Main Cast: Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin, George "Buck" Flower
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Cheerleader Camp, a routine teen slasher film, follows the adventures of a group of teenage girls who go away to a cheerleader camp for the summer. Alison Betsy Russell, one of the group, is having nightmares. Brent, her boyfriend, has followed her to the camp but really seems more interested in the other girls. When those girls are found murdered, Alison believes she may be the killer. This routine slasher film follows the established formula with lots of attractive young women being killed in bloody and inventive ways and while only average, Cheerleader Camp, also released as Bloody Pom Poms, will please lovers of the genre. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
Simple-minded teen sex humor is punctuated with graphic slasher murders in this mediocre genre effort. Also known as Bloody Pom Poms, the film takes advantage of its central character's frequent nightmares to clog up the narrative with disturbing dream sequences. Further confusing matters is the fact that all these pretty young cheerleaders look about the same, so once the bodies start dropping it's easy to stop caring who gets it and when. Cheerleader Camp tries hard to win us over, offering goofy set pieces like horny old men spraying themselves in the face with hoses, a football-themed sex fantasy, and the most horrible "mooning" sequence ever filmed. Cheerleader Camp won't hold pleasure for any except the most dedicated Z-level celebrity watchers. Exploitation vet George "Buck" Flower mumbles and scowls his way through his role as a crusty red herring, and future hardcore-porn star Teri Weigel gets some practice from a garden tool. Ex-teenager Leif Garrett is bloodless as a philandering boyfriend, and his performance is distinguished only by an awful gelled-up hairdo and his weak, white rap duet with morbidly obese sidekick Travis McKenna. Betsy Russell had a healthy career in low-budget, low-impact exploitation films during the '80s, playing the title characters in Tomboy and Avenging Angel along with starring here. There are two Playboy Playmates and one Penthouse Pet among the toothsome cast members, and director John Quinn went on to helm an assortment of softcore sex films like Fast Lane to Vegas and Sex Court: The Movie. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
As is typical of most slasher films of the era, the plot is simple and formulaic. Essentially, the film follows Alison (Russell), a cheerleader at Lindo Valley who is grappling with feelings of inadequacy. Alison, along with her flirtatious boyfriend (Garret) and fellow cheerleaders, attend Camp Hurrah, a cheerleading camp, with hopes of winning the All State finals. Alison is haunted by nightmares of murders that soon manifest themselves into reality. After discovering several people murdered at the camp, Alison soon begins to think she's the killer.[1]
Rumors of a 1990 sequel to Cheerleader Camp have circulated for years, but no such film exists. The alleged sequel (entitled Cheerleader Camp II) does have an entry at IMDb despite the fact that it was never produced. A sequel was planned by producers of the original film, but the project was eventually scrapped and made into another, unrelated film (Camp Fear) that was produced and financed by another production team.[2]
