Why are summer camps such an easy sell for horror?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Whether it's Goosebumps' Camp Jellyjam or Friday the 13th, it always seems that summer camps provide the exact "brand" of horror that people relate to and are immediately invested in.

Is it because they provide a semblance of normalcy while still operating on isolation rules?

Because you can actually picture yourself in that situation (as opposed to, I don't know, outer space)?

Or is it something else entirely?

I'm very curious, you guys!

 

[PacGuy]

Any soft target like that is prime for horror, really. It's the helplessness that sells it. Kinda why I like when it's flipped. Like Aliens, a bunch of grizzled space marines getting scared scares me more than a bunch of civilians.

 

[Zerpina]

Well, they are generally isolated, in the middle of nowhere.....

Though cellphones weren't a thing when the trope started, It can still work due to no cell service.
So you usually have inebriated horny teens (talking about like Friday the 13th, not kids' shows) who aren't at themself's..... Not that teenagers are coherent even if sober.

And there are plenty of places for a killer to hide, Also because camps and such do have real dangers we can relate to, not serial killers... though that's not out of the realm of possibility.
like drowning in a lake, a bear or wolves mauling you and dragging you off, getting lost in the woods, etc. It plays on our fears of what's out there in the dark.

And it's super cheap to film at a summer camp when they are closed down for the season, or even slap one together. Probably costs less than filming anywhere else.

I will eviscerate your intestines with your own toenails and then feed them to you.

 

[Additional Damage]

The real story:
There's an abandoned summer camp in the woods, not far from my town. One day, a group of tourists disappeared, never to be seen again. Only in one of the rooms were found dolls sitting in a circle, and their number equaled the number of missing people...

 

[SliperyHippo]

I think for kids especially, summer camp is sometimes the first time you're really away from your family and the safety that they provide for an extended period of time like that!