Bloody Nightmare

High school students in SoCal go to cheerleading camp in the remote Sequoia National Forest where they tragically start dying one by one. Who's the killer? Will any make it back alive?

"Cheerleader Camp" (1988) is a whodunnit slasher that mixes cheerleading antics with elements of the "Friday the 13th" flicks and "The Burning" (1981), not to mention "Sleepaway Camp" (1983). "Body Count" (1986) also comes to mind.

I had a bad attitude at first because there was some campy humor along the lines of "Friday the 13th Part III" (1982) and "Friday the 13th Part V" (1985), mostly revolving around the overweight character and the female camp director, not to mention the Englund-like Handyman, albeit less so. In other words, I thought the movie was going to be a full-on joke, but the comedic bits only revolve around those characters and the flick takes a dark turn in the second half.

Also, it actually deals with some pretty heavy themes despite being an 80's slasher with a dash of sex humor. For instance, there are reflections on anxiety, competition/rivalry, relationship abuse, alcoholism, deception, manipulation and false testimony.

I was halfway through when it occurred to me that one of the male characters was Leif Garrett, the former teenage heartthrob of the late 70s. Here he is at 26 (during shooting) playing a high school student and he's effective enough.

Lorie Griffin stands out on the female front as Bonnie. You might remember her from her memorable role in "Teen Wolf" (1985). The female cast is decent - also including Rebecca Ferratti (Theresa), Betsy Russell (Alison) and Vickie Benson (Miss Tipton) - but the director evidently didn't know how to shoot women (no pun intended).

So, this is worthwhile enough to check out if you like 80's slashers, but you have to roll with its hackneyed shortcomings.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in Bakersfield and Sequoia National Forest, California, which is about an hour's drive northeast of there.

GRADE: C+

Is it terrible? Errr, yeah. Do they really have such things as Cheerleader Camps? The plot is remarkable for a teen slasher movie: not only do the slashing at a summer camp, but it is a summer camp for CHEERLEADERS!

Just the fact that cheerleaders are getting slashed at a summer camp is enough to bring a smile to the face of anyone who loves terrible 80's teen movies, but it is the CASTING that elevates this one to the top of the heap. They have dragged out some of the most bedraggled early 80's teen icons for roles in this. Under what rock did they find Leif Garrett? He doesn't even have a chance to sing. In case you're not up on your trivia, Leif was Brooke Shield's first boyfriend when she was a 13-year old sex symbol (although it was Dean Cain that got to break her in at Princeton). Leif was a Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine staple of the late 70's, battling it out for column space with the Bay City Rollers and even released an album that was a hit, including some of the least inspired Beach Boys covers ever. Then he completely disappeared to the C. Thomas Howell nether regions, only much deeper than C. Thomas has delved. In the Brooke Shields role we have Betsy Russell, who was kind to Phoebe Cates what Phoebe Cates was to Brooke Shields in the early 80's. Rounding out the casting coup are two Playboy Playmates, which is always good for the trivia buff, especially when one of them is Terry Weigel, the only playmate I know of who went on to make hardcore porn. I don't have anything bad to say about Lucinda Dickey, except the idea that the MASCOT also goes to cheerleader camp was just too inspired for words. It simply can't be expressed the joy I get knowing that this film exists. It is a pinnacle of its sort.

For once, this stereotypical 80's horror movie is not just set in a sport-crazy American high school or at a summertime camp but in.... a combination of both!! An actual cheerleader camp! Do these really exist? Anyway, this setting means there's a double portion of clichés, dumb teenager jokes and naked breasts guaranteed, so it can't be all bad, right? The opening sequence, which seems to come straight from a "Nightmare on Elm Street" sequel, gives us the false impression that "Cheerleader Camp" might be more ambitious than the usual 80's slasher, but it rapidly turns into a silly and by-the-numbers horror comedy. A group of competitive high school girls and two incredibly dumb males attend a camp where the best group (including their mascot) can win tickets for the national cheer leading contest...or something. Of course, their main concern quickly becomes surviving, as there's a vicious killer around as well. The best thing you can say about this film probably is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. The murders only occur halfway through the film because the opening is too busy playing out the fat guy pranks! Travis McKenna (who truly has a gigantic bottom) is more than just a comic relief; he "fills up" the first 40 minutes of this film with vulgar fat-guy behavior, like videotaping the girls sun bathing topless and "mooning" the entire camp through the windows of his van. There's absolutely no attempt to build up tension and the murders are delightfully cheesy. Quite gory, but certainly not unsettling and only diverting your attention from the lousy storyline. The killer's identity is so easily predictable and even the typecasting of Buck Flower as the eerie old janitor couldn't possibly make you doubt.

Give me a F, give me a U, give me a N. Yes… FUN. Nothing more. Nothing less. Senseless, over-the-top, but fun. Probably too much fun? In its investment for energy, it really did play up the textbook gags and fooling around for the majority of the time. Teenagers will always be teenagers --- well what else would you do at Camp Hurrah. Anyhow the straight-to-video "Cheerleader Camp" is a low-budget b-grade late 80s slasher / sex comedy item opting for numerous semi-nude shots (especially when you got the likes of Teri Weigel and Krista Pflanzer in the cast), tacky blood splatter and a very tongue-cheek-approach to its traditional material. In which case much needed, because some of the cheesy dialogues can be eye-rolling and it stars a former teen idol Leif Garrett. The style is similar to other such campy slashers within the same period; "Return to Horror High" (1987) and "Cutting Class" (1989). The plot enters in a protagonist with a traumatically stressful mind, throws around typical red herrings (memorably enjoyable character turns by George 'Buck' Flowers and Vickie Benson), suspiciously telegraphed activities, absurd occurrences (like those odd dream sequences) and a silly revelation going on to a twisted ending. Everything feels purposely blatant. Director John Quinn's execution might be lumpy, but it's breezily paced and enthusiastically captured. Also the camera-work achieves some inventive angles, especially early on. The always enviable Besty Russell heads the cult cast with Lucinda Dickey (spending a bit time in a costume), Rebecca Ferratti, Travis McKenna and a delightful Lorie Griffin.

If there had been a bigger budget, this would have been THE slasher flick of the 1980's. It was much better then another camp series, sleepaway camp, and the acting was much better then other b-movies. One thing that worked against it, however,was the rather generic title, and it's alternate title, bloody pom poms, wasn't any better. Had more attention been paid to this movie, Leif Garrett would have been on a major comeback, and Besty Russell, perhaps the least known, and most eye pleasing of any 80's starlet, would have been a a list star. Alas, in 1987, this good movie came and went, while much attention was paid to big studio stinkers like ishtar, The Golden Child, among others. How Besty Russell was never an a list star, is a loss.