Why So Blu?

All Cheerleaders Die (Blu-ray Review)

The Toronto International Film Festival particpant, All Cheerleaders Die is coming to Blu-ray after its short, limited theatrical run this past June.  A collective effort from Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, this horror-dark comedy feature is actually a remake of a super low budget film the duo made back in 2001.  Of these two directorial names, one name interested me in the film and the other frightened me of it.  Lucky McKee had made an indie horror film I really liked in 2002 called May.  He also did a Masters Of Horror episode and a film I didn’t see but generated some buzz called The Woman.  Chri Sivertson on the other hand, directed the abysmal Lindsay Lohan vehicle, I Know Who Killed Me.  While the film is terrible it did contain one of my favorite all time bad movie lines, “Sometimes people get cut. That’s life”.  Would good balance out evil here?  Or was this going to be another I Know Who Killed Me.

Film 

After Alexis dies during a cheerleading accident, her friend Maddy tries out to take her spot on the squad.  But, Maddy has alterior motives.  She is out to ruin senior year (and possibly the futures) of Alexis’ boyfriend and his new squeeze, Alexis BFF before she died, Tracy.  Things are going according to plan until Maddy and the cheerleaders are all killed in a car accident one night after being hunted by the jocks.  Maddy’s ex-girlfriend Leena uses her witchcraft to resurrect the cheerleaders.  Only now, they need human blood to keep their strength.  And they know just where to get it; the football players that sent them to their death.

When this film opened, I was frightened.  Not the scary, “horror movie” frightened mind you, the kind that was like “Uh oh, I am not going to like this movie”.  It was being told found footage, the character we were following was obnoxious and the movie was trying to be satirical or funny but it was failing.  BUT THEN!  Something big happened and caught me way off guard and I was hooked.  For the most part this was a pretty good movie.  A few times I found my interest starting to wane, but as soon as that started, the film brought me back in again.

All Cheerleaders Die is a nice mixture of horror and dark comedy.  It is able to find a healthy balance between being taken seriously and having some fun with itself.  For something I did think was going to be an all out comedy from the press materials and the stuff on the box, I was surprised at how serious it did take its character and content as a whole.  It knew when it was time to raise the stakes play ball.  I actually found myself on board and really enjoying many of these characters and the arc with which the film was producing.

I found myself having plenty of fun with All Cheerleaders Die.  I don’t want to give away a lot of it.  It was like a hybrid of The Craft, Jennifer’s Body and Mean Girls.  If you enjoyed any of those, I think you should check it out.  Also, I was really impressed with the films’  lead in that of Caitlin Stasey and hope to see her be someone on the rise.  I was into this movie enough in the end that when there was a hook for a possible sequel, I kind of got excited.  So, if there’s an All Cheerleaders Die Part Two in our future, mark me as being down.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2:35.1

Clarity/Detail: This is a nice crisp, clean modern image.  Detail is pretty strong.  Although, some of the CGI floating blood effects look kind of cheap and crappy due to the clarity of the image.  Overall, hair is neatly defined, as well as clothing fabrics and street surfaces.

Depth: There is a nice slightly above average 3 dimensional look between foreground characters and the background.  A good example is when the jock van first pulls up and there is a nice separation between the characters, van, background and interior of the van.

Black Levels: Black levels are solid help to craft a sharper image mask little to no detail.

Color Reproduction: 

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are consistent and natural in appearance.  On the lighter side of shading.

Noise/Artifacts: None witnessed.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH

Dynamics: This is a pretty awesome track.  Every aspect has really good balance and there is plenty variety on display.  Sound effects have range and sound natural.  The mix is quite good here.  Its a clean, clear and crisp track set to an ideal volume.

Low Frequency Extension: Oh yeah, this is the highlight of the track.  There are score hits, car engines, explosions, punches, zaps…all kinds of stuff that make your room go BOOM!  I was loving it.  The subwoofer is used in very impactful and surprising ways to enhance the film, but is never a distraction.

Surround Sound Presentation: There is much more than just score and ambiance throughout your home theater.  All Cheerleaders Die comes utilizes the rear speakers during a car chase and battles with mystical objects floating around.  Its an energetic and enthusiastic track.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is crisp, clear and never drowned out or distorted by any of the other audio aspects in the mix.

Extras 

All Cheerleaders Die comes with only one bonus feature to note.

Behind The Scenes (HD, 23:45) – This is an EPK looking at the production.  It mainly centers on the directors’ desires going into the film and has a lot about the actors’ auditions, character studies and backgrounds coming into the film.  Features interviews and on-set footage.

Summary 

All Cheerleaders Die was a pretty nice surprise.  I expected to at least be mildly amused on an exploitative level, but this was actually better than that.  It comes with a really great audio and video presentation.  The extra supplied is in the realm of “meh”, but its something.  At the right price, this should definitely please horror fans.  For me, I’m hoping that All Cheerleaders Die Part Two happens because I’d like to see more!