Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader (2000) User Reviews

"At least they didn't blow up the toilets like last year." Terrible low budget slasher.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 18 December 2005]

Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader starts late one Halloween night, also the eve of a big football game, as local high-school caretakers George & Earl remove dead animals hanging from the sports field goalposts, put there as a practical joke by some people who obviously have no sense of humour. However George comes across a bag which contains the decapitated head of a cheerleader named Patricia Bertwood. It's not long before head cheerleader Heather Connelly (Tasha Biering) is told the distressing news over the phone by cheerleading coach Elaine Riley (Debbie Rochon), they are somewhat shocked but figure the show must go on. Shortly after putting the phone down coach Riley is murdered... Back at home with Heather & the phone calls start, phone calls from the killer who taunts her, scares her & warns her not to set foot outside of her house. Meanwhile three more member's of the cheerleading squad, Molly (Noelle Manuel), Violet (Beth Hunt) & Rose (Amy R. Swaim) meet gruesome ends at the hands of the axe wielding killer. Heather receives more phone calls informing her of her friends fate but who is responsible? Her boyfriend Danny (Daniel Justin Roach)? Her jealous & possessive ex Chris (Andre Walker)? Or maybe the local drunk Joseph Hatterman (Bob Carter) who has a very dodgy history?

Written, produced & directed by Jeffrey Miller Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader is a pretty poor film on all accounts. The script obviously takes it's inspiration, or steals it's ideas whichever way you want to put it, from better films from this genre like Scream (1996) & Friday the 13th (1980) & unfortunately doesn't do a very good job, it can't even match them let alone surpass them in an already overcrowded sub genre. For most of it's 80 minute duration Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader is a very uninspired clichéd slasher, think the worst Friday the 13th clone you can & mix it with a right out of nowhere a similar to Scream twist ending which seemed over elaborate but at the same time was surprisingly effective. If the start of the film had built up to this ending better than Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader could have been a decent little film but it comes from absolutely nowhere & just doesn't feel like it belongs to the preceding 70 minutes which are throughly routine & not especially enjoyable. The character's are awful, the dialogue is poor with some really bad red-herrings spread throughout that just don't work although at least there is a fairly steady stream of victims & it's quite short.

Director Miller hasn't got a clue how to make a horror film. There is no build up to any of the murders they just suddenly happen which means there is no tension or potential for scares whatsoever. He has no idea how to set a mood as in one scene as Heather is having a 'emotional' chat with her ex boyfriend Chris his choice of music is bizarre as he uses a tune that would be more appropriate during a murder scene. There are a few murder's but nothing that memorable, a couple of women have their breasts cut off with an axe, someone gets an axe in the head, there is quite possibly the worst looking severed foot I've ever seen, a couple of decapitated heads & a hammer stuck in someone's head. There is some nudity as well which is nice but no actual sex scenes.

The budget for Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader must have been minuscule, I'm not joking or exaggerating when I say that 90% of the film takes place in Heather's front room & house (that 'don't go out' warning from the killer was there to save money then) & it becomes highly irritating. The shot on video photography is point shoot & hope for the best stuff while the special effects are anything but special. The acting is pretty poor, but then did I really expect anything else?

Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader is a throughly rotten attempt at a slasher film, apart from from a clever & surprisingly effective climax which deserves to be used in a better overall film there is absolutely nothing to recommend here. Stick with the likes of Friday the 13th, The Burning (1981), My Bloody Valentine (1981) & Scream for decent slashers that deliver the goods. Not worth your time or money.

'Don't mess with me... I'M A CHEERLEADER!!!

[RareSlashersReviewed · 11 February 2004]

Oh no! It's another release from the label that always picks only the BEST movies to put on our shelves. (Cue drum roll) Yes, it's Film 2000, the people who gave us Camp Blood 1 & 2, To Become One and Paranoid among others. Readers that have already ‘experienced' any of those ‘classics' will know that anytime you see that sign on a DVD cover, then it means that you're holding a flick of true ‘quality'! Ok, so I'm joking, but on occasion they have managed to give us worthy results… Err, Well I can't think of any at the moment but I'm sure that they have! Head Cheerleader features Debbie Rochon who almost is to cheap horror movies what John Wayne was to Westerns. She has starred or played small parts in well over 20 – mostly direct to video – B- movies, including the slashers: Final Examination (not Final Exam), Bleed and American Nightmare (the one from 2001, not the 1983 Lawrence Tierney effort.)

Heather (Tasha Biering) is the head cheerleader for her college team. It's Halloween and the night before a really important game, so she decides to go home early and get some rest. She just wants a quiet night in front of the television. Her peace is broken when Coach Reiley (Debbie Rochon) tells her that they've found her friend's decapitated body. Suddenly she begins receiving anonymous phone calls from someone that claims to be killing off all the cheerleaders. Unable to leave her house, Heather begins to question all of the people around her because she knows that the killer must be one of them!

