SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1976) (VCI Blu-ray Review)

SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1976) 

Label: VCI Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 92 minutes 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78.1)
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono  with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Greydon Clark
Cast: John Ireland, Yvonne De Carlo, Jack Kruschen, John Carradine, Sydney Chaplin

Horny cheerleaders and a cult of Devil worshipers collide in this fantastic slice of drive-in exploitation from low budget director Greydon Clark (Without Warning) who begins the film with a fun beach scene of horny bikini-clad cheerleaders playing a game of very touchy football with the school football team.  The frustrated coach implores the boys to save their "precious bodily fluids" for the big game tomorrow, but the cheer squad have other plans, and the jocks will be scoring long before tomorrow's big rival game, and drained of the precious bodily fluids.

The following day the cheerleaders and their air-headed PE coach (Jacqueline Cole) are en route to the big game when they're car breaks down on the side of the road, luckily for them Billy (Jack Kruschen), the school janitor happens along and offers them a ride. What they don't know is that Billy is a sequin-studded peeping tom who regularly spies on the naked cheerleaders through a peephole in the shower room, and he has no intention of transporting them to the game. He whisks them away to his Satanic altar out in the middle of nowhere, revealing his plan to sacrifice the horny teens in the name of Satan ...and get his rocks off in the process. Unfortunately for old Billy things don't go as planned, a cheerleaders named Patti (Kerry Sherman) strips nude and lays on the altar and is raped by the Beelzebub, causing Billy to throw a bit of tantrum off to the side, screaming that this was not the plan! There are corny red flashes on screen and Billy drops dead, seems making a deal with Old Scratch never goes as planned. Now slightly dazed poor Patty is transformed by the Satan-rape experience, becoming a sinister disciple of Satan. 

The girls make off with Billy's truck and encounter a bum on the side of the road, played by b-movie hero/legend  John Carradine (The House of Seven Corpses), who directs them into the town of Nether where they find Sheriff B.L. Bubb (John Ireland, Red River) and his wife. Emily, played by Yvonne Decarlo, whom you might better know as Lily from TV's The Munsters, but who had definitely seen better days at this point in her career, having appeared in a string of low-budget dreck already. In a turn straight out of Race With the Devil the Sheriff turns out to be the leader of the satanic cult and he and his devil-worshiping wife plan to make a virgin sacrifice of their own at the stroke of midnight. There's only one problem, these cheerleaders have not been virgins for quite some time, which throws a wrench into the diabolical plans of the hayseed Satanists. 

Satan's Cheerleaders is a very silly and camp-infused seventies slice of Satanic cinema with oodles of poor acting and unintentional hilarity, it is truly am awful film but  manages to be immensely entertaining for those very same reasons, it's just ridiculous fun. These teen-ladies do not have an ounce of talent between them but they are super cute and very easy on the eyes, I just love these horny 70's babes. Add in phoned-in performances from b-movie stars John Carradine, John Ireland and Yvonne Decarlo and you have the makings of b-movie romp that's ready for ridicule with a few brews and a roomful of drunk friends, which really is the only way to watch something this bad. Of note, this was one of cinematographer Dean Cundey's early features, he would go onto a very storied career beginning with John Carpenter Halloween just a few year's later but don't go in expecting this to be an early example of his visual artistry, it's not. 

Audio/Video: Satan's Cheerleaders arrives on 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from VCI who upgrade their previous 2015 widescreen DVD with a 1080p HD image framed in 1.78:1 widescreen, derived from a "new 2K scan from the original 35mm negative". The results are an upgrade over the previous standard definition release, though it is soft with muted colors, but still an improvement over what has come before. The source has some issues by way of speckling and print damage, and other minor issues that pop-up, it doesn't look like an image derived from the OCN to my eyes, grain structure is inconsistent, looking heavy at times and bereft in others, there's been some aggressive DNR applied in spots, but it's uneven. Audio comes by way of LPCM Mono 2.0 track with optional English subtitles. There's some wear on the audio track by way of hiss and pops, but overall it's not too bad, a bit boxy but perfectly listenable.  

