The Cheerleader Sleepover Slaughter (2022) by Christopher Leto

Director: Christopher Leto

Year: 2022

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Preparing for an upcoming game, the members of a high school cheerleading squad try to put the strange disappearances of their teammates behind them to partake in a special sleepover, but when they find a mysterious killer has arrived they learn the connection behind it that puts them in danger.

Review:

This here wasn't too bad of an indie effort. That this one serves as an excuse to provide the basic barebones setup of a slasher is a nice touch, getting a great setup of their relationships together while also giving enough of a look into their personal lives to understand the situation. As the bodies dropping is made all the more unaware of due to the events taking place that could just be written off and setting up the mystery about their disappearances leading up to the fateful slumber party, there's some fun to be had here involving the water wannabe trying to get on the squad while bringing up the kind of simplistic slasher setup featuring the killer going around knocking them off to set the stage for the final half.

The final half, featuring the killer's motivations while also dealing with the series of fun encounters and ambushes around the house during the main slumber party, has quite a lot to like here as the kills are better than expected and pulled off incredibly well. Putting all the main stalking here after a few brief bits beforehand is a nice move with a lot to like here, and is certainly enough to hold it up over its main but somewhat detrimental flaw in the low-budget origins being quite obvious. It's mostly on the sight of the casting as the sight of the pierced, tattooed, and mature look for high-school teenagers is somewhat comical, but also the singular-location setup that has no interaction from anyone else or its length that still needs padding show this off and are a factor against this one.

Overview: **.5/5

Generally pretty enjoyable for this type of film, this one comes off as a rather solid if still somewhat flawed indie slasher with some likable elements. Those who appreciate this kind of genre style, are hardcore indie slasher fanatics, or enjoy the creative crew will like this one the most while those that don't care for any of those factors should need caution here.