America, America

I've heard about this movie for many years, and finally got a chance to see it. A massive murdering of cheerleaders back in 1963 and 1969 eventually cause a cheerleading camp to close up. Fast forward to 1982, and Bambi, a former student, opens it back up with new recruits, among them Candy (Carol Kane), Glenn (Judge Reinhold), and Sandy (Debralee Scott). One by one, they are murdered by the killer, until only one remains. It is then when we find out who did it and why.

Also in the movie are Tom Smothers doing a terrible accent as a Canadian Mountie, and Paul Reubens doing his Pee-Wee Herman schtick. The plot overall isn't very well developed, and quite lame, but some funny scenes do occur, namely the House of Bad Pies and the strip poker scene. The ending seems like it's thrown together, which is a shame.

Overall, good for about ten or fifteen minutes total, the rest you can just fast forward through. Maybe catch it on TV, but it's not worth buying.

I am a big Judge Reinhold fan, didn't know about this until I did a lookup on his early career for something else.

A person named colleencouch10 had said she couldn't find this in 2013, if she has watches set for her reviews she will find out that this is now watchable as a rental on Amazon Prime and if one looks in Amazon they might be able to get a DVD of it.

Looks good enough as a premise to watch it, normally I'm not into slasher movies or takeoffs of such like Scream, but since I like his work ( see Stripes or Fast Times at Ridgemont High if you really want some great early work of his, Stripes has a recently new directors cut that adds 17 mins but it explains a hell of a lot.

I was quite shocked at how unfunny this film was considering some of the talented actors involved (Tom Smothers, Carol Kane, Tammy Alverson, Phil Hartman, Eileen Brennan, Judge Reinhold, Marc McClure, Pat Ast, Paul Reubens, Eve Arden, Tab Hunter, Edie McClurg, Donald O'Connor, and many others you'd recognize but probably not know their name). Tommy Smothers, playing a mountie with his deputy, Reubens, are on the trial of a killer at a cheerleader camp. Smothers manages to overcome the awful material in a couple moments and Kane has a few moments as well, but most of the film is shockingly unfunny. Only worth watching for 80s nostalgia value, although the film is more of a 1980s version of the 1950s Riverdale/sock hop era.

at first glance in the tele mag i thought that Pandemonium would be a disappointing film to watch, but i watched it anyway and to my delight it was a well spent hour and a half.

It's a comedy spoof of friday the 13th. there are many refrences to friday the 13th in the film like when they play strip poker and how there are 3 boys and 3 girls, and one teacher.

If you like comedy and you like spoof films this is definitely the film for you. All the characters have their own comedy side to them essential to the nature of the film.

Watch out for appearances by Judge Reinhold and Pee Wee Herman!!!

In the wake of the monumentally successful "Airplane!" came dozens of parody/spoof films in the same vein (or attempting to be in the same vein.) This one has to count as an attempt, and a fairly poor one at that. Someone has been killing cheerleaders for decades near the town of It Had to Be, Indiana. (Thus giving the film makers the opportunity to have a university called It Had to Be U.....) It falls to Smothers, as a Canadian Mountie, to crack the case. Azzara has just begun a cheerleading camp (with participants Candy, Sandy, Mandy, Andy, Randy and Glenn) and, before too long, the killer starts to pick them all off. Also on the loose are a prison escapee and a mental asylum escapee. The plot is deliberately slim (and even then doesn't really make much sense) to make way for the various (mostly horrible) jokes and sight gags. Among the many stabs at humor, only a scant few things emerge as even remotely amusing. What makes the film palatable, if it is at all, is the cast of familiar faces (some quite surprising along the way) and the general amiability of the film. Meant as a spoof of "Friday the 13th" (it was even called "Thursday the 12th" in pre-production), it lacks the graphic violence and vulgarity of that film and its sequels and opts for a kinder, more coy approach. This disappoints fans of the actual slasher movies and is aimed more toward an audience who probably doesn't even really watch such films! Smothers (headlining a feature film in 1982?) doesn't really have a lot to do, but does fit his role well and utilizes his deadpan style admirably. (His horse tends to get more laughs than anybody!) Reubens, as his assistant, basically does an adult extension of his Pee Wee Herman character to middling effect. Most of the high school cheerleaders are (as an in joke to the genre) pushing 30 and they all try to bring a lot of energy and spark to the proceedings, but they have been left out to dry with substandard gags and even more substandard direction. The jokes and potentially humorous visuals are often filmed with minimal creativity and impact. A few amusing things slide through such as a trip to a (really!) greasy spoon diner and a planeload of Japanese (who employ an unexpected and ludicrously funny stewardess.) If one doesn't expect much and gets enjoyment out of intentionally stupid humor (and checking out some stars before and after they were stars), it isn't that hard to get through and is mercifully brief. It pales mightily next to anything Jim Abrahms and the Zucker Brothers did, though. Hunky Hunter, as a football star, shows more animation here than he did during his whole career as a contract actor! Arden looks terrific, but should have skipped this. "Grease" was one thing, but... Many other notable character actors turn up briefly with varied results.