Onto the extras VCI carry-over the photo gallery and the audio commentary from director Greydon Clark that accompanied their 2015 widescreen DVD edition, he tends to be technical and overly serious when discussing such a silly movie, but he does offer plenty of making-of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes info that fans of the film might enjoy. New stuff exclusive to this release comes by way of an audio commentary from Director David DeCoteau (Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge) and film historian David Del Valle, who are huge film buffs and offer up a lot of trivia about the film, director and cast. VCI also offer up an alternate version of the film, something titled "Original Transfer", not sure what the provenance for this is but the image is very similar to the "restored" version, a few more blemishes but not much more to my eyes, it doesn't look like a raw scan of the negative either, so it would be interesting to have more information about the source. 

This dual format release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, closely mirroring the key artwork from VCI's previous DVD release with some minor alterations, mostly by way of black banners with white lettering advertising that the film is widescreen and uncut, from a 2K scan of the negative. The 2-discs feature the same artwork, an excerpts from the sleeve.  


Special Features: 
- Commentary track with the director, Greydon Clark.
- Commentary track with genre film director David DeCoteau (Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge) and film historian and Journalist, David Del Valle.
- Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery (3 min) 

Satan's Cheerleaders (1977) is a silly slice of 70's cheerleader/devil-worshiping cinema that's sure to have your eyes rolling back in your head with loads unintentional camp and awful acting, but I wouldn't change a thing about it other than to say more nudity wouldn't have made it better, just more fun.
  

SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1976)

SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (1976) 

Label: VCI Entertainment

Region Code: Region Free

Rating: R

Duration: 93 minutes 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78.1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Director: Greydon Clark

Cast: John Ireland, Yvonne De Carlo, Jack Kruschen, John Carradine, Sydney Chaplin

Horny cheerleaders and a cult of Devil worshipers collide in this fantastic slice of drive-in exploitation from low budget director Greydon Clark (Without Warning) who begins the film with a fun beach scene of horny bikini-clad cheerleaders playing a game of touch football with the school football team.  The frustrated coach implores the team to save their precious bodily fluids for the big game tomorrow, but the cheer squad have other plans, and the jocks will be scoring long before tomorrow's bug game.

The following day the cheerleaders and their air-headed PE coach (Jacqueline Cole) are en route to the big game when they're car breaks down on the side of the road, luckily for them Billy (Jack Kruschen) the school janitor Billy happens along and offers them a ride. What they don't know is that Billy is a sequin-studded peeping tom who regularly spies on the naked cheerleaders through a peephole in the shower room, and he has no intention of transporting them to the game. He kidnaps them and whisks them away to a Satanic altar out in the middle of nowhere where he will sacrifice them in the name of Satan, and get his rocks off in the process. Unfortunately for him things don't go as planned and one of the young cheerleaders named Patti (Kerry Sherman) strips nude and lays on the altar and is apparently raped by the Beelzebub while Billy throws a tantrum off to the side yelling that this was not the plan. There are corny red flashes on screen and Billy drops dead, seems making a deal with Old Scratch never goes as planned. Now slightly dazed poor Patty seem transformed by the Satan-rape experience, becoming more sinister herself. 

The girls make of with Billy's truck and encounter a bum on the side of the road, played by b-movie hero John Carradine (The House of Seven Corpses), who directs them into the town of Nether where they find Sheriff B.L. Bubb (John Ireland, Red River) and his wife. Emily, played by Yvonne Decarlo, whom you might better know as Herman's wife Lily from The Munsters TV program, but who had definitely seen better days at this point in her career. In a turn straight out of Race With the Devil it turns out that the Sheriff is the leader of the satanic cult and he and his devil-worshiping wife plan to make a virgin sacrifice at the stroke of midnight. There's only one problem, these cheerleaders have not been virgins for quite some time, which throws a wrench into the diabolical plans of the hayseed Satanists. 

