In the late '70s and early '80s, a wave of American (and, to a lesser extent, Canadian) films finally alerted viewers to various institutions' vulnerability to attacks by bloodthirsty maniacs. No longer could the movie-going populace remain blind to the dangers facing trick-or-treaters, summer camps, prom nights, terror trains, or bloody valentines. But what of cheerleading camps? Blowing the lid off the last seeming bastion of public safety, Pandemonium presents a vision of cheerleading camps as hotbeds of bad puns, sight gags, and gruesome murders. Candy Azzara, a frustrated one-time cheerleader with a desire to democratize the cheering world, presides over the camp, somehow keeping her enterprise afloat with only six campers. Their ranks include a bleached-blond Judge Reinhold, as well as Carol Kane, the supernaturally empowered daughter of a repressive mother. When strange events begin to overtake the camp, only a far-from-home mountie (Tom Smothers) and his assistant (Paul Reubens) stand in the way, thanks to their willingness to investigate local madhouses and other sources of murderous goings-on. Distracted by their enthusiasm for cheerleading and games of strip poker, the campers remain oblivious to their impending peril. Even the appearance of buses labeled "Certain Death" and the crowd of Japanese tourists participating in a "Dead Cheerleader Tour" fails to alarm them. But once the killings begin, their ignorant enthusiasm can't help them fend off the killer, eventually revealed as a cross-dressing former football star played by Tab Hunter. In the end, only Kane's powers of telekinesis protect her from Hunter's bloodlust, leaving a nation of non-telekinetic cheerleading teens to shudder at their own possible fates, should beefy '50s teen idols begin stalking them through a gag-filled, parodic hellscape.
Most Dugg A.V. Club Articles
Advertisement
- Comments