Ninety percent of this flick is filmed inside Heather's front room as she answers the phone to the cranky killer. Yes, it's as brain bashing as it sounds, just looking at a cramped living room for 80 minutes! The only change of scenery that we get is when we view the lame murders, with the emphasis being on the word ‘lame'. We see decapitated heads, feet and boobs (!) that are so obviously plastic that it's painful. It's like director Jeff Miller bought a mannequin, chopped off the limbs, painted the ends red and hey presto; there are the special effects for his movie! The plot is so dumbly mind-numbing that you'll feel embarrassment for the people that were involved in such a hellish excuse for entertainment. When the assassin finally turns up and his motives are revealed even the final girl points out that he could have saved himself the hassle and just killed the one person! How pathetic!

Not only is Head Cheerleader pain stakingly bad, it's also incredibly boring. You won't get any thrills from trying to guess who's killing everyone, because suspects are mentioned that we never get to meet and characters turn up only to disappear just as quickly. Admittedly, I didn't work it out, but that's probably because it could've been absolutely anyone. Also, I was tidying up my room whilst this was on, because it was far too tedious to just sit up and watch without constantly feeling the need to fiddle elsewhere. The psycho phones Heather an astronomical amount of times, meaning that towards the end of the run time I was so pig-sick of that ‘Ring Ring' sound that I noticed that I had drunk almost an entire bottle of whisky in an attempt to numb my pains! Then to add insult to injury, just when I thought that I'd finally escaped the irritation, it played over the end credits too. Aaaargh! Basically this is just an inane mix of parts from much better movies. Jeff Miller rips off everything from Baby Doll murders (the killer leaves a doll beside his victims) to Black Christmas (the stalker constantly phoning his victims). He even goes as far as to steal Halloween's immediately recognisable theme song for his trailer! Someone should've sued him, and then maybe I wouldn't have had to suffer this monstrosity.

Something this bad is always going to be amusing and luckily there are a few unintentional giggles to be had at the expense of the horrid actors and dumb scripting. One of the most comical is when the (by the book) fat Sheriff is informed that the coach may have been murdered, but says he can't send anyone out because he's busy! This is a murder for gawd's sake, not some delinquents playing ding-dong ditch! When the killer calls up his victims to taunt them, he mutters some poetry that sounds like a kindergarten pupil wrote it. `Violets are blue, roses are red. Tonight you two are gonna be dead!' See what I mean! But nothing can top what Heather says as she finally comes face to face with the killer. `Don't mess with me, I'm a cheerleader'(!) Oooooooh, scary!

In the opening credits, we hear a message that was allegedly left on the director's answer phone from a concerned mother of a majorette. It says something about her being ‘disgusted' and if anything happens to her daughter then ‘she'll sue'. Here's what she really should have said. `Jeff, I'm disgusted that you can insult the wonder that is DVD with this horrid, exploitational piece of bin-bag lining. I will only be happy if you rectify your mistake and withdraw as many copies as possible to save people from suffering this worthless excrement!' Sounds better doesn't it! At one point in the runtime, one of the guys says – speaking about horror flicks – ‘there's nothing wrong with a bit of gratuitous violence'. He speaks the truth, if handled properly it can be a whole lot of fun (look at Evil Dead!). But this is no example of well crafted horror and should be given to Nasa and shot into space. Vulgar dialogue, pitiful performances and hellish direction add up to a poor excuse for entertainment. In other words it sucks like an industrial strength vacuum cleaner. Avoid!

Head Director, Dead Director

[pumaye · 2/10 · 26 October 2002]

A stupid, boring movie, cheap, nor sexy, neither scary. Made with a very limited budget, the movie has a terrible story, bad actors, a plot that is contrived and unbeleviable, special effects made by a three years old child, and it seems more a publicity spot for a phone company than a real movie, as almost half of it sees a neither particularly beautiful young lady talking over the phone with a "creepo". This movie has no redeeming quality and it's better forgotten.

Not Worth The Box It's Sold In

[cubus_nitrate · 1/10 · 16 June 2007]

OK, I like to watch "So bad that it's actually good" sort of movies (e.g. Raptor), and I suppose this one is kind-of "funny". But it's also so cheap it astounds me.

The poor special effects involve blatantly plastic feet (that bounce off the ground) and hollow boobs that at one point get used in a "touchdown" sequence. Other mentionables are blatantly plastic dead chickens (although I'm glad no real ones were sacrificed for this film).

