Horror Movie Review: The Cheerleader Sleepover Slaughter (2022)

It’s fair to say that most viewers will have certain expectations when seeing a title like The Cheerleader Sleepover Slaughter. It screams campy slasher horror with its tongue jammed in its cheek. A movie filled with blood and boobs, a throwback to old-fashioned slasher horrors like The Slumber Party Massacre.

Alas, as fun as this could have been, The Cheerleader Sleepover Slaughter has a more serious tone, is disappointingly light on blood, but does pack out the movie with boobs (and more). Beginning in hopeful fashion as the nudity and blood is thrown at the screen, writer and director Christopher Leto ends up focusing more on a ‘whodunit’ rather than the fun side of cheerleaders being offed by a masked killer at the annual cheerleader sleepover.

All the elements are there. Vapid characters with little difference between them, preferring to twerk to awful hip-hop tunes (which we often get to hear in full), then be decent human beings. Horny guys who crash the party. A host that is so desperate to be accepted into the popular group, that she will do anything. Her gay best friend who is super supportive, even if he dislikes how she panders to the popular girls.

There’s nothing here, even if the cast are game (especially those who take their clothes off on demand).

The problem is that following a frantic opening, things slow down, and momentum is never regained. In a movie that is barely an hour long, this is unacceptable and makes it feel like more of a chore to watch. The lack of tension, excitement, or scares is notable. If it wasn’t for the egregious nudity, and occasional splash of blood, it would be hard to call this a horror movie.

Even the ‘whodunit’ aspects fail to spark as the killer is fairly predictable, and the reveal doesn’t make for a satisfying finale. Although at least this finale is bloody, it’s just a surprise that only the beginning and the ending really ups the ante in regards to gore. This really should have been a brash and brutal homage to old-school slashers, it has the bodies for it.

It’s a horror movie that will be forgotten almost immediately after viewing, although fans of Christopher Leto’s other work might enjoy the reference to his other film, Die Die Delta Pie. Is this a sequel? A shared universe? It’s hard to think that anyone will really care either way.