Author Archives: Dazzling Erin

So, I Watched Cheerleader Camp (1988, Dir. by John Quinn)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

My sister asked me to watch and review this one.  I’ll have to remember to thank her for that.

A group of cheerleaders go to a cheerleading camp for the summer.  In between all of the usual camp shenanigans, someone is killing the cheerleaders.  Alison (Betsy Russell) seems like the likeliest suspect because she keeps having weird dreams and is really possessive of her unfaithful boyfriend, Brent (Leif Garrett).  Is Alison the murderer or is she being set up?  Cheerleading is a cut-throat business so anything is possible.

As a former cheerleader, there were a few scenes that I could relate to.  Alison has the same nightmare that I used to have all through high school, where you show up for the game late, you have to put on your uniform in such a rush that you don’t even have time to put on a bra, and then you run out on the field and no one’s there.  I had that dream a hundred times.  And the movie was right about everyone making fun of the mascot.  I felt bad for Cory (Lucinda Dickey).

Overall, the movie left me with some questions.  The main one was whether or not these were supposed to be high school or college cheerleaders.  Some of them looked really old to still be in high school.  Brent had a receding hairline.  I also wondered why there was a pervy fat guy on Alison’s cheerleading squad.  There’s nothing wrong with male cheerleaders but I would not be comfortable with a male cheerleader who kept trying to see all of the other cheerleaders naked.  Finally, I wondered how everyone at the camp could be so stupid.  Why would anyone stay after the first dead body is found?  I liked Alison but even I groaned when she picked up a bloody meat cleaver.  Girl, that’s evidence!  Don’t get your fingerprints on that!  I also figured out who the murderer was after the first fifteen minutes.  It was pretty obvious.

I enjoyed cheering but I’m glad I never went to that cheerleader camp.  Most of the routines were awful and everyone ended up dead.  It’s not worth it.

Rest In Peace, James Van Der Beek

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

It was such a shock to hear that James Van Der Beek passed away earlier today.  He was only 48 years old.

For me, James Van Der Beek will always be Dawson, even though he had a long career.  If he’s not Dawson, he’ll be Mox, the quarterback who wanted to read Vonnegut in peace and who most of all did not “want your life.”  When Dawson’s Creek was at its peak, I was just at the right age to develop a crush on a sensitive young man who just wanted to make movies and read books.  I know a lot of people turned against Dawson as Dawson’s Creek went on.  Joey ended up with Pacey and Lisa and I used to argue for hours about whether or not she made the right choice.  I liked Pacey but I loved Dawson, even when everyone else was turning against him.

James Van Der Beek went on to do some movies.  He played a version of himself in Don’t Trust The B—- In Apartment 23 and he was the funniest and best thing about that show.  The most important thing that James did was that he became a father to six children and my heart goes out to all of them.  Dawson wanted to go to Hollywood but James Van Der Beek left Hollywood to devote himself to being a dad.

Rest in Peace, James Van Der Beek.

So, I Watched WebCam Cheerleaders (2021, Dir. by Curtis Crawford)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

After her sister falls off of the top her dorm, Maisy (Joelle Farrow) transfers to Vanderton University and takes her place on the cheerleading squad.  Maisy thinks her sister was murdered and is determined to find out why.  She discovers that several of the cheerleaders are also working as webcam girls, some of them against their will.

My main thought while watching this movie was that maybe if the squad had been any good, they wouldn’t have had to make extra money as webcam girls.  This movie had some of the worst cheer routines that I have ever seen and none of the cheerleaders seemed like they really had much spirit.  Their cheers were awful.  “Are you ready to play/G0 Sharks/It’s your big day!”  Whoever wrote that should be ashamed.  Hearing that’s not going to give the Sharks the extra encouragement they need to win!

When Maisy gets too close to the truth, another cheerleader spikes her water right before a big media event.  Drugged Maisy loses one of her pom-poms in the middle of a routine and she has to crawl across the floor to get it.  When I was cheering in high school, that happened to me in practice a few times and I wasn’t even drugged!  Afterwards, Maisy’s coach says that if Maisy is on drugs, they can’t kick her off the squad because that will make it appear as if the cheerleaders weren’t willing to help her.  I can’t think of a cheerleading coach in the world who would follow that logic.

Watching this movie made me glad that I stopped cheering after high school.  Cheerleading in high school was fun, even though I was always worried that the people in the stands would notice that I always had bruises from falling during practice.  Eventually, I figured out that no one in high school cared as long as you smiled and looked cute in the uniform.  In college, though, they make you become a webcam girl and throw you off a building if you refuse!  It’s a whole other world!

 

So, I Watched Choices (1981, Dir. by Silvio Narizzano)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

John Carluccio (Paul Carafotes) is the star running back on his high school football team until the district’s new chief doctor (Dennis Patrick) rules that John can no longer play because he’s partially deaf and wears a hearing aid.  Coach Rizzo (Val Avery) protests but John is off the team.  John stops hanging out with his squeaky clean best friend (William R. Moses) and instead becomes friends with the school delinquent (Stephen Nichols).  John starts smoking pot and gets a bad attitude.  Whenever anyone tries to help him or suggests that he can live a productive life even without football, John gets angry.  Can his new girlfriend (Demi Moore) turn his life around?

I really wanted to feel bad for John and cheer him on as he fought to be allowed to play football but he was such a mopey character that it was hard.  He acted like the rest of the team should have refused to play until he was allowed to rejoin them.  It didn’t help that the new running back was just as good as John ever was.  Eventually, John discovered that he loved music and Demi Moore but even all of that felt like it came out of nowhere.  I know a lot of people who have had setbacks as bad as John’s who managed to get through them without treating everyone around them terribly.

Demi Moore is the big “name” here but she’s only in the movie for a few minutes.  I recognized a few of the other actors.  William R. Moses later played Ken Malansky in the Perry Mason movies and Stephen Nichols will always be Patch on Days of our Lives.

If you’re looking for football action, you won’t find it here.  My choice, if I could do it again?  Don’t watch.