6/10
Revenge of the Cheerleaders
3 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I'm guessing that out of the Cheerleaders series, Revenge of the Cheerleaders would have to be considered the most deranged and wildly uneven of the bunch. It's a very good example of the "decade of decadence", the "celebration of excess" that was the 70s in all it's spirited glory.

I have to admit that since the DVD age has led to such a renaissance in releasing obscure drive in fare, that I've become drawn to the exploitation genre, a fixture in a decade known for pushing the envelope as far a feasibly possible. Revenge of the Cheerleaders is a definite example of this.

The rinky-dink plot which holds the shenanigans together concerns a developer's grand scheme to have Aloha High School shut down due to lewd conduct and bad supervision by an incapable staff, merging with their rivals, Lincoln. This plot is really all there is. You have the big basketball game, lunch room fight(..except this time, everyone participating are drugged out of their mind thanks to confiscated narcotics and liquor from a class of LIncoln students raided by two of Aloha's cheerleaders, using a fire extinguisher to hold them at bay!), bubble shower orgy(..you can't make this up!), and "rescue" finale where the cheerleaders must save their new principal kidnapped by the evil nurse of their school(..working with land developer who wishes to demolish the school to use the location for a mall). The film utilizes a dinosaur sculpture in California desert(..a landmark of sorts many will remember from Pee Wee's Big Adventure)and the historic Bronson Caves which, in the film, leads to the land developer's mall(..his office is located under a sand pit for a golf course which capsizes after the nurse fell into it's soggy quicksand portion!).

Patrice Rohmer is who I will devote a special paragraph for the girl remains practically naked throughout the entire farce. She seems quite liberated and care-free about going around naked no matter who's in the room with her. She, along with fellow cheerleader Susie Elene, has sex with a boy scout they find jogging along a trail! She is always in the arms of a young, scrawny David Hasselhoff who has every right to be embarrassed about his involvement in this.

The film often has the cheerleaders and basketball players breaking out in one pathetic(..but quite energetic and lively, despite the lack of talent or quality of choreography) boogie dance after another. They matter little to the plot and seem to exist out of the idea of those who wrote it just proclaiming within the script.."If all else fails, let's dance!" Cheryl Smith(..using her Rainbeaux moniker)doesn't really have a substantial role because she was(very)pregnant! She seems along for the ride due to her involvement in the previous Cheerleaders installment. She's still quite beautiful and photogenic, but is limited to what she can do along with her risqué colleagues. I thought the final moment in the film(..featuring a thinner Smith, holding her baby)was a wonderful idea. It just reminds me of the tragedy which would end her career and life. The decade of decadence had it's repercussions, an "epidemic of sin" regarding transmitted diseases took the lives of many after such a free-spirited, "everything goes" lifestyle left plenty of damage in it's wake.

If you like your movies batty and manic, uninhibited and trashy, without a care in the world regarding content or conventional film-making, Revenge of the Cheerleaders just might be up your alley.
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