Undead Hotties: "All Cheerleaders Die" imperfect but peppy and bloody fun
All Cheerleaders Die (2014)
90 min., rated R.
At first, "All Cheerleaders Die" feels like a giant step back for one Lucky McKee, something he might have made before 2003's "May" and 2011's "The Woman"—two great films that belong in the upper echelon of horror cinema. Here, the writer-director's fifth film is a joint effort with co-writer and director Chris Sivertson ("I Know Who Killed Me") and it's actually a remake of both filmmakers' obscure 2001 direct-to-video feature of the same name and same premise. Why they would want to reanimate the same material isn't immediately clear, but "All Cheerleaders Die" is such an oddly likable and enthusiastically made lark with offbeat sensibilities that all preconceived notions fall by the wayside. It has enough acerbic humor, bloody fun, and pert spirit, yes it does, to look past its existing imperfections.
As such a title would suggest, "All Cheerleaders Die" is not based on a true story nor is it a straight-up horror pic, but it all does start with a neck-snapping surprise. Blackfoot High School outsider Maddy (Caitlin Stasey) used to be best friends with the sassy Alexis (Felisha Cooper), who's now in higher social standing as the cheerleading squad's captain. While Maddy shoots a video all about Alexis, the queen bee dies during a cheer jump. Three months later, Maddy has her own ulterior motives, setting her sights on making senior year for Alexis' apathetic boyfriend, alpha-male football quarterback Terry (Tom Williamson), a living hell and taking the cheerleaders down with him, particularly new cheerleading captain and Alexis' best friend Tracy (Brooke Butler) who didn't wait long to date Terry. Maddy's revenge plan goes as planned, making the team of pom-pommers and getting close to Tracy, which does not coincide with the pursuit of happiness for Maddy's needy Wiccan ex-girlfriend Leena (Sianoa Smit-McPhee). The night before the teens' first day of senior year, there's trouble in paradise with Tracy and Terry, forcing four cheerleaders, including Maddy and Tracy, to drive off and die in a car accident. Thanks to Leena's dark magic rocks, they all come back as literal man-eaters who need to be on an all-blood diet, and there are plenty of Neanderthal football players to go around.
As written by McKee and Sivertson, this morbidly entertaining horror-comedy hybrid isn't that different from McKee's previous genre efforts in terms of having a female perspective. To McKee and Sivertson's credit, the film taps into the universal pain of one losing a close friend to a cooler social crowd. Though Maddy and Leena's relationship may have resonated even more with extra scenes before the mayhem breaks out, it's generously treated as a more delicate friendship instead of a way of baiting teenage boys who just want to see two girls macking. Whether the film passes the Bechdel test hardly matters, though, as "All Cheerleaders Die" is really a rape-and-revenge tale between "bitches" and "dawgs" (those terms are the cheerleaders' words, not mine) with a little succubus horror thrown in for good measure. Mashing up "Heathers," "The Craft," "Bring It On," "Mean Girls," "Tamara," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Jennifer's Body," the film walks a tonal tightrope between dark horror and silly comedy without ever careening into outright spoof. To read the rest of the review, go to Diabolique Magazine.
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