Cheerleaders from three California schools are packed onto a bus with strict (read lesbian) coach Frankie (Courtney Sands) to head up to Sacramento for the state finals. After competing in a flashing contest to make a farmer drive off the road, the bus is stopped by a road block. This is actually a ploy to get the driver off the bus so disgraced jocks Wayne (co-writer/associate producer Jason Williams, FLESH GORDON) and George (Anthony Lewis) who kidnap the girls and hold them for ransom with the help of turncoat Frankie, dimwitted Big John (John Albert), and sensitive Billy (Robert Houston, THE HILLS HAVE EYES). The state is not willing to pay the 2 million dollars but (in a hilarious scene) a representative Franklin Franklin (Andrew J. Kuehn, whose company Kaleidoscope Pictures was one of the leading trailer cutters) says the government is introducing legislation to allow the parents of the missing girls to borrow their share of the ransom at a low interest rate (provided they meet the registration requirements). After several unsuccessful escape attempts the girls realize that they must stop fighting each other (given the socio-economic and racial divides of the three schools; the commentators only somewhat jokingly refer to the cat-fighting as "class warfare") and work together using their bodies and their brains. Meanwhile, Wayne and Billy collect the ransom in an intricate and funny sequence that deserves a film all to itself. The question as to why this film had three releases on the grindhouse circuit and has been lavished with special features for this DVD release is answered by just how enjoyable this film is thanks to game actors, nudity, humor, and a more-ambitious-than-usual plot. Both the cheerleaders' method of turning the tables on their captors and the kidnappers collection of the ransom are stand-out sequences (chased by the cops on foot and by car, Wayne dodges them like a football player with the money bag as the game ball and the cheerleaders come up with an original escape-by-panty solution). The radical shifts in tone never put the viewer off. There is also an "A Chorus Line" striptease beauty pageant scene which seems odd given that they are being held captive but it does emphasize the competitive nature of the girls but there is also a would-be rape scene (filmed but cut as a too-extreme tone shift) and one of the cheerleaders wields a chainsaw against her pursuer like a reversal of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in a well-shot day-for-night woodland chase. Several of the cast and crew went on to lucrative movie careers (Houston was nominated for and won several awards for his documentaries including an Oscar, producer Chuck Russell has gone on to be a director, sound editor Stephen Flick is an award-winning sound designer, and A.D. Tom Jacobson is a successful producer).

Eric Cotenas