Goth chicks, cheerleaders, scantly-clad women, a couple of chainsaws, what more can you ask for?
Badgirl Dawn kicks her boyfriend’s ass for cheating on her, and in order to avoid catching a case, she has to attend anger management training by joining a cheerleading squad. In an attempt to fundraise for the team, she goes to the Barker house, a residence rumored to be inhabited by weirdos. While giving her spiel to the woman who answers the door (a wannabe witch), she sees a body bag on the floor in the distance. She leaves, but later returns with the other girls to dispell any disbelief, and witnesses the summoning of an ancient witch (Tiffany Shepis), who enters one of the cheerleaders, Bambi, shortly thereafter.
Bambi is pretty hellbent on doing what witches do, carrying on the traditions and beliefs of the old world, possibly gaining world domination in the present, and killing anyone who gets in the way. Problem is, Dawn’s new best friend is a chainsaw and she’s not afraid to wield it. And, since two saws are better than one, and cheerleaders are a sisterhood, she adds Chassy (Jackey Hall) to her arsenal.
In short, Bambi’s attempts are thwarted, she loses her head, and the witch’s portal is closed…or is it?
There’s quite a bit of camp in this movie and the opening scenes had me very skeptical, since the acting and dialog seemed really forced and simplistic. But, as the story progressed, things got better, and Chassy’s ditzy, blonde-motivated one-liners had me chuckling. Also, there are several scenes where the chainsaws were (supposedly) running and cutting, but no blade was moving, and they didn't even appear to be turned on, which added to the camp, but I'm sure was done for safety reasons.
My first thoughts were of the movies Cheerleader Ninjas and The Majorettes, and even if these weren't influences, several others were prevalent. Even the first look of Bambi with horns reminded me of Night of the Demons and Return of the Living Dead 3. For being low budget, I think the CGI elements were carried out well, but I would have rather seen more physical FX and creativity, because I wasn‘t really digging the worm-like creature tie-in to the story. Plus, I’ve seen Tiffany Shepis in much better roles, and although it adds to a film's credibility, Debbie Rochon could have easily been replaced with someone else willing to bear their assets.
Even with the rocky start, I enjoyed this movie and will probably revisit. The only problem is that it's a DVD-R, and after locking up and sputtering on two different players, I ended up finishing it on my desktop. But, there’s no doubt that this could easily get picked up for distribution through Brain Damage Films or others, and I look forward to more good things from this director.
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OVERALL RATING--3-- |
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