Bring It On: Cheer or Die

Rating Breakdown Story - 0.50 :: Direction - 1.00 :: Pacing - 1.00 :: Performances - 1.25 :: Entertainment - 1.25 TOTAL - 5/10

Ah, cheerleaders. The unsung warriors of high school, flipping, twirling, and dodging a body count. Bring It On: Cheer or Die had the perfect setup to be a deliriously self-aware mash-up of Scream meets Bring It On, but instead tumbles awkwardly, landing somewhere between Scary Movie's forgotten drafts and a lesser episode of Glee.

The three writers have cobbled together a plot that is both astonishingly basic and fundamentally unbelievable. A group of high-kicking teens, for reasons best left unexplored, decide to practice overnight in an abandoned school, where a masked killer lurks, waiting to cut them down one by one. What could have been a hilarious, self-aware bloodbath instead shuffles towards mediocrity.

The characters are walking, talking clichés, with psychopaths Marlowe and Makena Zimmerman chewing the scenery with reckless abandon. Their unhinged performances provide rare enjoyment, but they are shackled to a script that insists on taking itself just seriously enough to be frustrating. The so-called comedy leans heavily on the tired Camp Homosexual trope, because apparently, sassy, flamboyant side characters are still considered peak humour in some circles. Any remaining laughs come from moments so over-the-top they achieve unintentional brilliance; think Showgirls but with pom-poms and murder.

Missi Pyle, a consistently scene-stealing actress, is bafflingly underused. The film hints at a deliciously demented "Mommy's Psycho Lessons" subplot that could have elevated the material, but like a botched pyramid stunt, it collapses into nothing.

Director Karen Lam does what she can with a weak script, using shadows, long hallways, and grimy school doors to manufacture tension. There is a sense she knows what the film should be: A gory, outrageous, tongue-in-cheek ride, but she is held back by a screenplay too timid to embrace its own absurdity.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die could have been a blood-spattered cheer-fest, the kind of horror-comedy that earns cult status through sheer audacity. Instead, it feels stuck in limbo, torn between fun self-awareness and forgettable nostalgia bait. Is it entertaining? Sure, in the way that watching a train nearly derail is entertaining. Worth a watch? Perhaps, but much like a cheerleader attempting a backflip in a horror movie, it just does not stick the landing.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die (aKa Bring It On 7) is a 2022 slasher comedy film directed by Karen Lam (Shevenge, Mythos, Evangeline, The Curse of Willow Song, and Chiral). It was written by Rebekah McKendry (Glorious, All the Creatures were Stirring, Psycho Granny, Elevator Game, and Separation), Alyson Fouse (Bring It On franchise, Scary Movie 2, Honey 2, and Everybody Hates Chris), and Dana Schwartz (She-Hulk). It was produced by production manager Eve Stewart (Tales from the Hood 3, The Grudge, Curse of Chucky, and Capote). It is the seventh and final installment of the Bring It On series. It was made for the SYFY channel and it made it's premiere on there during October!!!! When Abby (played by: Kerri Medders from SEAL Team, Spin, Promised Land, Jane, and Do Not Reply) and her ambitious Diablos teammates which includes Paige (played by: Marlowe Zimmerman from The Bad Seed Returns, Undertow, and The J-Team) and McKayla (played by: Tiera Skovbye from Riverdale, Ride, Once a upon a Time, and Summer of 84) are forbidden from doing any risky cheer stunts by their overly cautious principal (played by: Missi Pyle from MA, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dodgeball, Galaxy Quest, Big Fish, 50 First Dates, and Along Came Polly), they are worried that they will be a joke in the upcoming regional cheer competition. The desperate squad comes up with a plan to choreograph a winning routine in secret at an abandoned school. Once they arrive at the school to rehearse. One by one, the cheerleaders begin to disappear. When they realize that they're trapped inside with a killer, it may be too late for any of them to survive!!!! The Bring It On series was very popular years ago and they have made a decent amount of sequels so I was very curious when they originally announced that they were making a horror version of the cheerleader franchise. I guess it being a SYFY original should have been the first major red flag when it came to this production but honestly a decent amount of them are actually solid. They sometimes make a harder and more extreme cut for home video every once in awhile but unfortunately they didn't do that with Cheer or Die. I did think it was pretty cool that this horror feature was mainly handled by women so it gave it a different perspective compared to other stuff in the genre. Since it was basically made for television, it was destined to be watered down which really hurt this sequel because it's a slasher so it kinda defeats the purpose. It's a very tame slasher with only a few decent moments when it comes to violence and kills. The script was a little slow and I do appreciate character development but it messed with the flow of this one so it dragged for a little bit before anything really happens. I will say that I actually enjoyed the twist at the end but this had so much more potential to something fun and different when it came to horror. The cast that includes Alexandra Beaton (300), Sam Robert Muik (The Twilight Zone), Erika Prevost (Scream VI), Samuel Braun (DC's Legends of Tomorrow), Alec Carlos (Tales from the Hood 3), and Makena Zimmerman had a few bright spots but most of them were just there for looks and not skill at all when it came to the acting. Missi Pyle was pretty solid in her supporting role in this. I always try to find the best in things no matter what but it's really hard to justify that with Bring It On: Cheer or Die. To be real, I'll most likely never watch this one again and I wouldn't even recommend watching it at all. It's one of the worst horror films that I've seen in a long time.

The seventh film installment of the Bring It On franchise and the first entry with horror elements. Pretty and cute girls with weak performances, mainly because they didn't have better materials to work with. Made-for-television film budget script, direction and cringe dialogues. Except for a few funny dialogues there wasn't much of comedy in this film.

The seventh film installment of the Bring It On franchise and the first entry with horror elements. Pretty and cute girls with weak performances, mainly because they didn't have better materials to work with. Made-for-television film budget script, direction and cringe dialogues. Except for a few funny dialogues there wasn't much of comedy in this film.

I watched the first Bring it On way back and i think i watched just one of the sequels (the one with Hayden Panettiere). Its not a franchise i am ultra fond of but i find the ones i watched entertaining for teen movies.

After many direct to video sequels, they tried something new with the concept and why not. Could be fun.

The issue is altought the story is fine, the location as well, and the kills are decent in numbers, they are just not memorable AT ALL. The movie is almost bloodless, there is not much tension, i just didn't cared much for the characters either. And the concept of "cheer or die" is barely used.

Ultimately you end up with a very simple by the book cheap slasher movie that you will watch once and be like "meh... it passed time".

I've been in a slasher movie kind of mood as of late. I watched New Year's Evil the night before last and To All a Good Night shortly before that. I decided to pay a visit to the Redbox because I noticed that two out of the three locations that my town had were removed without warning. Much to my surprise I saw that they had Cheer or Die.... because I heard that it was supposed to air on the SyFy Channel around Halloween. This movie is pretty much a bloodless affair and is so tame.... that with some tinkering.... this could've easily obtained a PG rating and premiered on Disney+. The movie contains almost a dozen death scenes.... none of which are particular memorable.... but I did find it odd that the killer brought a set of throwing knives to fling occasionally. This had the potential to be a decent time waster had they added gallons of blood and some creativity.... but this is barely a horror film as it stands.