Plot: What’s it about?
Alison Wentworth (Betsy Russell) is close to the end of her high school days, but she still longs to be a cheerleader. Her friends are on the squad and she has the looks, but she has never joined up. That could all change however, as Alison tags along with her friends and spends some time at a special camp for cheerleaders. Not just the rah rah girls either, but mascots and all those involved in the crowd preparation angle. She even gets a pleasant surprise when her boyfriend Brent (Leif Garrett) shows up and sneaks into the camp. Soon however, he begins to spend more time with the other girls, which disappoints Alison. At the same time, she is haunted by violent dreams in which her fellows campers are slaughtered. These nightmares are enough to scare her, but when the cheerleaders start to turn up murdered, she really breaks down. The camp is loaded with potential suspects, but Alison wonders if she is behind the deaths. She would never hurt her friends, let alone dismember them, but she has strong connections to the deaths. Even if evidence points elsewhere, she lingers on her own potential guilt. Has Alison snapped and developed a violent second persona, or is someone else behind these murders?
I can’t even begin to pretend that this is a good movie, but what can I say, I love 80s slasher movies. I guess I am defective in some portion of my brain, but horror movies from the 80s hold a special place in my heart. Well, to be honest I am a sucker for all things horror cinema, but 80s era material shines a little brighter. Cheerleader Camp has all the elements we love, but the parts never come together to form an effective whole. The film runs slow for a while, but the action picks up the final act with some passable bloodshed. The deaths are not that graphic or unsettling, but fun to watch and hey, the more blood the merrier, right? What the movie lacks in gore, it balances out with naked bodies. The girls pop top almost instantly, which is never a good sign, but in this case, the more breasts, the better. You’ll see some faces you’ll know too, such as Breakin’ star Lucinda Dickey, Teen Wolf’s Lorie Griffin, back in the sequel Betsy Russell (Private School, Delta Heat), and of course, hardcore porno star Teri Weigel. And in the end, we have former youth star Leif Garrett, who shows us why he vanished into obscurity, lack of talent. Then again, all the performances here are bad and the attempts at humor are laughable, but in the usual sense. As bad as this movie is, I still have to recommend it to fans of 80s slasher cinema. Anchor Bay’s solid treatment goes above and beyond, so fans should be quite pleased.
Video: How does it look?
Cheerleader Camp is presented in 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen. The image here isn’t reference level by any means, but I didn’t expect the flick to look this good. The print used has some flaws, but never to an extreme degree, although some scenes do show more grain than I’d like. Even so, the basic elements don’t suffer much and as such, I won’t complain too much about those small problems. The contrast is starker and more refined than expected, while colors remain bright, not as dated as I had counted on. This is a very solid treatment for this 1988 flick, which most studios would have just rushed out, if they released it at all, that is.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included mono track is dated and limited as you’d expect, but it gets the job done and that’s what counts here. The audio is a little thin at times, but as far as mono goes, I was pleased with how this option turned out. The various sound effects were clean and well placed, but held back due to the mono limits, though not to an extreme degree. I suppose a few scenes could use a surround sound boost, but I think this mono option is adequate, on the whole. No serious problems with the dialogue either, as the vocals come through in clean and always easy to understand fashion. In the end, a more than solid soundtrack.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes audio commentary with director John Quinn and producer Jeff Prettyman, an alternate title sequence, a selection of still photos & poster artwork, and three of the film’s trailers, two under the Bloody Pom Poms title.