Satan's Cheerleaders is a very silly and camp-infused seventies slice of Satanic cinema with oodles of poor acting and unintentional hilarity, it is a truly awful film but  manages to be immensely entertaining for those same reasons, it's just ridiculous fun. These ladies do not have an ounce of talent between them but they are super cute and very easy on the eyes, I love 70's babes. Add in phones in performances from b-movie stars John Carradine, John Ireland and Yvonne Decarlo and you have the makings of b-movie romp ready for ridicule with a few brews and a roomful of drunk friends, which really is the only way to watch something this bad. Of note, this was one of cinematographer Dean Cundey's early features, he would go onto a very storied career beginning with John Carpenter Halloween just a few year's later but don't go in expecting this to be an early example of his visual artistry, it's not. 

The disc from VCI offers the film in anamorphic widescreen for the first time but won't win any year end awards for the transfer, which is soft and flat with poor contrast, and muted colors. Day shots fare better than the under lit night scenes which are a murky undefined mess, but at least the source material is in fair condition without an abundance of print damage. There's a commentary from director Greydon Clark who tends to be technical and overly serious when discussing such a silly movie, but he does offer plenty of making-of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes info that fans of the film might enjoy.

Satan's Cheerleaders is a silly slice of devil-worshiping cinema that's sure to have your eyes rolling back in your head with loads unintentional camp and awful acting, but I wouldn't change a thing about it other than to say more nudity wouldn't have made it better, just more enjoyable. 2/5

WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

Label: Scream Factory

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 96 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Greydon Clark

Cast: Jack Palance, Tarah Nutter. Christopher Nelson, Cameron Mitchell, Neville Brand, Sue Ane Langhorn, Ralph Meeker, Larry Stortch

Teenagers Tom (David Caruso, Session 9), Greg (Christopher T. Nelson), Beth and Sandy (Tarah Nutter) head to a rural lake for some fun in the sun. Tom and Beth are the your standard-issue horny teens while Greg and Sandy are more virginal and innocent and the four pile into a shag carpeted Chevy van and drive into the wilderness.

Also in the area are father (Cameron Mitchell) and his son on a hunting trip and a troop of Cub Scouts and they're leader Larry Storch (of TV's F Troop) earning a few merit badges in the great outdoors. The hunters and the scouts all encounter something strange and deadly lurking in the woods, strange flying jellyfish creatures which latch onto victims and dig into their flesh with tentacles and mouthful of teeth. These tiny suckers aren't the only threat in the woods however, these frightful frisbees of death are merely the weapon of choice for an alien creature with a human blood lust.

Our teens stop for gas and encounter scary proprietor Jack (Jack Palance) who warns the teens to stay away from the lake but they just laugh it off. Horny teens never listen to warnings of doom but if they did what fun would that be? They arrive at the scenic water hole and take a dip before the couples split up to pursue their own interests . Of course, it's the horny teens who disappear  without a trace and the virgins are left to sleuth Scooby-Doo style what happened to their companions. Assuming their friends are off fornicating out in the woods they are quite horrified when they find their gooey corpses in a small shack along with the bodies of the scout leader and the hunters. Freaked out they scurry into town and into a bar where they try to tell warn the locals but the drunken townies just are not buying the story. here we have some fun appearances from veteran actors like Neville Brand (Eaten Alive) and the aforementioned Jack Palance. Then there's Sarge, a nutty 'Nam vet (Martin Landau) who suffers from post-traumatic stress and alien paranoia, and who who just  happens to be the only one who believes the teen's wild story. 

