Cheerleader Massacre Review

I saw the box art to this film, and I immediately thought it was the 1980’s classic slasher. However, I didn’t take the time to look at the back of the box or read any more information. The movie is NOT the 80’s slasher, but more over it is a 2003 sequel of sorts and appears to be yet another straight to dvd horror movie. I had high hopes for this film, and while there were some saving graces, the majority of this film is a low budget nightmare, that once again proves the B-Movie is dead in modern times. Cheerleader Massacre has a lot of classic 80's plot twists, but it doesn't look and feel like it at times, which really makes it hard to recommend.

The movie revolves around a serial killer that is stalking teenage high school students. There’s a secondary story line that is revealed concerning an old police officer that helped capture the killer after a rampage several decades ago. The movie tries to tie it all together in a nice even package, but doesn’t manage to work through too well. The main cast of characters are 20-something at best, and not high school students. They are far more, developed, than high school students and painfully obvious.

The movie’s plot follows traditional methods. The crew gets lost on a way to a cheerleading trip in the woods, and find an abandoned cabin. They then are the main victims of the serial killer, but not before they start having sex, taking slow, methodical showers, and trying their best to revisit what made the 1980’s great.

This movie is forced on all levels. The acting is bad, in fact sinister at times. There are very few actors in this film that can deliver convincing lines. The editing is ok, and the film grain and lighting is better than most straight to dvd movies I’ve seen in recent years. There is some real film making offered in this film, and I give the makers credit for that. I didn’t completely hate the way the film was made, as it did have a sort of “soap opera” tone to it. There were some legitimate contenders for real quality artistic shots in this film, which made me like some parts.

There is a lot of nudity in this film, well, standard nudity. The women aren’t necessarily up to par with the 1980’s women, but hey, there’s nudity here and some people will definitely enjoy that.

There is little to no gore in this film. Yes, there is some gore, but nothing like you’d expect from a slasher film. Considering the film is straight to dvd, you would figure that there’d be more gore involved, but there isn’t really a whole lot to offer in terms of gore and effects.

Is Cheerleader Massacre Scary? : No.

A hell no! This movie is not scary, and at times it resembles a porno movie more than a horror film. While I appreciated the gratuitous nudity at times, I didn’t find it interesting enough to love this film. I found that there were distinct moments that gave me a headache, and wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.

While I do find the camp value and horror tradition alive and well in this film, I didn’t have as much fun as I assumed I would from the box cover. Is it terrible? No. Is it good? No. Cheerleader Massacre is not a great film, but it has enough music, and film making aptitude to check out if you have nothing else to watch.