Chainsaw Cheerleaders (2008)
** (out of 4)
Dawn (Michele Grey) bashes her boyfriend's nose into the ground when she catches him cheating on her. In order to stay out of trouble she agrees to join a cheerleading squad and before you know if they are battling a witch who was destroyed five hundred years earlier.
CHAINSAW CHEERLEADERS is another very low-budget film from writer-director Donald Farmer and it actually features a lot more of a plot than what you'd expect. The film is pretty much what you'd expect from a Farmer movie as it has nods to other movies but also works well within its budget. Obviously one needs to know what they're going into when they watch any sort of low-budget movie but if you're a fan of the director then you'll find some entertaining stuff here.
I will say that the biggest problem with the film is that it starts off a tad bit too slow. The opening sequence, set five hundred years ago, actually looks quite good for the budget but after this it takes a while for the film to get going. I thought there were a few too many slow spots early on but at the same time it also offered up one very good sequence where the troubled teen is fighting with her parents (her father played by Farmer). This scene was actually well-acted by all involved.
The film finally picks up during its final thirty-minutes or so when the gore (practical effects) and nudity kicks it up a bit. I've always said that these sort of low-budget movies need some cheap nudity and gore and the film delivers on that. The practical effects were quite good. I also thought the Tiffany Shepis, Misty Marie, Jackey Hall and Ciara Richards were fun in their roles.
CHAINSAW CHEERLEADERS was apparently shot for $45,000 so one really shouldn't go into it expecting some sort of Hollywood trash. The film certainly has its flaws but at the same time it's entertaining for what it is.
