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 Cheerleader
Camp 2
was first brought to attention in John Stanley's Creature Features,
which lead fans to wonder about the film. The "review" had been
based on early announcements by Prism Pictures, who distributed
the first Cheerleader Camp on video but then went out
of business. Around the same time, Paramax mounted a movie called
Millennium Countdown which held many coincidences...
Betsy Russell and the late George "Buck" Flower, both from Cheerleader
Camp were cast as original characters - Betsy playing a
character named Jamie and George as a hobo. And, like the camp
slasher, the casting of Playboy Playmates. Peggy Sanders had
a role, also starring were Suzanne Ager, Dori Courtney,
Erika Nann, Vincent Van Patten, and scream queen Michelle Bauer
(as Betsy Russell's body double).
Not really a slasher at all, but a softcore horror film. Three sexy
sorority sisters opt for camping in the woods with a handsome
professor instead of a Palm Springs spring break. However, their
orgy is interrupted when some Druids find them and decide they
need to sacrifice them to prevent the apocalypse at the start
of the new millennium.
Thomas Keith wrote and directed the film, with noted low budget auteur
Fred Olen Ray shooting the opening scene as a favor. It was
shot in California. After then, it sat on the shelf, only briefly
being released as Camp Fear before ultimately becoming
available in the early 2000s - only via Paramax directly - under
its Millennium Countdown title.
Rumors
over the years of Uma Thurman in an early role and alternate
titles such as Summerhouse Slaughter & Gory Graduation proved
completely false, as did wads of cash lost by eager fans, thanks
to a deplorable few who exploited the mystery by selling copies
that didn't exist (I am gonna hunt you down to the ends of the
earth, Matt Copeland).
So while no film was ever shot as Cheerleader Camp 2,
tracing back the clues easily explains how the rumors grew
out of control (heck, there's even a chick in this flick that
looks like Uma, which explains that). And recently, something
strange happened. Fred Olen Ray finaly saw fit to release
the film under the Camp Fear title. Synopsis is as
follows:
Betsy Russell (Angel)
and Vince Van Patten (Rock And Roll High School) star in one
of the strangest films of the early 1990s. It's a grim look
at the end of the world as motorcycle gangs terrorize young
sorority campers, while a revived Druid giant (Tiny Ron) recreates
Stonehenge for some bloody grisly sacrifices and the Loch
Ness Monster runs (swims) amok. Earthquakes, laser beams,
and even the Lambada dance craze combine to make this one
wacky movie. Guest stars include Buck Flowers, Michelle Bauer,
and porn star Savannah (who committed suicide after a disfiguring
auto accident). What's not to like? "
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