CHEERLEADER CAMP (1987)

[The Burgomaster]

A lot of terrible teen / sex / slasher movies were released during the 1980s.  This is one of the worst. 

My first observation is that the DVD boxcover for CHEERLEADER CAMP (aka BLOODY POM POMS) is almost identical to RETURN TO HORROR HIGH (which I also bought, but have not watched yet).  Coincidence?  See pictures above and judge for yourself.

Here is the story:  Male and female cheerleaders staying at Camp Hurrah for a cheerleading competition are killed one by one by someone or something lurking in the woods.  Unfortunately, all of the characters are annoying asses and none of the murders are suspenseful or scary.  To make matters worse, the gore effects aren't very good.  Usually one of the only reasons to watch a movie like this is for the gore effects.  But they even blew that angle.

The male lead is former child actor and teen idol Leif Garrett (who was in two of the WALKING TALL movies, THE OUTSIDERS, a bunch of television shows, etc.)  He appears here as a male cheerleader who seems to be a bit old for all this nonsense (he was around 26 at the time - - somewhat beyond "cheerleader age" - -  and his hairline was beginning to recede).

The only thing that might keep some viewers awake are the periodic scenes of scantily clad or topless cheerleaders.  Otherwise, forget about this movie.

[Jack]

What I really hated about this movie was that the humor aspect was way overdone, it was like they couldn't decide whether they were making a slasher film or a remake of Porkies.  The fat guy was incredibly annoying, and watching Leif Garret stick a sock in his underwear wasn't my cup of tea either.  All the dream sequence stuff was a drag as well, I couldn't tell whether a murder had actually taken place or if it hadn't.  The movie does have a lot of awesome babes in awesome '80s outfits, which is the only reason to sit through it.  It's a real shame because they had the babes and the basic plot to make a real classic, but they f***ed it up something terrible.

[Yaddo 42]

I remember liking this one, but it was probably just the female cast members and not out of any great appreciation of anything else in the movie. It was so badly lit, IIRC, that it was kinda dreary looking at times. That whole dream like tone didn't help. It might make a good double feature with Girl's Nite Out featuring the killer college mascot during a scavenger hunt.

Yeah, Leif's hairline in this and in Party Line, from around the same time, made for some good unintended laughs.