The plot trundles around as subtle as an elephant. Any attempts at suspense are ruined by strange music, dodgy camera-work or crap scripting. One cheerleader named Molly serves only for 5 minutes and toplessness before she is murdered off-screen, the same can be said for the female coach, but she is murdered on screen. Nearly all of the film is in the lead cheerleader Heather's front room where a strange man "Lizzie" (derived from Lizzie Borden, who was alleged to kill her parents) phones her every five flipping seconds.

There is also blatant advertising - Coke, Nike, Disney and Ben and Jerrys all get a little mention.

The genuinely funny moments are unintentional. One uninspiring moment where someone places a hand on an ankle and the revelation between the two male sport men.

Don't buy it unless you can stand 75mins of tripe for a few stupid moments.

Give me a 'C', give me an 'R', give me an 'A', give me a 'P'.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 24 December 2009]

Every now and then, a visit to my local Pound Shop DVD section turns up a real gem; most of the time, however, the films I find there are real stinkers, like Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader, a festering canker of a movie that'll give you absolutely nothing to cheer about.

'Borrowing' most of it's ideas from Wes Craven's Scream, HCDC sees pretty pom-pom shaker Heather Connelly (Tasha Biering) pestered by threatening phone-calls from a maniac who has been offing her team-mates prior to a major game. Suspects include her current boyfriend Danny (Daniel Justin Roach), ex-boyfriend Chris (Andre Walker), touchy-feely Coach Cranford (Bobby Cerutti), shifty sheriff Bookman (Bill Roberson), and hobo Joseph Hatterman (Bob Carter).

Not only is this film highly unoriginal, it's also dreadfully amateurish and cheap looking, with a ridiculous script that attempts to out-do Kevin Williamson in the silly twist ending stakes, laughable performances from its mostly unknown cast (although the movie's only 'name' actress, Z-grade scream queen Debbie Rochon, is easily as crap), and risible gore effects (mannequin spare parts with red paint on them). Worst of all, writer/director Jeffrey Miller has his main character tied to one spot by the fact that she doesn't have a cordless phone; every time the phone rings (which is a lot), we get a boring conversation delivered in exactly the same place (in Craven's film, characters could move around whilst talking, making matters much more interesting).

Fans of trashy films might possibly glean a little enjoyment from the fact that the killer seems to enjoy chopping off his victims' breasts with an axe, and there is some gratuitous nudity to break up the monotony (Noelle Manuel, as lesbian cheerleader Molly, and Debbie Rochon get their tops off, and Beth Hunt as Violet is just hot), but even a few tasteless murders and some bare flesh doesn't stop this one from being a dud.

Oh well, at least it was short!

Great title for a turd

[Stevieboy666 · 2/10 · 31 August 2019]

An unknown killer targets cheerleaders at Halloween, but being on such an obviously low budget I only counted one, single decoration in the form of a carved pumpkin! Terrible acting, laughable "special" effects, shaky camerawork and poor attempts at comical moments, this is typical of the dross that the label Film2000 put out on to DVD and VHS. I expected this to be bad and it started off in a "so bad it could be good" way. However, any early promise of enjoyment was dashed in the second half, where most of the running time is boringly taken up at the home of our Final Girl. And what could have been a plausible plot just disintegrates into absurdity. On the plus side we get a little gratuitous female nudity, some classic horror movies such as Evil Dead get name checked and there is a Scream vibe going on. But at the end of the day a catchy title and cool sleeve artwork cannot polish a turd. Awful.

Smug garbage

[daniel-mannouch · 2/10 · 3 October 2019]

More Scream rip off bollocks to be found here just like in Final Scream which I covered yesterday. Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader is a horror film that's very representative of its time period as we have more obnoxious meta film talk, a super threatening phone stalker that sounds like the cat from Sabrina, chunky notebook computers, killers whose personalities are ripped straight off from Scream and a limp synthesised soundtrack that is just pure balls.

The screenplay is so painfully self-aware, it sounds like the film is actively critiquing it's own insipidness. This was an atypical ploy of 90's media in general, in which the first true corporatocratic culture found its hands tied due to hand in hand monopoly and hegemony and tried to give a savvy consumer the sense of realism that they had become accustomed to by just simply stating that what they are watching is a cliche. It's not meta, it's not even laziness, it was just a sign of a culture that no longer valued truth because it simply was not in the market's interest to value truth.

This is how boring this movie is. The greater cultural significance of Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader is far more fascinating than anything that goes on in this southern fried piece of crap. The phone machine recording of a concerned parent of a cheerleader threatening to sue Jeff Miller over the film is by far the most realistic and engaging thing in this entire film. This film featured a sleepover with three cheerleaders playing a game of strip movie trivia, i wish i was making this up, and it managed to make it the most poorly framed, poorly lit, lifeless thing on this goddamn planet. Worst cheerleader film ever.

