Even though the overall quality level of "Pandemonium" is just average, I don't believe I ever laughed as hard in my life as I did with one of the dumb jokes here. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, there's a scene where an elderly Romanian and superstitious woman bumps into a couple of teenagers running around the house at night. She asks: "Are you frightened of the night?", to which the boy replies: "Baloney!" and then the old lady looks very confused and mumbles in herself: "You're frightened of baloney??". Okay, admittedly this is a really dumb gag, but it was actually so hilarious that I nearly choked in my drink and laughed for five minutes straight. There are a handful more of jokes like this, genuinely hilarious I mean, but also a whole lot of embarrassing moments. Still, in comparison with the other contemporary horror spoofs/parodies – like "Wacko" and "Saturday the 14th" – this one is fairly successful. The opening sequences are in good old-fashioned Hammer Studios style, with Gothic music and (completely irrelevant) images of a traditional castle. Back in the early 60's there was a serial killer targeting the young and obnoxious cheerleaders at a summer camp. He/she killed so many of them that they eventually had to shut down the camp, but now a former employee intends to reopen it. Naturally, the grand reopening coincides with the return of the killer. There are several inventive characters in "Pandemonium", including the Canadian Mountie and his inseparable horse (and I do mean inseparable) and a Carrie who fires off laser beams with her eyes. The film is well- directed, oddly enough by the same guy who made the hugely suspenseful "Alice, Sweet Alice".

whenever I rate a comedy, i rate how much i laughed, and to be honest i laughed quite a bit while watching this lesser known horror spoof. the acting is actually decent, everyone does a fine job. I'm also going to have to disagree with everyone who said Paul Rebuens was the best part of the film, he wasn't in my opinion, he was rather annoying actually. I also smiled every time Tom Smothers said oot instead of out, hah. anyway I must say this is a rather enjoyable comedy that hits more then it misses, I was not disappointed and I would recommend people to watch this lesser known comedy film, it's tons better then ungodly crap like Meet the Spartans, of course i'm sure every comedy ever made is better then any of the goddawful tripe those fools put out, but that's another review for another time, eh? I'd probably rate this a 7 or an 8 out of ten, but i've never been that good with ratings ya know, it's a good comedy, it's no "Blazing Saddles" but it's worth the 82 minute run time to watch.

In the wake of the monumentally successful "Airplane!" came dozens of parody/spoof films in the same vein (or attempting to be in the same vein.) This one has to count as an attempt, and a fairly poor one at that. Someone has been killing cheerleaders for decades near the town of It Had to Be, Indiana. (Thus giving the film makers the opportunity to have a university called It Had to Be U.....) It falls to Smothers, as a Canadian Mountie, to crack the case. Azzara has just begun a cheerleading camp (with participants Candy, Sandy, Mandy, Andy, Randy and Glenn) and, before too long, the killer starts to pick them all off. Also on the loose are a prison escapee and a mental asylum escapee. The plot is deliberately slim (and even then doesn't really make much sense) to make way for the various (mostly horrible) jokes and sight gags. Among the many stabs at humor, only a scant few things emerge as even remotely amusing. What makes the film palatable, if it is at all, is the cast of familiar faces (some quite surprising along the way) and the general amiability of the film. Meant as a spoof of "Friday the 13th" (it was even called "Thursday the 12th" in pre-production), it lacks the graphic violence and vulgarity of that film and its sequels and opts for a kinder, more coy approach. This disappoints fans of the actual slasher movies and is aimed more toward an audience who probably doesn't even really watch such films! Smothers (headlining a feature film in 1982?) doesn't really have a lot to do, but does fit his role well and utilizes his deadpan style admirably. (His horse tends to get more laughs than anybody!) Reubens, as his assistant, basically does an adult extension of his Pee Wee Herman character to middling effect. Most of the high school cheerleaders are (as an in joke to the genre) pushing 30 and they all try to bring a lot of energy and spark to the proceedings, but they have been left out to dry with substandard gags and even more substandard direction. The jokes and potentially humorous visuals are often filmed with minimal creativity and impact. A few amusing things slide through such as a trip to a (really!) greasy spoon diner and a planeload of Japanese (who employ an unexpected and ludicrously funny stewardess.) If one doesn't expect much and gets enjoyment out of intentionally stupid humor (and checking out some stars before and after they were stars), it isn't that hard to get through and is mercifully brief. It pales mightily next to anything Jim Abrahms and the Zucker Brothers did, though. Hunky Hunter, as a football star, shows more animation here than he did during his whole career as a contract actor! Arden looks terrific, but should have skipped this. "Grease" was one thing, but... Many other notable character actors turn up briefly with varied results.

would be funnier than this incredibly LAME parody of slasher movies. Even Mel Brooks' later films, using a scattergun approach to comedy, at least occasionally got something to stick to the side of the barn. Not so with this film, which is so utterly lacking in laughs that it could be used to induce clinical depression. What's amazing is how many relatively big names there are in the cast, many of them normally funny people (Carol Kane, Donald O'Connor, Pee-Wee Herman) - that is, when given decent material with which to work. Other casting, though, is really inexplicable, like Tab Hunter as a college football player (he's clearly at least 20 years too old for the role). The whole enterprise reeks of Canadian tax write-off.