[Pride 2021] All Cheerleaders Die and the Powerful SImplicity of Queer Characters

Queer subtext isn’t a foreign concept to the horror genre. Whether it’s the gay coded villains of your nightmares or the sexual tension between the final girl and her best friend, horror is no novice to queer themes. What leaves LGBT horror fans hungry for more, however, can be the loose threads that are never followed through in these types of films. Feelings of unfulfillment and wishful thinking have left many a horror fan in disappointment. Or maybe less so disappointment, but rather that familiar notion of yearning for something more. While there are a number of queer horror films that have explicitly queer characters, there isn’t one quite like 2013’s All Cheerleaders Die. 

Directed by Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, the horror comedy might have flown under many fans' radars upon its initial release. Although, with its queer main characters, it was bound to find an audience with LGBT fans, who were sure to sink their teeth into it immediately. The violence ridden, cringey dialogoue filled film isn’t a masterpiece by any means. Yet, with it’s queer characters at the front and center, the film has snuck it’s way into the hearts of many horror fans, elevating it into something more than horror. 

Opening with documentary footage of the shocking death of head cheerleader Alexis (Felisha Cooper), All Cheerleaders Die is a wild ride from start to finish. Maddy (Caitlin Stasey), the girl who was filming the incident, can’t help but rewatch the tragedy over and over months later on her computer. For reasons at first unknown to the audience, she has planned to infiltrate the remaining cheerleading team in an attempt to enact some sort of revenge. Her plans are quickly thwarted by her stalker ex-girlfriend, a potential love interest on the team, and a car accident that leaves all the girls dead the night before the first day of school. In an attempt to save Maddy, ex-girlfriend Leena (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) uses her wicca powers and magic stones to resurrect the girls. Waking up the next morning, the squad has a new hunger for blood and a vendetta against the football team who caused the deadly accident. 

The film establishes its playful approach within the first scene as Alexis’s head crashes into the ground in a dramatic manner accompanied by hyperbolic sound effects. Each scene that follows is over the top in every aspect —  exaggerated sound effects, overly sexualized shots of the girls, and vulgar dialogue that brings the film together into one big sensory overload. By introducing its tone right off the bat, the audience should be able to ride this crazy, bloody mess of a film with little criticism of its intentional silliness. It’s vibe may not be for everyone, but for the ones who dig this kind of crudeness, it is a satisfying watch.

Over the top, erratic horror movies are not uncommon, however. What is rare is the representation the main characters offer. Maddy is queer. It is never specified what she identifies as, but her ex-girlfriend Leena and her new love interest Tracy (Brooke Butler) establish that three of the main characters are women interested in women. Just this fact alone makes the film unique, but the film goes a step further than that. Leena’s love for Maddy is what saves the cheer team from their untimely death. Maddy’s complicated feelings about her ex make for a compelling love story that follows throughout the film. The inclusion of Maddy’s flirtation and sequential hookup with Tracy furthers the film’s trend of presenting queer characters without trivializing their queerness.

This is the striking feature of All Cheerleaders Die — the ease in which its characters get to exist as themselves. Never are their sexualities pointed out or questioned by the other characters of the film, except for Tracy’s jealous ex-boyfriend Terry (Tom Williamson). Instead of simply saying these girl’s are queer, the film allows them to act on their desires. Maddy and Tracy hookup multiple times, in scenes reminiscent of the treasured film Jennifer’s Body. This is Tracy’s first time being with another girl, but this fact is presented as normal, not something to panic over. Maddy and Leena’s relationship is one of the focal points of the plot, driving a lot of the emotion throughout. These storylines are not simply there for tokenism — they exist as integral parts to the plot and hold stakes in the final outcome. 

Interestingly, the rest of the film operates within extremely binary, heteronormative stereotypes. The boys on the football team are portrayed as aggressive, dim-witted horny teenagers. On the other side, the girls in the cheer squad are depicted in tiny skirts and crop tops that no real school uniform would allow. Although, once they become undead, the girls discover a new type of liberation. Using their new powers, they are able to enact revenge upon the boys for causing their accident. Through the trauma caused by the boys, the girls come out on the other side powerful and more united than before. Although not all of them make it to the end of the runtime, the film can be seen as a reclamation of feminine power, especially among queer women, because of how the girls overpower the boys.  

So often are queer audiences presented with flimsy storylines or sly subtext, especially when it comes to horror. What this film offers is a simple answer to the call that so many queer fans have been seeking. A first impression might make one think this is just another bad teen comedy —  until it isn’t. It offers so much in it’s brief ninety minute run time. The queer characters take up so much of the screen and demand to be seen while not being pushed into the spotlight to check off some box for represenation. Genuine feelings and desires are distinguished and acted upon. The impact of these simple facts have pushed the film into a more meaningful space, giving representation to people who get so little of it. In what could have easily been another teen movie, All Cheerleaders Die presents itself unforgivingly for what it is: bloody, vulgar, and above all, queer. 

PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO
THE GAYLY HELPFUL FUNDRAISER FOR THE TRANSGENDER LAW CENTER