The cheerleading franchise gets a horror sequel in SYFY Channel’s latest original film!

Twenty years ago, a freak accident during a regional cheerleading competition resulted in the accidental death of a member of the champion Diablos. Since then, the use of stunts in routines has been considered forbidden. When Abby and McKayla, the co-captains of this year’s team, are preparing for regionals, they are warned by Miss Simmons, the principal, not to use any dangerous stunts.

Knowing they can’t win without practicing the stunts, they decide to look for a place for a 24-hour practice. They decide to go to an abandoned school on the other side of town. As the team arrives, things start off well despite the absence of McKayla. Soon enough, the team find out they are not alone. Someone has decked out in a Diablos mascot and begins to kill off the cheer squad one by one. Who is this mysterious killer and why have they picked today to start a terror wave?

Who would ever have imagined that Bring It On, a franchise known for its cheer routines, would ever go a horror route? Well, here we are in this seventh official installment of the cheer-tastic series. Where the other films always involved some sort of competition between rival cheer factions, this one has the cheerleaders against a new element: a masked killer.

Leading the charge is Kerri Medders, whose character of Abby is somewhat complicated. She cares about her team, yet she finds herself in a strange situation with her “boyfriend” Scott and a goth-like character in Evan, who seems to like her but has respect for her. Riverdale’s Tiera Skovbye makes the most of her role as co-captain McKayla, but a highlight character in the film is Alten Wilmot’s Mateo and his attempts to evade the killer’s apparent skills in archery. Another standout is the character of Alexandra Beaton’s Reagan as after all, with the BIO trend, there has to be the ditzy airhead character.

The kill scenes are more subtle considering this is a PG-13 rating. Most of the actual kills take place off screen, but the ones they keep in do quite well and are sure to please horror fans. The finale is quite interesting in that we see an homage to a certain 90’s horror classic but you will have to see for yourself.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die goes a different route than its predecessors and that’s totally okay. For a PG-13 slasher, it’s actually pretty watchable. Quite surprised considering its past history, but this is one installment I’d gladly watch as a time waster.

WFG RATING: B

A Universal 1440 Production. Director: Karen Lam. Producers: Griff Furst, Tony Gonzalez, and Eve Stewart. Writers: Rebekah McKendry, Alyson Fouse, and Dana Schwartz. Cinematography:  Editing: Lara Mazur and Eric Potter.

Cast: Kerri Medders, Alten Wilmot, Tiera Skovbye, Alexandra Beaton, Sierra Holder, Rudy Borgonia, Marlowe Zimmerman, Makena Zimmerman, Missi Pyle, Sam Robert Muik, Madison MacIsaac, Erika Prevost, Alec Carlos.