Zombie Cheerleader Camp

This film begins in Germany during World War 2 with Nazi scientists conducting research on living human beings which turn them into zombies. Fortunately, the American military seizes the facility along with several drums of the chemical solution and then bury them in an underground storage facility under the mistaken belief that it has disposed of them permanently. What they don't count on is a squirrel burrowing into it sixty years later and subsequently feasting on the hidden solution. The scene then shifts to three female teenagers driving on a secluded highway to attend a summer camp for cheerleaders and subsequently experiencing car problems on the way. Luckily for them, three teenage boys appear and graciously offer to drive them to the camp with the thought of hooking up with them a little later on. At least, that's what is on their mind. However, on their way for an improvised rendezvous one of the boys gets bitten by a squirrel and things take a turn for the worse from that point on. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, given the rather obvious plot, I had hoped that there would be some good comedy here and there--or at least something that would make this film somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, I was greatly mistaken as the comedy was extremely limited and the scenes involving zombies were equally horrid. Along with that the audio was out-of-balance and there was very little character development which made it difficult to identify the names of many of them. Admittedly, there were a couple of attractive actress who stood out with Jamie Brown (as "Ashley") and Terry Chandeline Nicole Westfall ("Coach Sullivan") probably being the two most noticeable. However, neither of them could overcome the aforementioned defects of this film and as a result I have rated it accordingly.

"Zombie Cheerleader Camp" resembles something that made its way out of the late 1980's. Yes, it is just that campy and that particular type of horror / comedy zombie movie.

The story in this movie is corny and campy, something unbelievably predictable and stupid - as it should be for a movie of this particular type. Rooting back to Nazi Germany, odd experiments were made on people, turning them into the living dead. Then come the end of the war and the Americans seize the materials from the Nazis, further studying and utilizing the material, and they end up burying it in a cave, sealing it with explosives. Then 60 years later a squirrel makes its way into the cave and falls into a cannister with the material, and turns into a zombie. The squirrel attacks some young guys out fishing, and the zombie infection quickly spreads to the remote cheer-leading camp as well...

Well, the story in all its cheesiness, is enjoyable in itself, but just don't expect too much from the movie, as it is a low budget movie, with some questionable acting performances and not too great special effects.

The characters in the movie did come of as a bit one-dimensional and rather stereotypical, making it a bit difficult to sympathize with any of them. However, it does seem like the cast did have fun on the set and fun making this movie.

There was a little bit of gore in the movie, as in the traditional feasting of the intestines, as seen in many, many zombie movies. But that overall late 1980's feel of the movie comes into expression through the nudity, the overall setting of the movie and the downright campy touch to it. One scene had me laughing really hard, it was where the grounds-keeper managed to cut off the head of a zombie with a weed whacker, as if that wasn't bad enough, then the girl's hair was dark brown in the first shot, then when the painfully fake prosthetic head fell to the ground, the hair was black and even had a whole other hairstyle. It was just hilarious.

The best scene in the entire movie had to be where you see seven cheerleader zombies shambling out into a clearing at the woods (at an hour and thirty seconds into the movie), accompanied by some very Romerosque-like music. That was just pure gold, and really could easily have been taken right out from a Romero zombie movie. Thumbs up for constructing that scene. The fight scenes in the movie were just hilarious in general, especially with the lack of force behind the punches and swinging of the bat.

I have seen many a low budget zombie movies throughout the years, and "Zombie Cheerleader Camp" is actually not as bad as some of the ones I have seen. So it is a watchable movie, just don't have too much expectations for it.

I came across an add about this flick and contacted the director who have send me a signed copy of his on and only flick. I didn't really know what I should expect but the title did remind me of a few things. Zombie, well, I guess no explanation needed. Cheerleader, that's so eighties that always contains some nudity. Camp, that means a slasher, remember Sleepaway Camp and so many others concerning a camp (Friday the 13th). So to bid against all those classics is really hard.

But John Fabris decided to make it a bit funny to but the low budget atmosphere behind him. That must be the reason why some people hate this low budget but I really had some laughs. The homo at the camp who is training the upcoming cheerleaders was really funny. The attack of the squirrel just can't be taken seriously. When they finally kill it, just see what's inside it. And when they are cheerleading with their instructors before them I also had a laugh.

Naturally making a spoof isn't really enough. You still need to put some horror in it. And I must say he did it well. Some scene's were really gory, the classic eating of the intestines. The arrow being followed by the camera. All elements of the classics are in it, the axe, the chainsaw and naturally some nudity. One of the cheerleaders is almost always walking around with her nude breasts.

For me it was a nice effort, of course it can't compete with major flicks. But I did have a nice time watching it. It isn't available at the shops, guess you still have to search for a copy. You don't watch it for the acting, you watch it for it's campiness.

This is my second indie zombie movie review, and I mentioned in my first review, which I posted for Feeding The Masses, there are Gems, Crap, and some worth while indie zombie films worth checking out. Zombie Cheerleader Camp is definitely close to the bottom of the barrel. Whether it be the lousy editing, the contrived screenplay playing up the sex, campiness and every other cliché they could throw into it, ZCL is just a pain to sit through.

In the recent marathon of indie zombie flicks I have watched I found 3 to be worthless, one to be worth while and one to be a flat out gem of a film.

Instead of wasting anyones time with discussing this further I can say one good thing, the film is bloody, but the acting, blocking and camera work are atrocious from start to finish. This is definitely only for those infatuated with gore.

If you're curious as to what I am talking about, just seek out the teaser trailer for the film and you will see what I am talking about. If you can make it through that you may be able to sit through the film, and as I noted it will deliver on the blood, but not much else.

At best a netflix rental.