Two things were huge in the Satanic 70s. One of these was of course Satanism, but the other… the cheerleaders! It seems like every other film it was a horror film was about cheerleaders. Don’t get me wrong I like cheerleaders; I dated a cheerleader or two, but as a subgenre, not all that interesting. But you add Satanism to the mix, and the whole thing just becomes twisted fun. Is there such a film? As a matter of fact there is. What would it feel like that be called? Satan’s Cheerleaders of course.
Satan’s cheerleaders is a full on product of the 70s. Which means it’s just sexy for sexy sake and in this case, it depends on your own personal fetishes. The film starts off at the beach, where the girls and their coach are enjoying some fun in the sun with some friends. Little do they know, a school janitor is actually a Satanic witch, who was cursing the girls clothes, literally.
Well on the way to support their team on an away game, their van breaks down, stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Lucky for them, and the janitor arrives to pick them up and the evil fun ensues. He drives them to a secluded area containing a sacrificial altar. When they arrived the girls fall under a trance and Patti, the janitor’s favorite, takes off her clothes and lies on the altar. Yes things began to go is Billy the janitor plans except for one small problem, patties being raped by an unseen force and no, it’s not Billy the janitors little guy. Yikes! Billy fails in his endeavor but just when the girls think they’re safe, they find it really is not alone, there’s a whole town after them.
Satan’s cheerleaders this silly fun. There’s not a whole lot of substance but it is enjoyable slice of 70s cheesecake. The girls are varying degrees of sexy including their coach, which is nice but there’s a surprising lack of nudity for 1: a cheerleader film, 2: a 70s cheerleader film, and 3: for a film entitled Satan’s cheerleaders! I hope that doesn’t make me sound shallow, it’s just par for the course. In any case, the supporting cast is pretty awesome. John Ireland is the sheriff who wants to sacrifice the girls to the dark Lord. His wife is everybody’s favorite horror wife, Yvonne DeCarlo. Actually she’s my second favorite horror wife because I’m an Adams family kind of man. But I digress. Anyways, there’s one other great little part I should mention and that is the cameo by John Carradine. That was a mandate to manage to add pass those to any part he did no matter how large or how small. In fact the only part I never did like him in was Dracula, and that stems from the fact that I saw his performances when I was very young and Bela Lugosi was my only Dracula. Okay, tangent over, moving along.
There’s a lot of horror pedigree with this film. It was shot by Dean Kennedy, cinematographer of Halloween and Halloween III. it was also produced by Alvin Fast who brought us Toby Hooper’s Eaten Alive, and directed by Greydon Clark, who brought us without warning just three years later. With all that goodness, how can you not have a good time?
It may not be quite the film you want or expect from a title like this, but hey, it’s fun and it’s the best satanic/cheer-leading mash up movie ever…so far.
This crazy film even has its own fan site thats pretty complete. You check it out here:
Other Horrific Musings:
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