SATAN'S
CHEERLEADERS (1977)Director: Greydon Clark
VCI Entertainment
SATAN'S
CHEERLEADERS (1977)Sam Sherman's Independent-International Pictures spawned at least three drive-in filmmakers: Al Adamson (who had been collaborating with Sherman for several years by 1969 when the company was established), John "Bud" Cardos (best known for directing the effective sleeper KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS), and Greydon Clark. Both Cardos and Clark were actors for Adamson (co-starring in SATAN'S SADISTS) before they took the reigns behind the cameras for their respective films. It's hard to say which was the better director. Cardos gave us KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS and guilty pleasure THE DAY TIME ENDED, but also spewed out OUTLAW OF GOR. Clark was behind the underrated (and rarely seen) WITHOUT WARNING and a handful of lovable trash like BLACK SHAMPOO and ANGELS' BRIGADE, but also tortured us with THE FORBIDDEN DANCE and WACKO. SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS falls somewhere in-between and is justly deserving of a no-frills DVD release.
Ms. Johnson (Jacqueline Cole,
Clark's real-life wife and the heroine of SATAN'S SADISTS) is the coach of the
cheerleading squad at a California high school.
The funny thing is that the squad is comprised of a mere four girls: Chris,
Debbie, Sharon, and Patti. They're all pretty interchangeable, I can't even
recall, which is which. They're horny young teenagers looking to score with
the football team. The first 15 minutes of the film features a touch football
game pitting the cheerleaders vs. the football team, all set to the strains
of a requisite cheesy disco theme. A lame confrontation between opposing cheerleading
squads and a few PORKY'S-like pranks later, we are introduced to the horror
element of the film.
The girls are en route to The Big Game, being driven by the Satanist janitor (Jack Kruschen) of the school. CRASH! The bus runs off the road and the girls seek help from a local sheriff (John Ireland) and his strange wife (Yvonne DeCarlo). Seems that they need a virgin sacrifice to appease their master Satan and all the townspeople aid them in keeping the girls hostage! Little do they know that Patti (the blonde one, I think) has some powers of her own... Just try not cracking up during the final 10 minutes of the film!
Oh yeah, and John Carradine has a pointless cameo as a bum who tries to warn the girls. Adult film actor Michael Donovan O'Donnell has a cameo as a murderous farmer. And eagle-eyed viewers will notice Robin Greer as the opposing squad's head cheerleader, who not only appeared in Clark's ANGELS' BRIGADE as "the ugly one" and several 80s soap operas, but was a major player during the O.J. Simpson trial.
SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS can be kind of interesting in a painful way, but it's not so-bad-it's-good in a way that Clark's other films are. The cheese runs high in the opening minutes of the girls reciting inane dialogue and playing "chicken" on the beach, but once the Satanists are introduced, the audience is subjected to horrendous acting by both the embarrassed veterans and the newcomers (soon to be gone from the screens for good). None of the scares are effective and the intentional humor is strained and pathetic. Yuck! The oddball casting is noteworthy and I liked the stupid ending, but it's not memorable or too entertaining.
VCI Home Video has recently been re-inventing the Special Edition DVD with discs like BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, THE WHIP AND THE BODY, and CITY OF THE DEAD. Well, SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS isn't one of these. The full-frame transfer is quite colorful, despite having dirt and smudges throughout the presentation. No information seems to be missing from any of the sides. The audio is a very weak mono mix, I had to really crank it to hear some of the dialogue! Muffled music and dialogue is frequent. The only extra is the theatrical trailer (as well as a trailer for VCI's RUBY), which actually is better than the film. It has all the best bits in a compact morsel. Better yet, get a trailer compilation tape for the trailer alone and plus, you'll be more entertained by the other trailers than you will with SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS. (Casey Scott)