Dustin Ferguson: Cheerleader Camp: To the Death

Hey folks, back again. This week I decided this time around we would look more into Dustin Ferguson, Retroploitation Horror director (Terror at Black Tree Forest, The Legacy of Boggy Creek, Escape to Black Tree Forest, Black Tree Forest III, Doll Killer, Die Sister, Die, Occult Holocaust, Gloved Murderess, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death and Shockumentary). Of course being this is me I will be bouncing around through titles and timelines. Kinda Doctor Whoing it up if you will. Today we will gander at the slasher phenomenon with a handful some familiar tropes and cliches. This is Cheerleader Camp: To the Death.

I still feel the problem can be solved with jutting.

A team of cheerleaders are practicing and giving it their all when a “freak accident or vicious prank” with a sprinkler system spraying them down with hydrochloric acid thus burning them alive. Would they dare to return? The next year, Tanya (Julia Farrell of The Pursuit of Happiness, Flyover Country, The Eyes of Isabelle, Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival, Shivers Down Your Spine, Demon Dolls and The Amityville Legacy) the artsy misunderstood goth girl from the wrong side of the tracks missed out on last year's tryouts and is ready, willing and able to shake her pom poms and booty for her championship. Of course our elite collective are kept in check via Coach Paddington not Bear (Jennifer Banko of Friday the 13^th Part 7: The New Blood, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Boy Meets World, Barb Wire, Catch of the Day and The Haunting of Mia Moss) who does her best to help the girls get along.

Oxyclear needs to be taken off the market.

Our girls in question: Sophia (Karrie Bauman of The Legacy of Boggy Creek, Escape to Black Tree Forest, Flyover Country, The Eyes of Isabelle, The Dead Hour, Poet and A Cold Day in Hell), Gina (Breana Mitchell of Black Tree Forest III, Doll Killer, Gloved Murderess, Invitation to Die and Blood Claws), Courtney (Jazmyne Van Houten of The Dead Hour, The Eyes of Isabelle, Poet, Wasted Nights, A Twisted Tale and The Wolf's Robe), Kasey (Britney Dailey of Blood Rites, The Eyes of Isabelle, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death and Meathook Massacre) all doing their best trying to get along in spite class and social standing issues.

Slowly but surely after the evening sets, a random POV serial killer that tearing ass around in his festive Panda bear furry suit proceeding to knock off our girls one every hour, leaving cryptic clues for the survivors to figure out giving them a chance for survival. Could the killer be blatantly obvious horndog groundskeeper (Ari Lehman of Friday the 13^th, ThanXgiving, Hell-ephone, Terror Overload, Night on Has Been Mountain, The Girl, Scarred, House of Forbidden Secrets, Deathwoods, Easter Sunday and The Barn)? Could there be a horribly disfigured cheerleader feeding herself on dead squirrels, Yoo-Hoo and Coca-Cola? Will there be yiffing involved?

Again with a limited budget, time constraints and a decent location to operate allows so much freedom to operate. Lighting under a budget looks amazing and the grainy effect giving an 80s vibe. I started flashing back to Bloody Pom Poms...lot less nudity by comparison. Stunned to see actual slasher kills instead of gratuitous nudity, my interest was peaked. Our girls are sexy, the killer has to be sweating profusely in his mascot outfit and the location is so remote isolating the potential scream queens. The camaraderie of the survivors does bond well and overall it is a fun flick. So if you need some old school slasher violence, mean girls getting gacked and fun to be had, then slap this in via DVD, VHS or Vimeo streaming.

Death by large stick!!