The lack of Cheerleader fetish gratification, no matter how egregious, is not the worst aspect of this film. That would have to be the possibly all time worst murder set pieces i've ever seen featuring joke shop prosthetics and off camera impact shots circa 1967 proto slasher. On all aspects of a slasher, this film fails, and I feel that the filmmakers got off on that.

Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader, as well as the majority of its contemporaries were the first in a tradition of insincere purpose in horror cinema that still continues to this very day from the meta slasher successor torture porn, which took hyperbole as far as the horror genre could take it by trying to emulate fake snuff films such as the Guinea pig and Faces of Death series, to the likes of Blumhouse today where the cause de celeb examples of the genre have never been so intellectual or less scary. Don't come to Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader for entertainment. Instead, come to the movie for an intriguing history lesson in how the genre has gotten to where it is today.

In conclusion, Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader is a most atypical scream rip off that features forty five riveting minutes of phone conversations in a poorly framed interior and is also incredibly disappointing in it's lack of topless cheerleaders

Great indie horror

[darkoneskip · 7/10 · 10 March 2019]

Not a huge budget but they did an amazing job on this one i was surprised enough spfx latex and fake blood flys in this one. And a cool job not terrible acting for once. I was impressed.

Gruelling

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 4 January 2021]

A really bad indie slasher from South Carolina, this is a film that mixes trite dialogue, really terrible acting and awful gore effects into one grievous whole. The kills literally consist of someone chucking a joke-shop body part onto the ground, while the whole plot openly copies SCREAM, something that becomes particularly obvious at the climax. A gruelling watch, and not for the right reasons.

Oh My God best film ever

[fuffymcwoo · 10/10 · 26 December 2005]

oh my god that was the best film i have ever seen. The acting was fantastic the lead girl was the best actor i think she was very creative with her role as head cheerleader. My favourite death scene was the one when they cut off her breast then hack her from behind, very classy. The ending was the best just as you thought it really was just those two boys like "Scream" but it ended up to also be the coach. It was the first film i saw on the horror channel and i must say it won't be the last, the horror channel shows the greatest films possible as you can see if it shows "Head cheerleader, Dead cheerleader". i recently purchased this film for my mother as she also loves the film, i must say it was not easy to get my hands on, but i found it luckily, it was in amazon but they only had a few copies left, i guess i'm not the only person that likes the film. I just can't understand how its only got a 4.3 it deserves a 10 out of 10 its just so awesome. So please if you haven't seen this film please watch it it will be the best film you ever see. Lots of love Sophie

A Horror B movie so bad .. it's not even amusing

[edwardjonb · 1/10 · 17 May 2023]

No positives whatsoever I do not care if was a low budget film there is no excuse for this amateur dross. You might be thinking by the end of this film I could make a better movie with my phone camera.

Special effects are also very poor ,nothing redeemable in the acting department either.

I rented this out from Blockbuster in early 2000s and purposely grabbed it because the front cover made it look as though it was terrible... And I love a "so bad it's good" kinda film every now and again, plus I wanted to prank my partner at the time and say this was the only film I got . Just see the disappointment in her eyes and then reveal 3 other new films I got and see her relief.

The head cheerleader dead cheerleader name is hilarious in itself lol.

Anyways avoid this film at all costs it is not enjoyable in any way whatsoever. 1 out of 10.

"I thought you was gonna fall..."

[LUKE4EVER · 10 April 2004]

And indeed it did. This film fell flat on its face. Not in a comedic way, but in a horrible spasming death. I rented this film from Blockbuster Video's 'Gold Collection'... Never has a film been so terribly misplaced.

I rented this film as part of a bad horror movie night, in order to have a laugh with my friends. The other films were all enjoyably bad, but this was something else all together. The acting was beyond bad, unfortunately it also passed the point of being so bad it was good (or even merely funny). Instead this film ended up with acting so bad it was physically painful to watch and hear.

There were approximately 3 laughs in this film and I doubt any were intentional. One laugh featured is the worst attempt at a shock-scare ever, as an overweight guy grabs a man's leg on a ladder and then delivers his only line in the film in the most hideously funny way possible. Usually when a reviewer teases you like that it is to go get you to see the film, I however want you to do no such thing. I have, therefore, hidden within this review that very line. It is easy to discover, so do so. I guarantee you that it will be far more enjoyable than sitting through this film.

I work for Blockbuster, so I got this rental free. I cannot try to dissuade you from renting (or even *shudder* buying) this film enough.

To conclude:

This film is so bad that it can actively ruin a movie night devoted to mocking bad horror films. Don't make the same mistake I did.

dont see this

[bgirl19 · 9 July 2003]

I watched rented this film with a friend expecting it to be one of those "so bad it's good" films you know like crossroads with Britney Spears! But no this is an awful porn flick in disguise enough said.Unless you like awful special effects don't see this movie.