Revenge of the Cheerleaders DVD

Revenge of the Cheerleaders DVD
Reviewed by: Peter West"Danger Seeker"
DVD released by:Anchor Bay Entertainment

Directed by: Richard Lerner
Writing credits: Nathaniel Dorsky, Ted Greenwald & Ace Baandage

Cast:
Jerii Woods as Gail
Rainbeaux Smith as Heather
Helen Lang as Leslie
Patrice Rohmer as Sesame
Susie Elene as Tishi
Eddra Gale as Nurse Beam
William Bramley as Walter Hartlander
Norman Thomas Marshall as Hall Walker
Carl Ballantine as Dr. Ivory
and David Hasselhoff as Boner

The Story:

Welcome to Aloha High California and "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" also known as "Cheerleaders: The Musical". California is a wacky place, but Aloha High may be a little more off the wall then most high schools! Our girls rules the roost even more then they did in the first of the series. They don't attend classes, they have their own locker room, and most of their school participation is leading the class in dance numbers. The girls are totally out of control! Sesame (Patrice Rohmer) has sex in the ladies room with her boyfriend Boner (played to perfection by a very young David Hasselhoff), the girls smoke pot in the gym watching the basketball team practice. When state inspectors come to visit the school, the girls decide to drug them!

School board head, Walter Hartlander, (veteran character actor William Bramley) has devious reasons for allowing all of this chaos to go on! He's planning on consolidating Aloha High with Lincoln Vocational and turning the school into a strip mall! After the state inspectors are drugged, a new principal Hall Walker is assigned to give Aloha one last chance to straighten out. Walker promptly fires our girls and replaces them with preppies. Little does Principal Walker know that evil School Nurse Beam is working for Hartlander and sabotages his efforts every chance she gets. It all comes down to Aloha beating Lincoln in a basketball game to save Aloha from the merger!

After some fun in the woods our girls come back to the school and lock the replacement cheerleaders in their lockers at half-time and Aloha rebounds to win the game thanks to some ingenious resuscitation by Sesame on a drugged Boner (David Hasselhoff)! The merger is off, but Hartlander is far from finished. Principal Walker is kidnapped, Nurse Beam is sent with a bomb to the school! Will the Cheerleaders rescue Principal Walker? Can they expose Hartlander and Nurse Beam? Revenge of the Cheerleaders comes to a madcap conclusion, and either way they will be dancing!

Picture Quality:

Presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 OAR "Revenge of the Cheerleaders," in order to present the "uncut" version, was compiled from multiple sources. Parts of the movie are very crisp and sharp, but a few of the more explicit scenes are not as good. Either way though, it does not distract from viewing what we really want to see anyway! I think Sesame spends more time in the movie naked then she does dressed!
My overall rating 4/5

Sound Quality:

A Dolby digital mono track is crisp and clear. Of course I only listened to that while getting the screenshots for this review. I first listened to the commentary by the two former cheerleaders Heather Swanson and Lisa Webber.
My overall rating 4/5

Extras:

Not as jammed packed as the first "Cheerleaders" film. "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" includes an amusing commentary, theatrical trailer, and television and radio spots. The commentary from the "ex" cheerleaders while not great is a good listen! Of course there is lots of movie and David Hasselhoff trivia. There is also without sound an eight minute clip of behind the scenes footage. While it's not in great shape, it's worth the eight minutes to check it out!
My overall rating 4/5

• Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Radio Spot
• Audio Commentary with Ex-Cheerleaders Heather Swanson and Lisa Webber
• Behind The Scenes Footage (8 minutes.)

Peter West's Danger Seeking Summary:

"Revenge of the Leaders" is more a fun movie for young people of the time. It does not have the forbidden adult/teacher-student relationships the previous movie had. Hence, even in it's uncut version it would only be a strong R-rated film. While it may have had a bigger budget than the first one (that's just a guess on my part since there are actors you can recognize in it, like David Hasselhoff), it accomplishes less in total viewing pleasure. You'll notice that the forest is a little thick on some of the girls. This is because back in 1976, the Lady Bic was not invented yet. It was dangerous enough to shave under the arms, nevermind there....... Lincoln Vocational probably had the most unattractive group of cheerleaders you would ever hope to see. They looked more like they were Kung-Fu fighting when they did their cheers! One shocking thing to show you how much times have changed, Rainbeaux Smith smokes pot and cigarettes while pregnant! Fortunately, as you will see in the final scene ( filmed a few months after the movie completed), the baby was born big and healthy. Unfortunately for poor Rainbeaux Smith, who is a minor cult figure for her many B-movie roles, she passed away last year from complications of hepatitis. Even though this movie was filmed over 25 years ago, you will notice that Police "suspect search" methods have not changed much through the years! All in all you may not feel as dirty watching this movie compared to the previous entry in the "series", but there is enough flesh to put a smile on your face. Some of the slapstick humor might even make you laugh a few times! Where else can you see teenagers snorting parmesan cheese? I may not consider this as strong a entry, however it is well worth your while to watch it when you purchase the collection!
My overall rating 4/5

More Cheerleaders:

"The Cheerleaders"

"The Swinging Cheerleaders"