Powertool Cheerleaders Vs Boyband of the screeching dead Review

Powertool cheerleaders and the boyband of the screeching dead.

I need to put up a few things. I donated to the crowd funder. You can see me in the film. The Buzz around this film is the most targeted smash indie feature in the UK. I have not seen so much traction and interest in fan-fuelled and funded fantasy flic since ‘Iron Sky.’ The film does everything it can to throw its pom-pom punches.

We start with Emily, a timid and dimidiated waitress with anger management issues choosing some ad-hoc therapy by forming her cheerleading squad; once she recruits her ragtag misfit,s a road to emotional rehab and social success beckons. All leading to the showcase competition on tv with only their rivals, the boyband starmen, shuffling in their way.

The rivalry soon reaches fever pitch as curses and wishes are made, and death and mayhem become bywords for the film, reaching a crescendo of high kicks and heads hit right off the body.  If you want zombies, cheerleaders, chainsaws, and charm, then you will get it in this feature.

The film does have a scatological quality that can make it difficult to key into at points.

It works best, and to a degree, it seems to have been designed with the notions of an ‘immersive experience’ as an almost ‘sing a long a resident evil’ with some great music video and montage moments. “Exorcising grandma” has suspense and humor reminiscent of ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’. And the confluence of threat and charm shines through the fantastic special effects as James Hammer Morten belts out ‘one of the good ones,’ a mantra of dodgy blokes everywhere. James also carries a lot of the ambiguity of the movie,e being simultaneously sympathetic and yet sinister.

So with significant effects and good songs, the weakest link seems to be in the story itself.

While the committed cas are pushing the charm and some technical aplomb to keep the audience entertained in the most expository scenes. The film relies too heavily on saying, “hey, it’s only a movie,” and being so fucking knowing it smacks of reading a Reddit forum written by a 15-year-old boy working his way up to being an incel. Weird gaps in what is going on regarding how the power cheer has become a team after a short introduction can detract from any sense of following a plot. It’s a distraction technique akin to giving a baboon three sambucas and a big bag of Haribo and filming it throwing shapes in Ibiza. 

There are some great gags in there, and Mr.Scuttle and his origin and motivation could make a short feature in and of itself. Even a dead guy on the floor is a neat twist on the ‘henchmen’ gag from Austin powers.  

As a fright-fest choice, it’s an apt theatre piece. I see this running late in prince Charles with a loyal fan base. The cast, production, camera, and lighting have drawn real magic on a shoestring. It is a film that has a lot of heart.

And amidst the loaded level ‘bants,’ there are some brains behind the more potent gags.

But it needed to commit to a sense and stick to it. It’s one thing for a joke to die on screen, but to be so timid you write another three minutes capering and sniggering around its corpse is offensive..

If it only had the nerve. An excellent entertaining film for friends and a few brews. A good night out