Cheerleader Camp (1988) Prism Entertainment/Comedy-Horror RT: 89 minutes Rated R (graphic violence, nudity, sexual content, language) Director: John Quinn Screenplay: David Lee Fein and R.L. O’Keefe Music: Joel Hamilton and Murielle Hodler-Hamilton Cinematography: Bryan England Release date: June 1, 1988 (US) Cast: Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin, Buck Flower, Travis McKenna, Teri Weigel, Rebecca Ferratti, Vickie Benson, Jeff Prettyman, Krista Pflanzer, Craig Piligian, William Johnson, Kathryn Litton, Tom Habeeb. Box Office: N/A Body Count: 9
Rating: ** ½
Cheerleader Camp is a mixture of two great exploitation genres, slasher movie and T&A cheerleader comedy. What genius thought of that? I can’t say for sure, but John Quinn directed it and David Lee Fein and R.L. O’Keefe wrote it so I guess they share the credit or blame (depending on how you look at it). Me, I think it’s flawed but fun.
I would have watched Cheerleader Camp years ago if I had known what an awesome cast it has. It stars an avenging Angel, a Soc and a ninja breakdancer. To the uninitiated, that’s Betsy Russell (Avenging Angel), Leif Garrett (The Outsiders) and Lucinda Dickey (Ninja III: The Domination, Breakin’ 1 & 2). It also has Lorie Griffin (Teen Wolf), Travis McKenna (Road House), and George “Buck” Flower (They Live) In addition, it has two Playboy centerfolds (Teri Weigel and Rebecca Ferratti) and a Penthouse Pet (Krista Pflanzer). Damn, what a roster of talent! How can Cheerleader Camp possibly miss?
Star cheerleader Alison (Russell) may seem perfect on the outside, but she’s just as messed up as any other young person, maybe a little more. She has fears of the usual things- e.g. rejection, messing up at an upcoming cheerleading competition. These fears manifest themselves in the form of horrific, violent nightmares. She takes medication to maintain her sanity which will be put to the test by a deranged killer stalking the grounds of Camp Hurrah where Alison and her teammates- Brent (Garrett), Bonnie (Griffin), Timmy (McKenna), Pam (Weigel), Theresa (Ferratti) and mascot Cory (Dickey)- have come to compete against other squads for a spot in the state finals.
Alison begins to spiral when a girl from a rival squad, Suzy (Pflanzer), slashes her wrists or so it seems. Camp director Miss Tipton (Benson, The Wraith), ice queen that she is, decides not to report it to the authorities for fear of bad publicity. It’s the same girl her boyfriend Brent flirted with mere moments after arriving at the camp. Let me tell you, this guy is a class act all the way. He not only hits on random girls, he also tries to get with one of their teammates. He does all of this in front of Alison. It’s no wonder her nightmares worsen and as they do, the bodies start piling up.
Cheerleader Camp (aka Bloody Pom Poms) is a hit-or-miss affair that hits a tad more than it misses. As a thriller, it’s not very effective. It’s apparent early on whodunit. If you know how movies like this work, you’ll have no problem identifying the killer. Quinn tries to throw a few curve balls (to little effect) with the introduction of oddball characters who seem capable of murder. Take the camp handyman Pop (Flower), a leering old pervert who says charming things like, “[she’ll] make yer [sic] pee-pee harder than a ten pound bag of nickel jawbreakers”. He shows his darker side when he screams “I hope you die!” at one of the guys for a minor offense. He’s a creep, but is he a killer? It doesn’t matter because he can immediately be eliminated for reasons well known to horror movie aficionados. HOWEVER, I do suspect the movie’s predictability is entirely intentional.
Cheerleader Camp primarily works because nobody working on it takes it seriously. I don’t know if I’d call it an outright spoof, but it does poke a lot of fun at the slasher genre and its various tropes like gratuitous sex and nudity. Quinn puts a teen T&A slant on it with voyeurism and pranks like showing a videotape of Tipton having weird sex with the local sheriff (Prettyman, The Boys Next Door) to the entire camp. Resident fat guy Timmy has a thing for taping half-naked girls while they sunbathe (among other activities). He’s a character you’d expect to find in a Porky’s-type comedy not a slasher movie. That reminds me, Cheerleader Camp has a few decent gory scenes with kills by shears, meat cleaver, van, axe and bear trap (to the head). Admit it, this is really why you’re watching this movie, isn’t it?
While I can’t exactly praise any of the performances in Cheerleader Camp, I can’t say they’re bad either. I think the descriptive word I’m looking for is batty. They’re not just caricatures, they’re self-aware caricatures. They all seem to know they’re walking clichés- e.g. troubled heroine dating handsome jerk, bitchy authority figure, creepy menial worker, gross fat guy, ditzy blonde, etc.- and have fun with it. Where else are you going to see Leif Garrett rap? Yes, Leif raps in this movie. It’s great seeing one of my teenage crushes, Lucinda Dickey, in a movie I never saw before even if she doesn’t break out any breakdance or ninja moves. She wears that alligator costume quite well however.
At the end of the day, Cheerleader Camp is a reasonably entertaining comedy-horror from an era when grabbing a girl’s ass didn’t land you jail time and teens were routinely slaughtered for engaging in illicit behavior. Quinn’s tongue-in-cheek approach makes it go down a bit easier. It’s a decent Friday night fright flick.
