Thursday, July 22, 2021

Do Not Reply, Slaughter of the Cheerleaders

We don't get enough movies anymore about cheerleaders in peril.  Perhaps in a more enlightened time (yeah, right!) this is too gauche!  Still...the honest among us wants to see these exploitation films.  Then, mix it in with a slasher, then...well, we got a good one.  2019's "Do Not Reply" is sort of a slasher/exploitation film that may have a deeper message about the dangers of our smartphone era on our youth.  Still, we have pretty cheerleaders in much danger and a mean slasher who desires to rape and slash them up. Directed by Daniel and Walter Woltosz,  our film today is a first class thriller and not as prurient as it could be.

Chelsea (Amanda Arcuri) feels a bit neglected by her parents and friends.  She is a high school kid with no boyfriend and a need to talk.  Uh oh...she finds someone.  A sweet sort on a chat app who seems to be her soul mate, Brad (Jackson Rathbone).  He lures her to an alcohol infested warehouse party, spikes her drink and abducts her.  Oh yes, Brad made sure Chelsea wore her cheerleader uniform to the event.  Now Chelsea is chained in a dingy, rat infested cellar.  Brad comes down to humiliate and brainwash her.  Then we meet the nubile cheerleader, Meagan (Kerri Medders).  Meagan is already brainwashed and loves Brad.  Then we meet another captured cheerleader, Heather ( Elise Luthman), also brainwashed. 

We'll meet others, and it won't be pretty.  Chelsea is allowed out of her chains and the cellar because Brad and the other babes believe she is brainwashed.  She isn't.  Now Chelsea tries to find a means of escape.  Unfortunately for her she meets another cheerleader who is almost dead.  Seeing what her fate is and the fate of the other cheerleaders, she prowls the house and discovers just what Brad is up to...and it is perverted and evil.  Uh oh, Brad is onto her and now Chelsea must resort to some icky methods to get back on his good side before he turns very large blades on her.

Just what is Brad up to?  Does Chelsea have any shot at un-brainwashing the other cheerleader abductees?  As the beautiful die horribly, the surviving cheerleaders must man-up and take the fight to a homicidal and perverted psycho.  Exploitation galore with a touch of 80s slasher, "Do Not Reply" can boast of an attractive cast and big knives.  See "Do Not Reply" and get inspired to see some of the 1970s cheerleadersploitation (I invented that term) films that used to grace our drive-ins.  

1 comment: