Satan’s Cheerleaders (1977) Movie Review
Written By: K.M.C.
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Greydon Clark
Producers: Alvin L. Fast
Writers:
Greydon Clark
Alvin L. Fast
Date Released: 1977
Cast:
John Ireland as The Sheriff
Yvonne De Carlo as Emmy / Sheriff’s Wife / High Priestess
Jack Kruschen as Billy the Janitor
John Carradine as The Bum
Sydney Chaplin as Monk
Jacqueline Cole as Ms. Johnson
Kerry Sherman as Patti
Hillary Horan as Chris
et. al.
Rating = 1.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Benedict Highschool’s cheerleaders Patti, Chris, Debbie, Sharon, and Stevie spend their day going over their routine for the big football game that night. While they undress in the locker rooms, Billy the creepy janitor spies on them not only for his own enjoyment, but for his plan to kidnap the girls to appease the Satanist cult he is a part of. Billy follows the girls and Ms. Johnson to the football game where he makes sure their car breaks down and he appears to the rescue. He then kidnaps the girls and Ms. Johnson, and takes him to the altar where he tries to sexually take advantage of Patti. The girls all escape but end up in the hands of the sheriff and his wife, who are actually the Satanist cult leaders. Patti then discovers that she is a witch, and together, the girls must fight to survive the clutches of Satan and his cult.
Gore Factor
The only gore the audience see’s is when Billy gets beaten up and thrown down a hill which causes him to have a bloody nose. Besides this, there is no gore nor a single drop of bloody action.
The Grave Review
The acting of Satan’s Cheerleaders isn’t the only laughable aspect of the film. The plot itself is one that we see time and time again of a group of girls who are being pried upon for some kind of horrific event. The film is corny, ridiculous, unsettling, and downright disgusting. And when I say disgusting, I am not referring to the visual aspects of the film, but to the actions taken upon the characters.
The constant sexualization of the girls mixed with the unsettling rape scenes can really leave the viewer angry and exhausted. This is a film that will make you hate men even if you are a man. Every male portrayed in this film is a sad excuse of a man who degrades and abuses women both physically and verbally. Clark and Fast really gave their misogynistic input when writing the script for this film.
The terrible degradation of the female roles does not excuse the actresses from their horrible attempt at their craft. From reacting in an almost opposite way to a situation where anyone else would have acted differently to recording very laughable adlibs, the acting in this film is simply preposterous. The only actress who did a semi-decent job in her role was Yvonne De Carlo, who showed at least an ounce of experience in her heavy weighted role.
Not even the costume department could save this film as the costuming resembled that of a cartoon. The effects were subpar given that they used thermal heat shots to symbolize any supernatural attacks. The only admirable aspect that should be noted is that the film had been shot within 10 days, which makes the quality a bit more appreciable.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Satan’s Cheerleaders (1977) one and a half graves out of five graves.
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