Marshmallow 

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review:JA Kerswell

BLACK MIRROR set at Camp Crystal Lake is perhaps the best way to describe MARSHMALLOW. To say any more about the twists at its heart would spoil the fun, and I won’t do that with this review. You’d be best to discover them for yourself. A nerdy twelve-year-old is cajoled into going to summer camp, but despite being bullied, finds his own tribe there. However, discovering that there is truth behind an old campfire tale, his cries that a legendary killer stalks the campground go unheeded by counsellors and fellow campers alike.
 
Morgan (Kue Lawrence) struggles to fit in with the local boys in his neighbourhood, something admittedly not helped by his unfortunate pudding bowl haircut. He is haunted by recurring nightmares of a deluge and of water gushing from a wound in his stomach. He is further traumatised when he witnesses his grandfather Roy (Corbin Bernsen) collapse and die from a heart attack following a family dinner. Promising him the summer of his life, Morgan’s ultra-protective parents pack him off to the seemingly idyllic Camp Almar. There, he faces further bullying by another couple of boys before being befriended by the fellow camp nerds.
 
Over a campfire in the woods at night, the counsellors tell the tale of the Camp Boogeyman called The Doctor. The legend goes that before Camp Almar was built, he had a cabin in the woods where he would bring his wife and children on trips. At night, he would disappear into the basement. Curious, his wife investigated during the day and found multiple bodies sewn together into living monsters. On discovering this, The Doctor trapped his wife and their children in the cellar where he sewed their limbs together to make sure they would never leave.
 
That night, Morgan sees someone dressed as a doctor with a head torch emerging from one of the cabins. Terrified, he tells the counsellors, but they dismiss it as one of his nightmares. The other campers don’t believe him either and tell him that those campfire stories are told every year just to keep kids too scared to leave their cabins at night. However, Morgan knows that The Doctor lurks in the woods and soon enough everyone will realise that the campfire tale isn’t just a legend anymore … 

Part of the fun of watching MARSHMALLOW is going into it blind, which is why I’m keeping this review spoiler-free. There have been a number of throwback retro ‘80s slashers in recent years, but this one confounds expectations in some pretty unexpected and exciting ways. Yet, it is tipping its hat to its true nature throughout for those paying enough attention. 
 
The film manages to deliver a good dose of what made those early ‘80s camp slasher movies so much fun. Although seemingly set in the present day, its retro synth score takes us back to those halcyon days of sunshine and the spilt corn syrup. It obviously brings to mind the likes of FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980), THE BURNING (1981) and SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983). Like the latter, MARSHMALLOW makes the kids the protagonists for most of its running time, and benefits from some truly likeable performances by its young performers. It also features at least two killer twists on the slasher movie formula (both of which are variations on cult movies from the 1970s and 1980s). The latter of which neatly sets up a sequel if one were ever to be made.
Where MARSHMALLOW perhaps differs from earlier camp slashers is that it most avoids the more violent and exploitative elements common in the subgenre. Not surprising given how young many of the central cast are. Whilst there is some bloodshed, it is pretty mild and The Doctor, rather than carrying a machete, weilds a taser. However, whilst at times it feels like it could be a movie aimed at kids, GOOSEBUMPS it ain't. The film throws in a few F-bombs and one sweaty coupling between two horny counsellors which brings into question exactly what the intended audience actually was.
 
Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed MARSHMALLOW, it isn’t perfect. Although it is always welcome to see Corbin Bernsen in a movie, it wasn’t entirely clear, to me at least, as to what the purpose of his participation was storywise. Additionally, some characters' actions do not seem to make the greatest sense as the twists emerge, and at times, it feels as though the film might collapse under the weight of its own cleverness. However, this doesn’t detract too much from the movie if you just surrender to its inventiveness and sheer entertainment value.
 
Although filmed in the spring and summer of 2023, MARSHMALLOW was belatedly released in the summer of 2025. It was shot at Camp Kysoc Park in Kentucky, which provides the perfect hazy summer idyll setting before the horror starts.
 
Like THE FINAL GIRLS (2015), MARSHMALLOW is a rare slasher with heart. Ultimately, it is a genre-bending and mind-bending romp that once again shows just how adaptable and timeless the slasher movie formula continually proves to be.  

BODY COUNT 3: 
Female 1 / Male 2

1. Male dies from a heart attack
2. Female is seen dead
3. Male is stabbed to death (offscreen)

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