Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie Review

The Bring it On franchise, which began with with 2000's Bring It On is back with the seventh entry in the series. When last we saw anything from the young people inhabiting this cheerleading world in Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack, other than backflips, the focus was on social media. Taking a decidedly darker turn presumably to try and inject some new life into the series after a five-year absence by heading straight into horror territory, Bring It On: Cheer or Die simply has Elk Moore High School's Diablo cheer team focused on staying alive. Jaded as I may be, at several points during the film I had to wonder if the team's fight for survival mirrors that of the franchise's struggle for continued existence.

The film begins all the way back in 2002 with the Diablos squaring off against the Green Knights in a regional cheer competition. There is some tension between the captain and Sondra, a flyer, which ends with Sondra getting a bloody nose. Moments later, in the competition, the cheer captain is clearly done suffering whatever Sondra has been subjecting her to and launches her from the top of the formation. The rest of the team and the crowd can only watch helplessly as Sondra falls to her death. Fast-forward 20 years and an all new Diablo cheer team is back and they are once again preparing for regionals where they will square off against the Green Knights. However, Principal Simmons, expertly played by Missi Pyle (Galaxy Quest and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among many, many others), reminds team captain McKayla (Tiera Skovbye) and co- captain Abby (Kerri Medders) that out of and extreme level of caution stemming from that horrendous incident two decades ago, they are not to perform any dangerous stunts and one foot must be on the ground at all times. Simmons intones that it is only because her own daughter, Paige, is on the squad that she doesn't disband them entirely. The girls are understandably bothered by this as they know that they don't stand a chance in the competition without some sort acrobatic derring-do. So the team concocts the only plan they can to ensure their victory: move into the creepy, abandoned Elk Moore High School the weekend before regionals and practice a secret routine which will give them a fighting chance at victory. Despite the fact that it's Halloween weekend, the rest of the team agrees.

From here action transitions to the the older Elk Moore location, and to better ensure that the team maintains focus, they elect to put all of their phones into a bag kept safely stashed away. It's not long into practice before Regan (Alexandra Beaton) injures her ankle which prompts the squad to take a break while one of their number goes on a quest for ice in the old nurse's office. Any self-respecting fan of 80s horror knows exactly where this is going to go from here, and the film lives up to those expectations. Now that our teens have been separated, people start to disappear, and eventually, those disappearances are discovered to be murders and the survivors know that they're in a fight for their lives.

The cast has a few standouts worth mentioning. Missi Pyle for one. As Principal Simmons, she glowers, she threatens, she intimidates, but she keeps it relatively restrained. I kept expecting her to channel her inner Mary Woronov who excels at portraying evil headmistress types in a way that elevates the inherent campiness of those performances to nothing short of art. But Pyle's screen time is shamefully limited and she understands that, so she simply provides a reasonable level of authority without drawing the focus away from the cheerleaders. Alexandra Beaton does a commendable job in her role as Regan. Beaton, who viewers may recognize from Ride and The Next Step is one of the more talented actors in the young cast, and she is certainly the most comfortable with the moves required to be part of the Diablos team. Tiera Skovbye should be immediately recognizable to anyone who watched Riverdale, and while she is talented, she's unfortunately miscast here as a high school student. She simply doesn't look the part, having the physique and presence of someone no longer in their teens. Perhaps that's why she was the first go.

Director Karen Lam has handled horror before with 2020's The Curse of Willow Song and as a story editor for the first season of Van Helsing (a guilty pleasure of mine). However, she's not given much to work with here. The overall aesthetic of the film suggests it was crafted on a very modest budget. While we are at a cheer competition, save for a few crowded shots in the first minute of the film that play out under the opening credits, the crowds are largely absent. The crowd at the competition itself is numbered in the tens, those in attendance at the football game is is even smaller. The decommissioned high school is another clue. While the location may be an older building, the set dressing is insufficient to create the needed atmosphere, and as the horror portion of the film wants to tread on ground firmly established in 80s slasher films, atmosphere was and is everything. Despite the fact one of the characters states, "Looks like a trade school for future serial killers.", upon entering the building, it does not disguise the fact that we're simply dealing with some crooked desks, a few leaves, and the odd dislocated ceiling tile, none of which directly translates to "creepy". The location used in Slaughter High, that was creepy - the building was clearly dilapidated, grimy, and spooky. Here there isn't even a stray cobweb.

Also working against the production is its Scyfy channel roots. Premiering on that network back in October of 2022, it's squarely PG-13 material. The kills, those that we get to see, are largely bloodless. Even arterial wounds, which should generate a healthy arc of the red stuff, are bone dry. Comically, the bear trap in which one ill-fated character steps is unable to draw one drop of blood to stain her white sweatpants. A closer examination of the trap quickly reveals the source of this problem. The trap is toothless.

All of this leads to one important question; who is the intended audience? Is it cheer fanatics? If so, they're sure to be disappointed as the cheer competitions that bookend the film are very brief and shot in a way to imply far greater skill than what they actually show. We're never left amazed or breathless. Once we get into the body of the film there is only a bit of very basic practice to watch before the killing starts - which is probably not what they're tuning in to see. Is it horror fans? I doubt it. The Bring It On franchise is not the first place most folks looking for an old- school slasher would look, and absent solid production values, atmosphere, and escalating stakes they aren't going be left breathless either.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The film's typical cheer movie beginning and end give this 1080p transfer its best chance to shine. Reds and greens pop as the Diablos take on the Green Knights. Facial features show good amounts of fine detail, as do the uniforms of those competing. Once on the football field, there is a good deal of detail to be seen in the turf, and age, wear and scuffing are all visible on the floor of the old gym. Once into the bowels of old high school, the color scheme changes, and things are more muted. Here, only the red of the Diablo mascot really stands out, with its fur boasting good detail. Even though the bulk of the film's runtime is set in the dimly lit old high school, detail never really suffers and crush isn't an issue. Skin tones are generally very healthy. I didn't detect any banding, artifacting, or any other video issues.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is more than capable to handle what is asked of it in Bring It On: Cheer or Die. The track works the hardest in the two brief competition scenes where we are nicely immersed in the music of the competition, especially Republica's "Ready to Go", which pushes the track harder than anything else in the film. Even in those more noisy scenes, clarity remains satisfying and constant. Outside of those scenes, there isn't much asked of the track in terms of environmental sounds or atmospherics. The football game is a relatively quiet affair, which is fitting based on the sparsity of the crowd. Other sound effects, like those from the bus and the various weapons employed by the killer, are realisitic and have the appropriate gravity. The bulk of the film, however, is very front and center focused with relatively limited involvement from the surrounds. Dialogue is faithfully and competently rendered. It's a solid audio track. English SDH subtitles are available.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bring It On: Cheer or Die does not have any supplemental material.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bring It On: Cheer or Die is the product of the intersection of a teen cheer movie with an 80s slasher inside the bumpers of a PG-13 rating. As such, this odd creation won't do much to satisfy those looking for an energetic and acrobatic cheer movie, nor will it please horror buffs accustomed to a bit more blood and tension in their slashers. Those who do give this one a try should keep an eye out for an amusing and quick Gremlins reference snuck in at the end of a joke about a CD player in one of the film's more entertaining moments. Perhaps this one would work best for those who have never seen a horror movie before and want to start their journey into that land very, very slowly, but more seasoned viewers are likely to find Bring It On: Cheer or Die is a lot like that bear trap. Toothless.