AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Cheerleader Camp (1988) movie review
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Okay, this is it. The final Fangoria Movie Friday Review and the final post for this year’s AWESOME-tober-fest. Like I mentioned yesterday, I had serious issues deciding what movie to review today. There were so many awesome 80s slasher movies to choose from. But one movie stood out just a little from the rest. Sort of “the little movie that could”. So, I went with my gut (and other parts a little further south of my gut) and chose Cheerleader Camp from 1988 starring a metric ton of 80s cult movie stars.
This poster is balls-out amazing. I love it. FYI, the alternate title for this movie was Bloody Pom Poms. And I’m not even kidding.
So you see why I picked this movie. BECAUSE IT LOOKS F**KING AWESOME. Plus, there’s like five hot, known 80s actresses all over this movie. The premise consists of a cheerleading competition that takes place at some remote “camp” (read: isolated cabin) in the middle of the woods. Suddenly cheerleader campers start showing up dead and everyone wonders just who is the killer. We get several red herrings that are almost immediately proved to be untrue. The eventual culprit was a surprise to me up until a few minutes before the big reveal. But I wasn’t really sitting there trying to figure it out. We get lots of angsty female teen melodrama and pent up horny boys drama like in a typical Porky’s but less skin. The ensemble 80s female cast is pretty epic and you get several bikini/underwear scenes with all of them. This is a fun watch. I’d watch it again if only for the great visuals and not for the amusing story or dialogue. All in all, a great 80s sexy horror romp.
Here are some of the visuals because they are GREAT.
Awesome, colorful title card.
There’s going to be LOTS of pictures of the chicks in this movie because the vast majority of them are really hot and many of them are awesome 80s cult stars. You will probably recognize the chick in the middle here. That’s Lucinda Dickey. One of my personal favorite 80s actresses most famous for both Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo but she also awesomely starred in the phenomenal Ninja III: The Domination. The blonde on the left is Lorie Griffin who is most famous for playing, Pamela, Scott Howard’s crush in Teen Wolf. On the right is Betsy Russell. This brunette hottie is probably most known for her star turn as Angel in the movie Avenging Angel as well as the 80s sex comedies Tomboy and Private School and most recently playing Jill in the last five Saw movies. There are two more ladies in the back I’ll get to next in a better screenshot.
In the middle of this pic is Lorie Griffin again. She plays a dumb blonde in this movie which is weird compared to her sultry turn as Pamela in Teen Wolf. On the left is Rebecca Ferratti. She was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in June 1986. She had a small roles in Three Amigos and Beverly Hills Cop II but I know her most from her small but memorable appearance at the very beginning of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. And, on the right, we have Teri Weigel. Teri has been in a TON of movie and TV appearances such as Predator 2, Embrace of the Vampire, Return of the Killer Tomatoes and Married With Children. However, she is also most recently known for being a porn star. And these are the five ladies that awesomely headline this movie. But, wait, there’s more!
And of course, the five gorgeous ladies are traveling with the fat, sex-loving jokester. That’s his pasty white behind in the van window on the right. This actor has popped up in a bunch of movies over the years but I probably know him best from Road House.
Here’s the other male lead. The name’s Garrett. Leif Garrett. He also had a main role in The Outsiders with another great ensemble cast. I love this pic, the “look back at the camera” pose which is always so “80s sexy”. Bitchin’ widow’s peak, Leif.
More pics of the ladies.
Teri Weigel. Porn star.
Betsy Russell. So adorable. I really like Avenging Angel. I need to see that again. And Tomboy. She looks a lot like Summer Glau here.
Lucinda Dickey. Be still my beating heart. How does she look younger here than she did in Ninja III which was FOUR YEARS previous?
Gratuitous bikini scene of all five ladies!
Woh! Not a hot chick. Sorry about that. This is the groundskeeper at the camp. Does he look familiar? To some he will be, he played Red the hobo in the Back to the Future movies. Check out his IMDb. He’s been in countless other genre pictures and television shows.
Gratuitous “white guys rapping terribly” scene!
Oh, Betsy. You drink milk RIGHT OUT OF THE CARTON? Oh. Just…no.
Four of the girls are on the cheerleader team. At the end of the movie is the cheerleading “competition” which takes place in the living room of the lodge they are staying in. Also taking place is the mascot competition. Lucinda Dickey is somehow the mascot. And the “mascot competition” consists of everyone dressed up in terrible animal costumes and randomly dance around to music. There’s nothing organized about it. Much like the “cheerleading competition” which really only consists of each team doing a quick like 2 minute “dance” routine.
So, that’s Cheerleader Camp. Did I like it? I did like it for all of the 80s actresses, a little bit of nudity and lots of underwear shots. The dialogue was a little more groan inducing than giggle inducing, but it’s an overall fun, low budget watch. I’d give it a shot.
So, that’s my Halloween 2014 wrapup. Hope you enjoyed this month of Fangoria awesomeness. I had a lot of fun bringing it to you.
I’ve actually already started planning next year’s Halloween. Right now I’m deciding between a few topics. Ghosts? Mythical Monsters? Universal Monsters? I’m not exactly sure yet. Is there something you would prefer? Let me know. You know where to find me.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Cavalcade of Awesome 
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