SHANNON’S DRIVE-IN: CHEERLEADER CAMP

Shannon watches the 1988 slasher Cheerleader Camp, a goofy comedy with dreams of being a horror movie.

CHEERLEADER CAMP (1988)

A killer is terrorizing teens at a high school cheerleading camp competition.

Director: John Quinn

Writers: David Lee Fein, R.L. O’Keefe

Stars: Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin

The background of the cover art for 1988’s Cheerleader Camp has the traditional art that could be for any number of sex comedies that rose during the ‘80’s. The only clue there might be something spooky going on is the skeleton cheerleader placed dead center amongst all the swinging shenanigans. Hell, that skeleton is even WINKING at the audience about to pop this into the old VHS player. It’s an apt introduction to a movie where the tone shifts like the weather in New York state.

It’s also another cover that lies; there is no cheerleading skeleton!

We’re introduced to troubled cheerleader Alison (Betsy Russell), who wakes up from a nightmare about her cheerleader imposter syndrome, leading up to her parents watching as she is slashed by her own pompoms. There’s something going on with her and we’re along for the ride as we follow her to a cheerleader camp called Camp Hurrah! where there’s a competition going on. The sexy summer camp formula is on full display here where all the guys are horny, all the girls have drama, and every once in a while, someone dies and no one knows who the killer is.

Plus Brent, Alison’s boyfriend, is played by ‘70’s heartthrob Leif Garrett. He’s an ‘80’s teenager, so of course his hairline is receding. In fact, all of the teenagers look like they’re in their 30’s (which is how you know this is a true ‘80’s movie).

The day after arriving, Alison finds a fellow cheerleader’s body, dead by supposed suicide. Later that day, she finds the same corpse in the camp’s walk-in refrigerator. Meanwhile Brent’s eyes are wandering towards all the other cheerleaders, amping up Alison’s anxiety.

For the most part, Cheerleader Camp is a series of horny teen hijinks with dumb guys and bitchy girls, and a killer just happens to be on the loose. It’s mixing ‘80’s comedic pervy-ness in a blender with murders thrown in to remind the audience that this is, indeed, a slasher. But a goofy sex scene and a surreal dream sequence later, it’s easy to forget that part of the plot. Eventually the last twenty minutes focuses fully on the slasher part of an hour and a half long movie, only to have a reveal of a killer you kind of have to just go with.

This was director John Quinn’s first film before going on to direct mostly low-budget crime movies. Betsy Russell went on to play Jigsaw’s wife Jill in the Saw sequels. Character actor Buck Flower plays Pop, the camp’s handyman. Lucinda Dickey, who plays Cory, was also the film’s choreographer, and appeared in both Breakin’ movies and was in the lead Ninja III: The Domination.

As much as the cover art suggests, it’s a truly dumb movie. While it lacks in tension and gore, it gives us terrible white guy rap, a dance-off between the squad mascots, and really bizarre dream sequences revealing the inner workings of Alison. It’s the kind of slasher I would find on TV on a Saturday afternoon when I was a kid to waste away the hours. It’s light-hearted enough to get away with being fun, yet pasting things in to draw the horror coward. Yes, it’s a half-assed slasher, but that’s part of the appeal, and it’s better for this particular movie than no slasher at all.

Shannon Grant is a writer, performer, adventurer, and horned cryptid living in the wilds of upstate New York. Her work can be found in many small press anthologies such as A Guide to Useless Sidekicks, Catskill Chaos, and The Lizzie Borden House Anthology. She is currently at work on a vampire novella. When not writing, she can be found haunting drive-in movie theaters, karaoke bars, and looking for ghosts in the woods.

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