by the late 80's, the slasher genre had gone into a state of overkill. every plot idea, kill, and cliche you could think of had already been done over and over again. it was so over saturated at the time that you even began to have a string of "slasher spoofs", which could easily be viewed as a final nail in the coffin for the genre. as a result, there were two types of slasher films that existed during this time that were trying to keep the genre alive- the ones that continued to follow suit and act out every run of the mill idea, or, there were the ones that tried to go for a different feel and do something new- which ended up giving us all the awful bullshit that came out in the early 90's. CHEERLEADER CAMP was one of those films that stayed true to the slasher formula and ends up being a total slice of late 80's cheese that is impossible to pass up.judging by the artwork alone, you can tell we are up for some wacky camp antics. in fact, if you remove the winking skull faced cheerleader from the picture, it'd look like we were in store for some sort of 80's camp comedy like MEATBALLS or POISON IVY or something like that. this is exactly how the movie plays out for the first half. the fat kid pranks, scantily clad/bare chested girls, and toilet humor are all intact. we even get washed up former teen idol, Leif Garrett, who acts his little blond mullet off.
the story begins with the cheerleaders of lindo valley high roadtripping their way to the well-named Camp Hurrah for the cheerleading all state finals. right off the bat, it doesnt make much sense to me why something as prominent as the all state finals would be held in the middle of nowhere, but thats besides the point. here we meet the wild gang of characters. among the ranks of slutbag cheerleaders, there is alison, the pill popping drama queen who is plagued by frightful nightmares, and is, by all means, crazier than a shithouse rat. we also have her flirtatious boyfriend brent and his best friend tommy, the overweight funny guy that ends up providing the laughs for the film. we also have the camp leader/leading clueless bitch miss tipton, the equally clueless local sheriff, and the whole place is held together by the drunken grounds keeper and his pal, the ultra creepy silent cook. though we have a crazy collection of characters, its not that hard to almost immediately figure out who the killer is. this almost benefits the movie because instead of trying to pay attention to figure out who the killer may be, you can just turn the thinking part of your brain off and enjoy the cheese-fest that ensues.
after one of the most popular cheerleaders mysteriously commits suicide, the rest of her fellow cheerleader campers are left on edge and trying to figure out why she did it. now, in the real world, a situation as bad as an unexplained suicide of a teenager would probably shut down the camp for quite some time with authorities being involved, grieving parents asking why, and crime scene investigators trying to piece it all together. however, miss tipton feels that the all state finals must go on- by any means nessasary. so they pop the girls dead ass into the meat cooler without even acknowledging the proof that this may not have been a suicide, problem solved. this unfortunate event also has no effect on the flirtatious brent, who continues to scum his way around every hot cheerleader in his sight. as a result, his girlfriend alison is sent deeper into a weird schizophrenic downward spiral of bad dreams and jealous anxiety. alison can only find help and comfort in her new friend, the unappreciated girl in the gator mascot uniform. her new mascot friend convinces alison to stop with the pills and start with the venting. she starts asking alison if she really wants to be the best cheerleader on camp. is the somewhat jealous mascot girl really trying to help, or does she have ulterior motives of her own...
its only a short time before the mental back stabbing turns phsycial and the lindo valley cheerleaders begin to disappear one by one. it may baffle you how clueless the cheerleaders are in response to missing people or how they never question the mysterious things that are happening around them. my advice is to just brush off all of that with a laugh and wait for the awesome shears through the back of the skull scene! the kills start to happen somewhat late in the movie but they are definitely worth the wait. the gore is graciously topped on during some fairly rad death scenes (such as the bear trap to the face scene!) and should help you avoid the frustration of how stupid these people really are. as the bodycount grows, alison has pretty much lost her mind completely and now starts to believe that she is the killer. but is her self-realization the truth or is there someone else behind the annihilation of everyone on the lindo valley team?
CHEERLEADER CAMP can be slow at some points but as a whole, its a definite feel good slasher film. plus, if youre a fan of tan-lined breasts and fart jokes, then this is a sure shot for you. one of the best highlights is an especially amazing rap performed by leif garrett and his fat friend that will definitely be stuck in your head for weeks. its an enjoyable cheese festival basking in all its dairy glory and i would highly suggest it to anyone for a quick and brainless waste of time. it also features a pre-porn film appearance by Teri Weigel which is pretty interesting as well. give me a K, give me an I, give me an L, give me an L...whats that spell?
BODYCOUNT- 9
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