| abstract | - Elm Camp (also marketed on Blu Ray and DVD as Psychopath) is a 2013 slasher horror film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro who also served as executive producer. The film is largely known for its twist ending which is considered by some to be one of the most shocking endings among horror films. The film stars Thomas Sangster, Bonnie Wright, Karen Gillan and Dylan O'Brien. The film centers on the encounter between a model, Lisa Ray (Wright) and her group of friends who ends up at a distant summer camp after embezzling money from her father, and the camp's disturbed owner-manager, Charles Elm (Sangster), and its aftermath. When originally made, the film was seen as a departure from del Toro's previous films like Pacific Rim, having been filmed on a low budget, with a less known crew and in black and white. Elm Camp initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box office returns prompted reconsideration which led to overwhelming critical acclaim and four Academy Award nominations, including and Best Director for del Toro. It is now considered del Toro's best films and praised as a work of cinematic art by international film critics and film scholars. Ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films. After del Toro's departure from films in 2015, Universal Studios began producing follow-ups: three sequels, a television movie spin-off, and a TV series. In 2016, the US Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
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