October Movie Challenge: The Majorettes (1986)

Going back to 1986 again with some of the oldest-looking high school students so far.  I will say this, I am going be completely burned out on canned 80s synth-pop by November.  Though in typical 80s slasher flick fashion, we get about 5 minutes in before there is any gratuitous nudity or creepy stalkery types. This one gives us two, Harry AND his mother, Helga Schuler. Harry is a creepy Peeping Tom, and Helga is a live-in nurse who wants to kill her patient. Fun times.

The Majorettes (1986)

Someone is murdering the majorettes of a small Pennsylvania high school. For the record, I don't think my school had Majorettes. We had cheerleaders and pom-pom girls. Also, I don't know if I honestly know the difference, really. 

Anyway, the killings start right away. Our first victims are Tommy and Nicole. 

The killer wears military camouflage and a hood, stalks the girls when they are alone, and leaves their bodies in or near water. The murders appear to be part of some twisted religious ritual, with the killer believing he is cleansing the girls before they can become corrupted adults. The slasher is a surprise. 

The acting is, well, fairly terrible. But I wasn't expecting much. But seriously though, the gang is some of the worst acting I have seen in a long time. 

So it is based on a novel by John Russo, who also wrote the screenplay. It was filmed in western Pennsylvania. So maybe it would be closer to my Sunny Valley setting than Jackson or Carbon Vale.

That is, until the movie turns into a low-budget Rambo wannabe. I get it. It was the 80s. It feels like two movies that were being filmed at the same time with the same cast and then accidentally spliced together. The Slasher flick and the High School drug turf war. And in this case, the two halves don't add up to a good single movie. At all. 

Bottom line here is it doesn't matter if it is good or not; I am looking for the vibe. Majorettes by 1986 doesn't give us anything we have not already seen a 100 times. I mean, its competition is movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street. This would have been better if it had come out in, say, 1982. 

Jackson, IL Connections

So the ending got me thinking. Cheerleaders are favored prey of these slashers. And that could be true in Jackson too, except for one thing: my head cheerleader is a witch. And the football team's co-captain is a Divine Warrior. So my kids have teeth. 

Granted, this is not terribly different than the premise of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," NIGHT SHIFT's older step-sister, and I do like subverting clichés too. The pretty blonde cheerleader does not have to be the first victim. The football player does not have to be the dumb jock who wanders off alone. They can be the people the monster should have avoided.

Stephanie would take an attack on herself personally, of course, but she would handle it. An attack on one of her cheerleaders would be something else entirely. Stephanie does not merely lead the squad. She knows those girls, watches over them, and considers their safety part of her responsibility. She is their protector. 

As she might tell the killer:

"Come after me, and I'll deal with it. Come after my girls? We are going to have a fucking problem. And by 'we,' I mean 'you.'" 

The dynamic changes when the supposed helpless victim start to throw fireballs. "Oh! You have a knife." Her hands burst into flames. "That's just adorable."

Yeah. I might need to find some other victims.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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