All Cheerleaders Die

There's dead cheerleaders out for revenge, witchcraft and body switching, yet this never amounts to anything fun. Most of the first act has very little happening and is an endurance test waiting for the plot to begin. Boring murderous jocks kill some cheerleaders who get resurrected by a young witch in love with one of the cheerleaders and the tone sits uncomfortably between campy self aware cheese and flat, unfunny B material. The characters are barely distinguishable from one another and there isn't a single memorable on screen death. Yet another step in the wrong direction for the once promising Lucky McKee and a major step up from Chris Sivertson's I Know Who Killed Me. TV production values don't help here either.

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After her childhood friend Alexis (Felisha Cooper) dies while performing a cheerleading move, the rebellious Maddy (Caitlin Stasey) is horrified when Alexis's football-playing boyfriend Terry (Tom Williamson) begins immediately dating cheerleader Tracy (Brooke Butler). As a result Maddy decides that she will join the cheerleading team, as they must now find a replacement for Alexis, with the intent to seek revenge against Terry and Tracy.

This is a remake of a 2001 film of the same name that was also written and directed by McKee and Sivertson. To say it is an improvement would be obvious, but also true (there is now no reason to seek out the earlier one unless you are a die-hard fan).

Sadly, though, despite some clever moments and an interesting premise, this never reaches the level of "The Woods" or "May", and despite Lucky's quick rise to horror master, he is not flawless (but who is?). Sivertson is still waiting for the right film... "I Know Who Killed Me" has its fans, but is not by any means a well respected movie.

I'm surprised at what a good horror flick this turned out to be. It starts slow but it really picks up with a few twist that make it stand out from other horror flicks, kinda like the horror film, You're Next did a year back, putting a different spin on what at first seem like a by the numbers horror film, though All Cheerleaders Die is a few levels down from You're Next.

I went to go see the movie because I was hoping because of the title that I would see a group of hot sexy cheerleaders getting killed with some possible nudity and I got all that plus a little girl on girl, but it's technically not enough of it to really keep you interested.

The movie strength is that it points out how horrifyingly Horrible popular teens can be. Just when you think you understand how stereotypical the plot is, another cool kid comes in and adds another dimension to it. It goes from a revenge flick to a supernatural horror flick and then to something else entirely, and the story all blends together well.

This was a fun ride worth the watch.

I still don't know what to make of writer/director Lucky McKee. It started strong with May (2002) which I thought was a wonderfully crafted drama/thriller that put McKee on my radar. His venture into television as director of the Masters of Horror episode titled 'Sick Girl' was OK, but didn't capture my attention as much as May. Then came The Woods (2006) and Red (2008) which were both relatively competent, but hardly memorable. The Woman (2011) was definitely memorable and made headlines for its festival showing and a paying attendee that was less than thrilled with what he saw on the big screen (YouTube it, you'll thank me).

McKee's newest project, All Cheerleaders Die, got a coveted spot amongst the 10 films picked as part of the Midnight Madness series at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where it will be making its World Premiere.

The title sounds rudimentary, but the film is anything but. Maddy (Caitlin Stasey) is an outcast amongst her High School peers and she has a particular hatred for the cheerleading squad. That leads Maddy to try out for the team in an attempt to infiltrate and ultimately bring down the all too popular clique of good looking teens with great looking adult breasts. The opening scenes before the title card set up a plot device that really comes full circle by the film's final shot and the audience at the packed Bloor Cinema collectively gasped and clapped with the first fatality.

Fans of horrors films would likely yawn at such an introductory synopsis. But the movie hardly heads in directions one can foresee and before long, Maddy, school friend Leena (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) and the whole squad of short skirt/white sneaker females are battling the opposite sex with a supernatural element under toning the struggles.

McKee and fellow director Chris Sivertson throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the audience and I can best describe All Cheerleaders Die as a movie which if the creative makers behind Heathers, Carrie, the television Charmed and Jennifer's Body all took a big dump in a blender and the resulting mixture was then baked into a soufflé would be the result.

Most of what is being cooked works. The comedy surely does with High School verbal jibes thrown at a Mean Girls pace. And the acting is definitely there to back up the promise of the script ideas. Unfortunately, the film ultimately just falls short of hitting a triple. Man, there is a lot to ingest. Witches, evil quarterbacks, zombies, walking dead, supernatural, conjuring…like we said, "the kitchen sink" I liken All Cheerleaders Die therefore to last year's Monster's Brawl. It's a lot of fun with an audience and there are some elements of originality, but if sitting in a darkened basement screening the film by one's lonesome, you might not enjoy the audience effect fun-factor that can sometimes elevate a reviewer's response.

McKee is definitely out of his downer-phase. Most of the director's earlier work was depressing and dry. But with All Cheerleaders Die, he dug deep into his inner cheerleader to bring a labor of love to the big screen (McKee and Siverston made a video All Cheerleaders Die in 2001 to launch their careers).

The ending to the film more than hints that this is just the first installment of what may be many more Cheerleaders Die films if this entry hits the market running. We are hopeful, yet skeptical. It would have been a great AMC movie, but as a theatrical release, we are not sure this effort is worth the hard earned dollars wearing away in our wallets.

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I didn't expect to have such fun watching this. It obviously aims to be for an adult audience with all the blood and sexual situations the characters get themselves into. Having Lucky McKee doing a movie like this might be the biggest surprise though. I never thought we would see a light side of this director, but obviously I was wrong. And that is a good thing, because the movie works.

Giving the cheerleader to do what they want and making this all about women/girls was a really good decision, even if at one or two moments I thought some of the guys where painted to dark, without some shades. But this is about having fun, so don't let that distract you from some obvious flaws