With the words "cheerleader" and "massacre" in the title you pretty much know what to expect from this throwback to 80's slasher flicks from B-movie director Jim Wynorski (who's work I admit to having a love/hate relationship with).

The whole thing opens up with a couple camping in the woods being killed (the girl is killed by a tree branch the killer broke-off that looks suspiciously like a polished walking stick) before getting down to its basic story of a high school cheerleader squad who are headed to a tournament only to end-up trapped in the mountains when their van breaks down.

If things weren't bad enough it seems there's an escaped killer in the area and soon they have to take refuge in a nearby cabin (of which the owners seem to be away) only for them to start getting killed off one-by-one.

Supposedly this was intended as the fourth Slumber Party Massacre movie (which might explain why Brinke Stevens shows-up briefly and they show her footage from the first movie), but really it's just another standard slasher movie that doesn't try to be anything more than dumb entertainment.

And on that level, The Cheerleader Massacre, works fine - it has enough skin (though not as much as is regular from Wynorski), mild humour, and deaths to be watchable and you can tell no-one making it was taking it much seriously.

Better than expected with a pleasing scene where they answer the door only for there to be a decapitated body there, this makes for decent entertainment for those into junky B-movies.

Writer Lenny Juliano has been a stable character actor in many previous Wynorski efforts. (Chris Hartley, 2/22/05)

Directed By: Jim Wynorski.
Written By: Lenny Juliano.

Starring: Tamie Sheffield, Charity Rahmer, Erin Byron, Leonard Johnson.