CHEERLEADER CAMP (1988)

CHEERLEADER CAMP (1988)

Tagline: Some girls would kill to be Cheerleaders.

(Horror, Comedy, Dying To Be Number 1) [R]

In this one, a bunch of cheerleaders is attending a cheerleader camp to have some downtime and competition. Meanwhile, Alison is having nightmares that she is slicing and dicing her competition and starts to believe she may be a killer. When she can’t get attention from her boyfriend she becomes increasingly agitated which only adds to the problem but they begin to bond as her, her boyfriend and a few other cheerleaders decide to turn the tables on the killer.   

Interestingly enough, this movie was made by the same studio that did the GAMERA movies and was originally called BLOODY POM POMS. This movie does have a sequel called CAMP FEAR which came out in 1991 but isn’t presented as such due to a change in studios. 

First off, this thing is so poorly written dialog-wise that I opted to just not even put a quote in this review. It seems like the director and writers were way more concerned with seeing how many cheerleaders they could get to go topless in this movie than they were with the dialog or plot. Having said that, we actually DO get a plot. I have read some reviews saying that it was obvious who the killer was from the start, but I was actually guessing up until we get to the last 3 or 4 survivors. 

Acting wise Betsy Russell who was 25 at the time stands out the most. She is actually out-acting everyone else in this thing. After making only 5 movies in the ’90s, she got heavily involved in the unfortunate SAW series. She is still acting as of the writing of this review. We also get a decent dose of post-TEEN WOLF Lorie Griffin who plays Bonnie Reed in this and does an adequate job. The big difference in this movie is that she is actually likable here. We also get a lot of Lucinda Dickey who plays the caring friend “Cory” in this and does a pretty solid job. If you don’t recognize that name you might not be as into 80’s flicks as I am. She was in one of the best ninja flicks ever made NINJA III: THE DOMINATION. She was also in GREASE 2, BREAKIN, and BREAKIN 2. When it comes to the bad acting, that is pretty much going to fall on everyone else’s lap. Travis McKenna (BATMAN RETURNS) who has had a successful career plays Timmy and is awful in this as is Leif Garrett (JOE DIRT) who plays Alison’s boyfriend Brent. 

So you saw my first comment about this being more of a skin flick than your typical horror movie, a lot like NIGHTMARE WEEKEND. However, this one does have some pretty gnarly kills and horror moments, and especially towards the end feels far more like an actual horror flick than NIGHTMARE WEEKEND ever even approaches. 

The movie was shot in October of 1987 in 24 days which must have been a total blast and at the very least, it does look like the cast had a lot of fun with this. If you are looking for full-blown cheese and don’t mind about a FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER level humor, this might be a decent Halloween horror movie marathon type flick for you. This is not the movie you want to show your kids as an introduction to horror. 

For me, this lands at a 4 out of 7. There have been better and there have been worse, but if you walk into this expecting SLEEPAWAY CAMP II style horror it’s pretty decent for what it is. 

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