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Majorettes (1987) - Blu-ray Review

4 beersBad Acting.  Bad dialogue.  Bad movie, right?  Not quite.  There are exceptions.  The Majorettes, starring Kevin Kindlin, Terrie Godfrey, Mark Jevicky, and Thomas E. Desrocher, is one of those.  This psychosexual charged flick owes much of its creative prowess to its creators’ original involvement in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

There’s something very interesting in how The Majorettes, a low budget slasher flick from the tail end of the 1980s, actually plays out.  The film follows a very predictable pattern, but slips in just enough oddball moments of mystery and religious imagery to keep us hooked.  Complete with teenagers doing things in parked cars they ought not to do and a knife wielding masked killer, the horror film manages to stumble its way to an action-heavy conclusion that defies the conventions at the time.  No wonder then that the film finds itself arriving on blu-ray this week.

Written by John Russo (Night of the Living Dead) and directed by Bill Hinzman, The Majorettes opens with an awful dance routine from – you guessed it – the various members of the majorettes.  They each get their solo spins, too.  Everyone’s watching.  The whole point of the high school number is to get the girls creeped out by the janitor’s gawking gaze.  They should be.  Turns out, he’s got the school covered in nasty litte peepholes where he goes to work taking nude photographs of the squad.  In and out of the shower, you name it and he’s got it.  The girls are blissfully unaware.

It’s not until one sneaky member of the squad tries to con a nerd with a “surprise, the baby is yours!” moment that the killing begins.  They are in a parked car.  Surrounded by a thick canopy of trees, they hear a noise in the woods.  A man – dressed from head to toe in camouflage – jumps onto the roof.  He slashes his way into the car, killing the boy first.  Then he chases down the girl.    Here’s where the film slips in the first unexpected moment.  As the killer begins to lay the girl down, the film cuts back and forth to a child being baptized in the city lake.

It won’t be the last interesting moment in this Z-grade flick.  The kills – featuring one poor soul being ripped through the roof of a car by his hair – are numerous and solid.  Let the red food coloring dye flow!

One by one, the squad is taken out by this killer.  But things get really interesting when the peeping janitor – snapping photos of another nude majorette in the shower – actually snaps one of the killer himself.  Now, he and his mother – who really wants to take possession of one of the majorette’s mansion – have blackmail material.  Can they get him to do their bidding in order to secure their acquisition of the house?   

But that’s only one of the subplots.  There’s one involving a revenge-seeking gang of leather-clad punks, another involving a low-rent detective, and then, of course, there’s the janitor’s story.  All of these converge onto the scene in a town plagued by the killing of the high school girls who turn him on.  But who is it?  Even that twist is a shocker and the ending is an unsettling glimpse into things to come for the small town.

Released on 1080p by Shriek Show, The Majorettes makes for an unforgettable return to the blood-soaked field of its youth.  Sis, boom, bah, you’re dead!

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Majorettes (1987) - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime:
92 mins
Director
: Bill Hinzman
Writer:
John A. Russo
Cast:
Kevin Kindlin, Terrie Godfrey, Mark V. Jevicky
Genre
: Action | Crime
Tagline:
Sis, Boom, Blood. You're Dead!
Memorable Movie Quote: "He's determined to come after us, one by one."
Theatrical Distributor:
No theatrical release
Official Site:
Release Date:
No theatrical release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
October 24, 2016
Synopsis: A hooded psycho is murdering high-school girls. A devil-worshiping, drug-dealing biker gang is suspected.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Majorettes (1987) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Media Blasters, INC DVD
Available on Blu-ray
- October 24, 2016
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: LPCM 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Shriek Show presents The Majorettes on 1080p with a strong HD upgrade.  The gore is gooey and the attacks are vicious.  Black levels are deep.  Reds are strong.  The scenes in the movie that are out in the open air are quiet lively, pushing heavy greens and browns.  Textures are detailed and skin tones are ripe with visual flair.  Night scenes suffer only a bit from the play of shadows against pitch-black sky.  There are a couple of instances of dirt and debris.  The sound is presented in an adequate PCM Mono track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

Surprisingly loaded, the blu-ray disc includes the film’s soundtrack, still galleries, and a detailed look at the making of the movie with NEW interviews from the filmmakers which should really appease fans of this one.

  • One By One Featurette
  • Original European Trailer
  • Photo Gallery
  • Soundtrack
  • American Killer (Scenes from the German Version)
  • Bill Hinzman Trailers

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Majorettes (1987) - Blu-ray Review

 

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