By Sharai Bohannon

Mubi Fest Chicago brought some familiar icons to the Music Box Theater on opening night when Sleepaway Camp: The Midnight Mass Experience rolled into town for a late-night engagement. The tour brought together Midnight Mass podcast hosts Peaches Christ and Michael Varrati with the star of Sleepaway Camp, Felissa Rose. The late-night event served as the final stop on this leg of the tour, and the Chicago audience gave them a very Chicago welcome. 

The trio greeted fans in the Music Box Lounge for photos and hugs as Rose tried to personally thank every individual in attendance for being a fan of the film and braving the Chicago heat. Once that wrapped up, ticketholders were treated to a live podcast recording introducing the cult classic. Christ and Varrati moderated a fun, insightful, and intimate interview with Rose as part of the live recording. Fans learned a ton about the icon, including that she’s still excited to talk about the movie she made when she was 12. 

For the uninitiated, the infamous Sleepaway Camp was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik. The cult classic made Rose horror royalty. However, she explained that she and the cast didn’t know the movie was popular until well after they had all moved on. She also spilled some behind-the-scenes trivia that sent fans into orbit. One of the most shocking details is that Karen Fields wasn’t the original actor tapped to play Judy.

Rose described Fields as “The sweetest, most self-imposed person, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the first actress that they originally wanted for the role.” Rose then went on to tell us that Jane Krakowski was the first Judy, and they had even started rehearsals when the casting change happened.

Rose explained to the shocked crowd, “When Robert held the auditions in New York, there were so many brunette actresses. So many had brown hair; I have brown hair, and then you love Karen Fields, and you really wanted her, but he felt like the mean girl should have been blonde. So he loved Jane as well, and he has Jane, but then Jane’s mother was like, ‘Oh, cool, she’s not gonna do this movie, it’s too nothing’.”

The podcast also revealed that the film wasn’t all fun and games, as it was also the place where Rose discovered that dating cast members is a bad idea. “It was the most amazing experience of my life. We became a family immediately. We were all best friends. And I may have had a little crush on the boy playing my cousin.”

Rose elaborated, “His name is Jonathan Tiersten, and he plays my cousin Ricky, and sadly, last month we lost him. So we dedicate these screenings to Jonathan Tiersten, our sweet, amazing, beautiful curmudgeon.”

“You know, we had this little crush on each other. I was 13, but he was 17. He broke up with me because there were these older 18-year-old volleyball girls who came to set, and he broke my little heart, so he dated one of them.” Rose shared with the crowd, who automatically took her side.

The 12-hour romance was a lot for the teen scream queen and made her so sad that filming had to pause. Rose explained, “They had to stop shooting the movie for one full day because my little heart was so broken. And…we went bowling.”

While it was mostly fun and games, Rose, Christ, and Varrati were not going to skip over the complicated legacy of Sleepaway Camp. Christ explained, “The queer community, and I’ll speak for the Gen Xers who watched this thing on VHS over and over and over. And then, of course, the millennials who discovered it on cable television and watched it over and over again. A lot of us queer fans of this film identified with a lot of the film. The film is a queer horror film. There’s no subtlety to this, and on its surface, I think it can be deemed problematic. Obviously, when you know that you’ve had some tropes, you know.”

Christ continued, “But at the end of the day, what I like to remind people who don’t get it is that for a lot of us, movies like Carrie, movies like Sleepaway Camp spoke to us because the bullies fucking get it.”

Part of the reason Rose was drawn to this script, and her equally iconic mother Joan, was more than happy to let her child take part in the film, was that it spoke to their own family.

“When I first read the script, I have two dads. So, it’s like the movie opens, and I understood that. My dad in 1977 opened the first gay resort, and it was called Motel on the Mountain. It was an amazing place, and I remember being there as an eight-year-old little girl. I would go, and I would wear my mom’s dress, and I would sing at the gay resort.”

Christ and Varrati recently found this information out while on tour with Rose. They did some sleuthing and gave the crowd a crash course on Tommy Esposito and his historical resort. They also uncovered that Esposito was the manager of The Stonewall Inn in the 1960s and was arrested for participating in the riots. This detour led to the crowd discovering that Rose was destined to be the queer horror icon she has become. Although it would take decades for her to know her movie was a cult hit.

Varrati pointed out, “You took your eighth-grade class to see it, but after that, you did really return to civilian life, more or less. And it took a while for you to discover that this existed. It was a quiet thing. You went to college instead of doing the sequels, and there was a lull before the discovery that people were watching it on video and watching it on cable.”

Varrati asked, “When did you and the others find out that all of these people were obsessing over you and your movie?”

“I’m still figuring it out! You know, it’s been a long journey. When it first came out, it was November of 1983, opposite a movie called Yentl.” – Rose reminded the crowd.

Rose continued when the laughter died down, “We just kind of had a little small audience. It wasn’t until 2001 with the internet, and Fangoria called Robert Hiltzik and said, ‘Let’s get the cast together and bring them to the Weekend of Horrors.’ We were like, people have heard of this film? Someone has seen it? And we all went into New York City, and we sat in front of a crowd, and we were like, holy shit, this is amazing.”

“We loved talking to people about it! We sat and chatted with people who had actually seen it.” Rose quipped to the crowd of mostly Sleepaway Camp virgins.

“Truthfully, even though Sleepaway Camp on this surface is cheesy and silly, yes, it’s short shorts and New York accents. It has a very deep meaning. And for those of you who haven’t seen it, there’s so much social commentary, and I hope you really give it a chance because there’s a lot to it. Sometimes I say it’s even better on the second viewing, because you really put it together.”

The humorous and honest conversation wrapped up, and the three icons began a quick costume contest. Many fans wore their shortest shorts and biggest hair for a chance to walk the stage near Rose, Christ, and Varrati. Then the shenanigans came to a close, so the packed house could watch Sleepaway Camp (quite a few for the first time ever) on the big screen. 

This screening was made even more special as the room had discovered less than 30 minutes ago that the cast had brought clothes from their closets to the wardrobe department. Meaning all of those short shorts belonged to the people who wore them while filming this camp classic.

While Midnight Mass is pausing their current tour, you should keep an eye out for next year’s plans. You can also check out their podcast, where they give other cult gems their moment in the sun.