Go to camp without leaving the living room
Summer camp might not be happening this summer, and who knows when it might be coming back. But that doesn't mean that summer camp culture can't be a part of your family summer entertainment. Maybe a few of these streaming suggestions can help evoke the feeling of summer while stuck at home.
While “summer camp movies” often conjures up ideas of hockey mask killers and other ’80s slasher films (and you can find many of them for free to stream on Tubi, including all three “Sleepaway Camp” movies) there are plenty of fun and funny family-friendly films about the iconic summer institution.
If your kids are still on the Scooby-Doo kick post-“Scoob!” the classic cartoon streaming service Boomerang has the 2010 75-minute feature “Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare” (as well as for a few bucks rental on the usual streaming sites). Tubi also has a few camp-themed animated series for young ones, like “Camp Lakebottom” and “Camp Camp” for the youngest set.
A couple of great ’90s camp classics include the 1993 creepy comedy “Addams Family Values” on Showtime (a rare great sequel), starring Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Raul Julia and Joan Cusack in one of their finest performances, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. In Steve Brill's 1995 comedy “Heavyweights,” Ben Stiller is unhinged as a fitness-obsessed weight-loss camp director (Disney+ or $2.99 on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play).