Cheerleaders Wild Weekend (1979) Blu-ray Review
MVD Rewind

The MVD Rewind Collection has put out some great titles, and they’re still able to surprise me with films they choose to give that treatment to. Their latest release, Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend (1979), wasn’t something I expected. Also known as The Great American Girl Robbery, it is tonally all over the place. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a comedy, a thriller, or something else entirely.

It doesn’t matter to MVD since they went ahead and gave it the royal treatment with all the bells and whistles. I’d never seen the movie before this release, but the original cover art was something I would frequently eyeball at one of my endless trips to a video store in the early ’90s.

Fifteen cheerleaders from three different schools are on their way to the Sacramento State cheerleading competition. On the bus with the school nurse and driver, they partake in catty banter and tease other drivers before they find themselves in a dire situation. A group of disgruntled ex-football players hijacks the bus, and they take the girls to a secluded house in the woods and hold them for a two-million-dollar ransom. The girls are frightened, but they will have to make a choice: wait for someone to come rescue them or take matters into their own hands.

This film is just wacky in its presentation. It starts as a late-night comedy that veers off into something more serious but with weird plot twists. This includes a governor who won’t pay the ransom unless the parents take out a low-interest loan, the kidnappers talking the cheerleaders into having a beauty pageant, and a cheerleader with a chainsaw. Even with all of that and nudity, it is still somewhat tame.

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Jason Williams is great as the lead kidnapper, and Kristine DeBell is always a pleasure to watch. She’s best remembered as Jackie Chan’s co-star in The Big Brawl (1980). It’s an attractive cast, for sure, and obviously, it’s the selling point. The humor falls flat but when one of the kidnappers refers to his member as “soul-ami”, I laughed out loud. Jeff Werner only directed a handful of films, but Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend will most likely be what he’s remembered for.

The new HD transfer looks pretty amazing, and the disc also includes two audio commentary tracks: one with director Werner, actress Marilyn Joi, and editor Greg McClatchy, and the other with Kristine DeBell. There are interviews with DeBell, Jason Williams, Joi, and Leon Isaac Kennedy. It also features a photo gallery, a trailer, an alternate title card, a folded mini-poster, and a limited edition slipcover.

Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend is mildly entertaining, and I’m not sure it’s something I’d seek out on my own. However, I can see why it has a bit of a cult following, and this release will most definitely satisfy their appetite.

Cheerleaders Wild Weekend (1979) Blu-ray Review

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