Cheerleader Camp (1988)

★ 5.0 1h 29m 87 votes IMDb

Comedy Horror Thriller

A cheerleader named Alison is plagued by nightmares about the upcoming all-state finals and attends a summer training camp with her teammates. When a number of deaths start occurring at the camp, Alison's nightmares turn twisted and brutal, and she begins to believe that she may be responsible for the mayhem.

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Cast

Betsy Russell as Alison Wentworth Age 62 · San Diego, California, USA Elizabeth "Betsy" Russell (born September 6, 1963) is an American actress who is best known for her roles in Private School (1983), Tomboy (1985), and as Jill Tuck, one of the primary characters of th...

Leif Garrett as Brent Hoover Age 64 · Hollywood, California, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik November 8, 1961) is an American singer and actor. He became famous in the late 1970s as a teen idol, but received much public...

Lucinda Dickey as Cory Foster Age 65 · Hutchinson, Kansas, USA Lucinda Dickey is an American dancer and actress who is best known for her role as Kelly in the 1984 cult film Breakin' and the sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, which was released the same year....

Lorie Griffin as Bonnie Reed Age 65

George Buck Flower as Pop Died 2004 · Milton-Freewater, Oregon, USA George Buck Flower (October 28, 1937 – June 18, 2004) was an American actor, writer, producer, assistant director, production manager, and casting director. He was sometimes credited as Buck Flower, G...

Teri Weigel as Pamela Bently Age 64 · Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA Teri Weigel is a former porn star and a centerfold model from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She began modeling while in her teens, appearing in the Saks Fifth Avenue catalog among other venues.

Director John Quinn

Cast Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin, George Buck Flower, Teri Weigel, Rebecca Ferratti, Travis McKenna, Vickie Benson, Jeff Prettyman

Wuchak 5/10 Apr 13, 2023

**_Stale late 80’s slasher starts kinda goofy, but turns serious_**

High school students in SoCal go to cheerleading camp in the remote Sequoia National Forest where they tragically start dying one by one. Who’s the killer? Will any make it back alive?

"Cheerleader Camp” (1988) is a whodunnit slasher that mixes cheerleading antics with elements of the “Friday the 13th” flicks and “The Burning” (1981), not to mention “Sleepaway Camp” (1983). “Body Count” (1986) also comes to mind.

I had a bad attitude at first because there was some campy humor along the lines of “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982) and “Friday the 13th Part V” (1985), mostly revolving around the overweight character and the female camp director, not to mention the Englund-like Handyman, albeit less so. In other words, I thought the movie was going to be a full-on joke, but the comedic bits only revolve around those characters and the flick takes a dark turn in the second half.

Also, it actually deals with some pretty heavy themes despite being an 80’s slasher with a dash of sex humor. For instance, there are reflections on anxiety, competition/rivalry, relationship abuse, alcoholism, deception, manipulation and false testimony.

I was halfway through when it occurred to me that one of the male characters was Leif Garrett, the former teenage heartthrob of the late 70s. Here he is at 26 (during shooting) playing a high school student and he’s effective enough.

Lorie Griffin stands out on the female front as Bonnie. You might remember her from her memorable role in “Teen Wolf” (1985). The female cast is decent—also including Rebecca Ferratti (Theresa), Betsy Russell (Alison) and Vickie Benson (Miss Tipton)—but the director evidently didn’t know how to shoot women (no pun intended).

So, this is worthwhile enough to check out if you like 80’s slashers, but you have to roll with its hackneyed shortcomings.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in Bakersfield and Sequoia National Forest, California, which is about an hour’s drive northeast of there.

GRADE: C+