Without Warning is the just the kind of drive-in science fiction drive-in I just love to death. Relics from a bygone era of cinema that don't follow logic and are wrought with bad decision making. The cast of characters is fantastic, we have our teens Greg and Sandy who are just the sweetest teens you could ever imagine, they're so nice and polite, it's sort of disgusting. Both of the young ladies in the film cut quite a figure, very easy on the eyes, and while the teens are supposedly the main characters it's  veterans Jack Palance and Martin Landau who both chew the scenery and steal the movie from right from under them whipper snappers. Landau is particularly fun as the bug-eyed lunatic who believes that the teens and pretty much everyone else have been replaced by aliens, just a lot of fun and ridiculous paranoia. 

The low-budget special effects are a lot of fun, those blood-sucking alien jellyfish pulsate and excrete a yellow liquid that was gooey and gross. There's a scene where they latch onto a windshield which offers a close-up and you can see the teeth gnashing away on the underside, most of the effects are pretty dated but I love these latex creatures designs, very enjoyable. The predatory creature design is a thing of schlocky beauty, an elongated grey alien with a massive cranium and long creepy fingers. Perhaps not the most articulated design but very effective and only glimpsed for brief snatches. The reveal of the alien is quite effective, it's a bit of a shame it's spoiled on the artwork for the Blu-ray. . 

Blu-ray: Without Warning arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in the original widescreen aspect ratio (1.85:1) and appears quite nice. Shot on the cheap it manages to look pretty spiffy with a nice grain structure and some good color saturation. The HD upgrade doesn't give the fine detail a massive bump but a very pleasing image. The source material is in pretty great shape considering this cult item has been hard to come by for years.. The English DTS-HD Mono is clean and well balanced, plus Dan Wyman's creepy score sounds great - there are English subtitles provided. 

Onto the extras we have a 21-minute interview with stars Actors Christopher S. Nelson and Tarah Nutter . Nelson remembers the experience fondly and of working with veterans Jack Palance and Martin Landau, Nutter remembers being cold a lot on set and the struggle to stay warm and being cast in the role. Both speak fondly of each other and director Graydon Clark and what it was like working on a small budget film. Nutter tells of destroying the shack in the field with the sheer volume of her scream, sure.  My favorite story from Nelson is a David Caruso story involving Palance threatening to punch him when he laughed during a scene, now that I would love to see!

Cinematographer Dean Cundey chimes in for about fifteen minutes about working with Greydon on four previous low budget films (Black Shampoo, Satan's Cheerleaders, Hi-Riders, Angels Brigade) and the ambitious low-budget production of Without Warning.  He warmly recollects working on the film just after finishing Halloween with John Carpenter despite being warned to stay away from exploitation films for the sake of his career and what a great experience it was.

There's also a brief six-minute interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator Greg Cannom who speaks about creating the low-budget effects for the film while Co-Writer/Co-Producer Daniel Grodnik speaks about his career producing films which includes slasher classic Terror Train and the comedy Star Hops. Extras are buttoned-up with trailers and still gallery plus a reversible sleeve of artwork.    

Special Features: 

-  Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Greydon Clark
-  INDEPENDENTS DAY: Interview with Cinematographer Dean Cundey (15 minutes) 

- PRODUCERS VS ALIENS: Interview with Co-Writer/Co-Producer Daniel Grodnik (11 minutes) 

- HUNTER'S BLOOD: Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator Greg Cannom

(6 minutes) 
- GREG AND SANDY'S ALIEN ADVENTURE: Interview with Actors Christopher S. Nelson and Tarah Nutter  (21 minutes) 

- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
- Still Gallery (4 minutes) 
- Scream Factory Trailers (5 minutes) 

Verdict: I love it when Scream Factory unearth these cult classics and spiff them up for the fans to enjoy. A few months ago they unearthed The Final Terror to Blu-ray and this is right up their with that one in my opinion - these would make a great double-feature. I love this weird slice of science fiction drive-in cinema with it's cast of oddball characters and low-budget charms, this is a fiendishly good time for cult film fans. It might not be a genuinely scary movie but it's certainly a fun relic of a bygone era with some nice atmosphere and alien creepiness.