Poseidon-3 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.

mamamiasweetpeaches I had heard people mention PANDEMONIUM before. Okay, so not in a flattering light. I dont know WHY I thought it was a recent movie starring Carol Kane. Its actually a 1982 movie starring Carol Cane (also judge Reinhold, DebraLee Scott and PeeWee Herman to mention a few). with a cast like that you might expect some good laughs. Well, you wont get many here. The movie starts out with a bunch of cheerleaders having just done a "Hurray For Vegetables" halftime show, which explains why one is carrying a giant mushroom, one a giant tomato(although a tomatoe is a fruit....anyway....) As they file out of the gym someone throws a javelin at them spearing them together into a giant cheerleader shish-ke-bob. This scene was funny. I thought the whole movie would be that cute and clever, but nay, it was just dumb bottom-of-the-barrel humor. Nothing near as funny as STUDENT BODIES or SCAREY MOVIE. I would recommend renting one of those (or even National Lampoons Class Reunion,which was not great,but silly)

jhaggardjr "Pandemonium" is a horror movie spoof that comes off more stupid than funny. Believe me when I tell you, I love comedies. Especially comedy spoofs. "Airplane", "The Naked Gun" trilogy, "Blazing Saddles", "High Anxiety", and "Spaceballs" are some of my favorite comedies that spoof a particular genre. "Pandemonium" is not up there with those films. Most of the scenes in this movie had me sitting there in stunned silence because the movie wasn't all that funny. There are a few laughs in the film, but when you watch a comedy, you expect to laugh a lot more than a few times and that's all this film has going for it. Geez, "Scream" had more laughs than this film and that was more of a horror film. How bizarre is that?*1/2 (out of four)

Mister-6 Remember "Airplane!"?Sure you do; the spoof to end (or in this case, begin) all spoofs. A takeoff on all the "Airport" movies and any other disaster film that took place in the air.Well, someone must have seen "Airplane!" and thought: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to make a spoof of mad slasher movies?"I'd like to strangle the person who told them that was a good idea. Because after that, they went and made "Pandemonium".The biggest problem with "Pandemonium" is that it's tone deaf; it tries for jokes but goes at them the wrong way. They come off as either too broad or half-baked. And all the comedians (and comediennes)! Don't they know that for a film like this to work, they have to have people in the cast that no one KNOWS is funny? That's why Leslie Nielsen was so funny in "Airplane!". And Lloyd Bridges in "Airplane!" and the "Hot Shots!" films.But no.... Here we have Tommy Smothers, Candy Azzara, Debralee Scott, Edie McClurg, Paul Reubens (yes, Pee-Wee himself).... If what they were doing was funny that would be different. But it ain't. So, it isn't.I must admit, Eve Arden caught me by surprise as the prison warden who is sent to the "gas chamber" (you'll have to see that one yourself). She's only in two scenes, though. Bummer.Clever to set things at a cheerleader school, though. And the "Randy, Andy, Brandy, Candy" thing was cute. That's it. What you haven't seen before, you'll wish you hadn't seen at all.In fact, the only clever parody of the mad slasher films has been the "Scream" flicks. You want to laugh, see them instead.Two stars. Nice try. Maybe if you had Wes Craven as a consultant....