Horror Movie Review: Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead (2022)

What is one of the most important things to get right in a musical comedy horror? Of course, it needs to be bloody, of course it needs to be funny, but more importantly, the songs need to be good. Just look at a film like the 2014 reimagining of Stage Fright, a basic slasher horror that was elevated by its songs, or the Christmas horror, Anna and the Apocalypse? A fairly mundane zombie flick that was way more enjoyable because of its songs.

I’m mentioning this because it applies to Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead. A zombie comedy horror that has tongue-in-cheek musical numbers, which should be enough to sell it to most. It certainly was enough to sell it to me. Yet, I came away incredibly disappointed by it. Not only is it painfully unfunny, but the musical numbers are all pretty bland. Delivered with very little energy and with very little bombast, there’s simply nothing memorable here at all.

It’s so frustrating, especially as the film, overall, isn’t bad and has some real charm about it. Written and directed by Pat Higgins, the film stars Charlie Bond as Emily, who has a phobia of cheerleaders. This stems from her past that saw her cheerleading grandmother go on a murderous rampage.

Taking advice from her therapist, Emily decides to join up with a cheerleading group of misfits who are taking part in a reality TV show. One that sees them competing against talents, but none more notable than an obnoxious boyband. Which is where a cursed amulet comes in. Long story short, the boy band are turned into zombies, hungry for flesh, but even hungrier for fame. The competition is still on, except this time, it’s a battle to stop the screeching dead.

It is a very silly premise with plenty of fun moments, but it never manages to live up to the promise of its premise. Not through any fault of a game cast who put a lot of effort into their characters, even if many of them are so bland too. As the star, Charlie Bond has to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but she does well, and her character is one of the most likable. As is James Hamer-Morton’s Hunter, who has the film’s best arc. These two do help lift something notably mundane.

Enough to save it? Not even close.

It all comes back to the same things, not only is Powertool Cheerleaders vs the Boyband of the Screeching Dead not funny, but most of the songs are just ‘meh’. It has so many failed attempts at humour, and far too few stick. Often, it’s at its best when two characters are just riffing on each other. Whereas the slapstick stuff, and there’s a lot of it, falls completely flat, even if there’s plenty of blood and gore.

The songs though. The appeal of this film is the musical aspect, and it falls so short. I can remember entire lines from the films mentioned at the start of this review, and I’ve not seen them in years. I watched this a few days ago, and I can’t even remember the beats.