FrightFest 2014: All Cheerleaders Die reaction

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Give us a B! Give us an L! Give us an O-O-D!

An audacious second act twist rescues this frenetic high-school horredy from predictability, ensuring that while All Cheerleaders Die is far from perfect, it has a few sly surprises up its sleeves.

Things get ugly, though, when Maddy falls for one of her fellow cheerleaders, irking both her witch-y ex-girlfriend Leena (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) and football player Terry (Tom Williamson).

A brutal confrontation and a car crash later, and Maddy's quest for vengeance is directed away from the cheerleaders...

The film's tired found-footage opening gambit inspires little hope that All Cheerleaders Die will offer anything new, so it's a welcome surprise when its plot takes an unexpected swerve into paganism, blood-sucking and body-swapping.

The ensuing battle of the sexes (this really should be called Jocks Vs Cheerleaders ) results in an enjoyably off-beat tone and some fun, grisly set-pieces.

It's also refreshing to see a horror film that puts its female players first, bestowing them with strong characterisation and the odd cracking one-liner. (Even if it does somewhat undermine itself with psychic orgasms and bare midriffs.)

Sadly, things come unstuck in the film's sloppy final act. As the carnage mounts, McKee and Sivertson struggle to bring their bombastic cauldron of crazy ideas to a boil.

What should have been a bombastic climax feels frustratingly limp. Worse still, the final scene threatens a sequel, despite the fact that All Cheerleaders Die has long since run out of ideas.

Did you see All Cheerleaders Die at FrightFest? Tell us your thoughts below!

Joshua Winning

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.