Camp is a tricky thing to nail down. It mainly has to do with the ironic nature of something that may come across as "bad" without context. It's over-the-top on purpose. It's showy performances and heightened melodrama. It's a movie where everyone involved is giving 110%.

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Understanding a campy movie can be difficult for general audiences to catch on to. Often, camp classics have been misunderstood as a dramatic misfire, but this is the nature of camp. Closely associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, these are themes and films to which the audience takes ownership and gives new life.

House Of Gucci (2021)

Lady Gaga in House of Gucci

House of Gucci is the most recent example of a campy movie dividing audiences because of its transgressive quality. Half of the audience thought it deserved Oscar nominations, and the other half thought it should sweep the Razzies. The marketing for the movie sold it as a slick true-crime epic in the fashion of prestige dramas, and that's not what it is.

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At its core, House of Gucci is a showcase for the over-the-top performances of its stars, namely Lady Gaga and Jared Leto. Everyone in this movie is swinging for the fences. None of their Italian accents quite match up with each other. Adam Driver and Jeremy Irons act with such subtlety that it only enhances the absurdity of the surrounding people. Some argue that the inconsistent portrayals prove how bad the movie is, but if it was supposed to be a straight drama, how do you explain Leto's character's speeches? House of Gucci may not have swept the Oscars, but it will become a modern camp classic.

Showgirls (1995)

Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls
Image via MGM

Showgirls is one of the great examples of a campy movie being considered a disaster upon its release. Critics lambasted the story of one woman's rise in the world of Las Vegas showgirls. You will find it on many "worst movies ever made" lists. Yet, with director Paul Verhoeven's reputation as a filmmaker, there's got to be more than that.

Verhoeven makes subversive movies. You don't have to look any further than his sci-fi masterpiece, Robocop, to know that none of his films are quite what they may appear at first glance. Showgirls is incredibly intentional in its presentation. The movie is rated NC-17 and stars a former sitcom star, Elizabeth Berkley. This is all a part of how the film tells the story of sex and power being intertwined in America. This intentionality carries into the movie, with entertainment at the forefront and many purposeful choices. With Showgirls, Verhoeven is putting on a show, and he delivers.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Felissa Rose in sleepaway camp

Sleepaway Camp is so campy it's even in the name. Thanks to its pure absurdity, this outrageous take on the slasher movie has garnered a cult following. The film focuses on a group of children returning to Camp Arawak for the summer, only to be terrorized by a serial killer taking them out one by one. The killer's identity is kept secret from the audience by filming the kill scenes from their point of view.

Related: Undervalued and Surprisingly Clever Camp Classic: 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation'Sleepaway Camp is the perfect camp horror movie. Every adult character is a monster, from an abusive cook to a camp owner dating a counselor. You're kind of on the killer's side when they all meet their gruesome ends. What takes Sleepaway Camp to the next level is the ending. The movie concludes with a twist you cannot see coming and, depending on your sensitivity, may not sit well with you as a viewer. That's the thing about camp, it's entertaining, but it can also verge on the offensive.

Mommie Dearest (1981)

mommie dearest
Image via Paramount

Mommie Dearest is a camp classic nowadays, but when it was released, the film won five Razzie awards, including worst picture of the year. The film is based on a biography of Hollywood royalty Joan Crawford, written by her daughter, Christina Crawford. The book depicts Joan Crawford as a violent, abusive mother and caused controversy upon its release for shattering the public image of the iconic movie star.

In the film, Joan Crawford is played by Faye Dunaway in a campy performance; it has arguably redefined her career, which was already full of great performances in classic movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Chinatown. Her version of Joan Crawford is wild, throwing fits over wire hangers and giving a tremendous performance in a film that didn't necessarily call for it.

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

Beyond the valley of the dolls
Image via 20th Century Studios

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls is written by legendary film critic Roger Ebert, a spiritual sequel to the 1967 melodrama Valley Of The Dolls. While the original film is certainly campy, Beyond is camp taken to the highest level. It's outrageous, bizarre, over-the-top, and full of 1970s style.

Much like the first film, the "sequel" follows three girls who yearn for stardom, but the similarities end there. They make the trip to Hollywood to become stars through their band, The Carrie Nations. However, they find a sleazy world full of taboo instead of fame and fortune. The film was rated X by the MPAA and is chock-full of sexual content to the point that you can't help but laugh at how sexual the movie is. It doesn't cross the line into an adult film, but it's like an adult film minus the eroticism.

Vamp (1986)

Grace Jones in Vamp

The vampire movie is almost as old as the film itself. Just about every take on a vampire has been made time and time again. However, there has only been one vampire movie that genuinely encapsulates the campy nature of the monster, and yet, chances are you've never heard of it. The film in question is Vamp.

The film follows two fraternity pledges that go to a bar searching for some strippers to take back to their frat house. Unfortunately, the bar they're in is full of vampires. The main vampire in the film is played by the legendary Grace Jones, in a silent homage to Max Schreck in Nosferatu. The vampire has classically been a monster of seduction. Vamp takes that theme and blows it out of proportion to make it bonafide camp.

Serial Mom (1994)

Selma Blair in Serial Mom

If there's one filmmaker who could be considered the master of camp, it's John Waters. His career is built on making movies whose sole purpose is to entertain the audience with their trashy characters and plots. He has several camp classics in his filmography, from Pink Flamingos to Hairspray, but one John Waters film that doesn't get the credit it deserves is Serial Mom.

The film follows Kathleen Turner as Mom, a suburban housewife who will do anything to protect her family, even kill. A common theme in John Waters's films is showing the dark underside of the American suburban facade. So yes, while the world of Serial Mom is bright and colorful, it subverts your expectations by turning the mundane into the utterly absurd.

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965)

Die! Die! My Darling

Die! Die! My Darling! mixes two significant camp elements into one: melodrama cranked up to 11 and emotion-based psychological horror. The film follows a woman named Patricia who travels to London to get married. Once there, she and her new fiancé pay a visit to the mother of her deceased fiancé, played by Tallulah Bankhead.

Blaming Patricia for the death of her son, Mrs. Trefoile, fueled by rage, tries to kill her. The film is a strange combination of emotional character beats and zany horror. Die! Die! My Darling! is an overlooked gem featuring a spectacularly fun performance by the iconic Bankhead.

Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)

Die mommie die

Die Mommie, Die! was made to be a satirical take on the camp subgenre, and while it succeeds at that, it also transcends satire in many ways. The film follows a fading pop star who kills her husband to be with her younger lover, only to have her daughter seek revenge.

Several movie tropes are poked fun at along the way, including love triangles, subverted or corrupted suburban life, and a general sense of overacting by the cast. The film may not be well-known, but it's a loving tribute that doesn't get enough recognition.

Mahogany (1975)

Diana Ross in Mahogany

Mahogany stars the legendary Diana Ross in one of her few, yet incredibly memorable, film roles, alongside her turn as Dorothy in The Wiz. She gives perhaps her best performance, knowing precisely what kind of movie she is in, giving it her all in every scene. She is also bolstered by an impressive supporting cast including Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Perkins, making a cast that is incredibly compelling in their performances, a trademark of campy movies.

In Mahogany, Ross plays Tracy, a young woman with hopes and ambitions of success in the fashion industry. However, she is forced to choose between her career and the man she loves when she finds success. It embodies the very essence of pure camp.

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