camp HackNSlash was a highly unique experience and one that could never be replaced or remade.

Nearly over one thousand people from all over planet earth (yours truly included) showed up for this all day and all night event. We die-hard fans were required to wear a standard-issue blue "Camp HackNSlash " t-shirt and white tube socks, courtesy of the organizers to be pulled to our knees (Get why I was wearing the socks now?), and we were entrusted to the care of red-shirted counselors. We were divided into tribes, each with a camp counselor. Now it was very important to keep everyone busy before show time because it was noted that all fornicators and sleepers would be butchered. 

So the activities there included Freddy and Jason coloring, a good breakfast, mask and glove making, Indian Leg Wresting, a hot dog eating contest, duct tape wallet making, s'mores, beer drinking, all the fruit punch you could drink, swimming and tubing out in the lake, dizzy izzy, three legged races, water balloon toss's, sack races, egg toss's, nature walks, a snipe hunt, human fat candle-dipping, relay races, dodge ball, capture the flag, clay making, embroidery, skull bead making, archery, bong building, arts and crafts, a wet t-shirt competition, singing, campfire stories, a tribal counsel, a bonfire, a Freddy and Jason trivia contest (which was made very interesting because the host asked the Jason fans, Freddy questions, and the Freddy fans, Jason questions.).....then there was some yummy Salt Lick BBQ, and it would all end with a special outdoor viewing of "Freddy vs. Jason". Now I had never been to summer camp before and that was most likely the close's I'll ever get to experiencing what summer camp was like and I enjoyed every second of it. It made me really wish I had gone to camp as a boy.

The wet t-shirt competition was canceled because some guy took his shorts and underwear off during it which was a major "no no" in the rulebook. Lucky for me, I didn't see anything. (Which was great for me, but I guess bad for that guy.)


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