Pep Squad

Pep Squad: 1998


High school movies are a great American staple. Most memorable movie moments are high school movies, like quoting dialogue from Clueless or Phoebe Cates showing her tits in Fast Times at Richmond High. These movies take us back to experiences we didn't have but are fun to watch anyway. The two types of high school movies that work are the sex themed or black comedies. A morbid yet comedic look into high school is always entertaining, like Heathers, making light of suicide and school violence or Jawbreaker making accidentally murdering your best friend seem hilarious. Pep Squad is the latest Troma release and it's completely fucked up in all the right ways.

In small town Kansas, prom season is in full swing and all the senior girls want the crown, but some girls want it more than others. Mega bitch Cherry is that one girl who desperately wants to be prom queen but doesn't get the nomination. So she does what every rational teenage girl does, kills off the competition. Meanwhile Beth and her two new friends Julie and Scott accidentally kill the principal and try their best to hide it. Proms can bring out the worst in everybody.

Pep Squad was a really entertaining movie to watch. Ignore the bad acting and just enjoy the morbid campiness. There were many camp things to enjoy like character Terras horrible fashion (white lipstick...all im saying) and the stylized murder scenes. Cherry makes the movie because her quest for prom queen is absurd yet works for this movie. Its funny how she kills off the competition and doesn't do it secretly, she does it point blank and thats pretty badass. What took me by surprise was a school shooting scene that for its time, 1998, may have seemed shocking but worked, as sick as that may sound. The ending scene with Cherry was really wonderful, I'm not going to give anything away I'm just saying it was fantastic.

If you wish your high school memories consisted of rampant murder and cover ups then Pep Squad is the film for you. Every decade needs a fucked up high school film. The 1980s had the brilliant Heathers and the 1990s belong to this movie. The 2000s lacked with morbid high school movies but did supply us with lots of sexy ones (and High School Musical, but that doesn't count because its terrible). Pep Squad will be a must watch when it comes out in May.

Class of Nuke 'Em High

Class of Nuke 'Em High: 1986


When it comes to B-Movie gold you can turn to TROMA for it. Say what you want about their movies but most of them are pretty great. This one in particular is great and for once had pretty decent reviews. Class of Nuke 'Em High is that gem of a film that offers all your basics in a high school film.....a love story, a gang, drug use, sex, violence and a cautionary tale. So sit back and relive your high school days if you lived near nuclear power.

Class of Nuke 'Em High is the story of a high school built near a nuclear power plant. Tromaville is known for its nuclear power and if youve seen enough TROMA films you would know this is a terrible place to live. But the townspeople dont seem to mind the fact that this power plant is screwing up their children, typical American parents. How can a tiny nuclear power plant be messing up this towns teens? Turns out the honor society is now a vicious motorcycle gang. There is also a love story between two typical white blonde hair teens who get high off nuclear marijuana, have crazy sex, hallucinate, turn into monsters for a brief period of time, gives birth to a monster that winds up destroying the school and have things go back to normal...typical high school stuff.

This movie has a plus and a minus, The plus being the honor society. It's a really sweet concept to have the schools brightest students becoming violent and drug selling. Also the costumes were of course awesome 80s style which no one can resist. The minus is the huge plot holes with the honor society. One being that its never explained why and how these teens were turned into a biker gang, And this one teen boy has breast but none of the other gang members have any deformities. But one can ignore the plot holes and enjoy the film for what it is. I applaud the fact that this movie is kind of a cautionary tale, cautionary being dont do drugs and have sex or you will give birth to a monster. And dont build nuclear power plants in small towns because it will fuck up your children and you wont gain profit from it.

A final note being that the theme song and soundtrack is awesomely 80s which as mentioned before no one can resist. Class of Nuke 'Em High is a really good time to watch. If you're looking for a fun movie to watch that has a lot of thought put into it but doesn't seem like it does then this is the right movie for you. It's your typical high school film but better.

Surf Nazi's Must Die

Ok i know its been way to long since i posted in this awful thing and im sorry. A blog is like owning a dog, its fun at first and then you forget about it and watch it die slowly...hopefully I can bring this blog back to life. My new focus will be reviewing or talking about classic Camp, Grindhouse movies....My goal is to make these wonderfully terrible movies seem golden. So enjoy with this first review on a great film




SURF NAZIS MUST DIE: 1987

If you ever went to a video store and saw this movie on the shelf you would think "hey this looks interesting", but if your one of those people who reads reviews before they rent or watch a movie then you will know that this movie had terrible reviews. Most exploitation films have this problem, they get awful reviews but have a wide-span cult audience. Critics have called this movie "Boring", "Hard to follow", "Terrible acting" and so on but with a name like SURF NAZIS MUST DIE what do you expect. When you really look at it (like I did) you will see how great this movie is when it comes to plot and idea. You have to also love the fact that its from TROMA and you can always get a good time from them. Its like buying a whore, you know its bad for you but you will have the best time.

This movie begins in the future where an earthquake leaves the California coastline in ruins and for some reason has the beaches ruled by chaos and gangs. One gang that not only rules the beaches but other gangs are called the Surf Nazis. The Surf Nazis are cruel and take advantage of this disaster by robbing people, killing off rival gangs and surfing. Meanwhile a man named Leroy takes his "Mama" to a retirement home because when your parents reach a certain age that is the appropriate thing to do. When the Surf Nazis make the mistake of killing Leroy his "Mama" goes batshit and kills off these honkey neo-nazis the only way an old black lady can do it....Brutally.

One great thing I loved about this movie was the surfer gangs. Not only did you have the Surf Nazis who have the obvious nicknames like Adolf and Eva but you had other rival themed gangs like the Designer Wave who were the typical 80s new wavers and the obvious stereotypical Asian gang who know kung-fu. It's a power struggle on who will own the beach and who will get to surf, sure it sounds ridiculous but even beaches need gangs. Why should bars and inner-cities have all the fun.

Another thing thats good and you never really find in mainstream movies is a woman taking matters into her own hands. And were talking about an old black lady who goes out to avenge her son. Alot of these old movies had women being the heroes and not being offensive about it, it shows the true power of a woman when you piss her off. Mainstream Hollywood fails at feminism, but grindhouse Hollywood finds a way to make it work even when it doesn't seem like it. When casting either old woman or black woman or both you usually see them as victim and have to feel bad for them, Not Leroy's Mama, she does what a woman should do when her child is murdered by surfer gangs...and thats kill them. Im not promoting female vigilante-ism, im just saying I applaud this movie for doing so.

Finally, the soundtrack was awesomely 80s which is a plus, the violence was excellent....How many times do you see people get killed by surf boards and speed boats. Thats another thing that worked out well, limited use of a gun, there is so many ways to kill someone why limit yourself with a gun. Granted the acting was terrible but who cares, this was still an enjoyable movie. Give SURF NAZIS MUST DIE a chance....it's not Oscar gold, but it is a good time.