‘Bring It On: Cheer or Die’ Review – Unexpected Slasher Movie Fails to Land a High Score

The 2000 hit Deliver It On was became a franchise after doing properly on the field workplace and incomes a spot amongst different iconic teen motion pictures. But with 5 so-so sequels underneath its skirt, every one roughly performing the identical routine as the unique, it is smart for the sequence to attempt one thing new. The newest Deliver It On scores huge factors for stepping exterior the field and trying to reinvent itself, however this style outing has a less than excellent dismount.

Deliver It On: Cheer or Die (initially titled Deliver It On: Halloween) marks a primary within the franchise; the seventh installment is touted as a horror film. And with slashers being common once more, it appears solely pure for the cheerleaders at Elk Moore Excessive to be the targets of a wicked and disguised killer. Earlier than any precise slashing takes place, although, the story opens with a flashback. After a cheerleader dies throughout a contest in 2002, the cheer program is cancelled till Abby and McKayla (Kerri Medders, Tiera Skovbye) petition for its reinstatement within the current day. The hammy-as-hell principal’s (Missi Pyle) solely stipulation is there might be no cheer stunts, in any other case somebody may get damage once more.

Shock shock, Abby and McKayla don’t heed the principal’s “no stunts” rule as a result of in any other case, they don’t stand an opportunity at Regionals. Their drive to win then evokes a last-minute coaching sesh on the faculty’s outdated and deserted campus through the Halloween weekend. Since they clearly can’t let anybody know they’re there, the mysterious killer makes use of this as a possibility to choose the spirit members off one after the other. Hiding contained in the Diablos’ mascot costume, the assailant makes use of every part from arrows to throwing knives to completely dismantle this cheer squad.

Regardless of prior experiences of this sequel ditching the humor, Deliver It On: Cheer or Die is a comedy. The one drawback is the film’s not all that humorous. Many of the jokes fall flat, typically because of listless supply. The uncommon moments of cleverness come from the characters utilizing their cheerleading skills to evade or inflict hurt. Extra of that may have added to the film’s camp worth.

As a lot because the film fumbles as a comedy, it succeeds even much less as a slasher. The PG-13 score limits what might be accomplished and seen, but there’s no actual try and work throughout the system. The kills are as uninspired as they’re limp to have a look at. And as soon as the killer is unmasked — which may have occurred later slightly than sooner — the already overlong story fills time by having the survivors play a goofy sport (additionally the film’s namesake).

Cheer or Die is applauded for making an attempt to breathe new life into an old-hat sequence. Tweaking the formulation to incorporate a whodunit is intelligent, although the follow-through leaves lots to be desired. This oddball sequel struggles to discover a steadiness between its roots and its imaginative and prescient, solely inflicting the film to don’t have any actual identification ultimately. Even worse, it by no means takes full benefit of a artistic idea.

Deliver It On: Cheer or Die is accessible for Digital rental and buy on DVD beginning on September 27, and it’ll additionally premiere on SYFY on October 8.