PEP SQUAD

Produced, Written, Edited, and Directed by Steve Balderson
Director of Photography - Rhet W. Bear

Cherry - Brooke Balderson
Terra - Amy Kelly
Beth - Jennifer Dreiling
Julie - Summer Makovkin
Scott - Adrian Pujol

On PEP SQUAD's commentary track, director Steve Balderson makes an interesting observation regarding the perception of his work. Being the sort of director who is interested how people are reacting to his movie, Balderson likes to go out on the net and read what people have to say. Most of those out in cyberland who are giving the film negative reviews are trashing it due to a lack of horror elements. Short of the tagline, "three cheers for death," everything on the box describes this movie a black comedy in vein of HEATHERS. Not to knock other internet reviewers, but does one really even need the box description to properly get the humor of PEP SQUAD? Just because one doesn't get a movie doesn't make it bad, it just means the viewer wasn't ready for it. This happens to me all the time, most recently with INSANIAC. You can't knock a movie for what it isn't, only what it is.

Now that we know PEP SQUAD isn't horror, and is all comedy and ultra-stylized satire, let's get on to what it's about - the kids in America...whoa-o.

Okay, that was bad. Really bad. But it's true. PEP SQUAD is a send up all things blissfully teenage Americana, from high school acceptance and gun control to action pictures and apple pie. Balderson spares no one as he takes aim at middle America and the frivolity we hold dear. He takes a simple event, like homecoming, and turns it into a laugh-filled John Woo-style bullet ballet complete with true-blue American flags burning in the background to represent all the important things our ancestors sacrificed their lives so that we can be so damned petty.

Cherry wants desperately to be homecoming queen and even though she wasn't nominated she's bitch enough to make it happen anyway. As Cherry, Brooke Balderson, the director's sister, shoots, kicks, stabs, and body slams the competition. Brooke plays the character like a piss and vinegar Agatha Christy raging on steroids working her way through 10 Little Indians in hopes of freeing up a nomination and keeping the busybody Terra from gaining the homecoming crown.

But that's not the focus of the story. Standing in Cherry's way is a Scooby-gang of angry kids: Beth, Julie, and Scott, each with their own sense of social dysfunction - either they can't join the in-crowd or they don't want to be part of the in-crowd. It's how these guys deal with life and Cherry, and even reject both, that's the focus of the PEP SQUAD. To his credit, Balderson writes these characters against sexual stereotypes with the women in the lead and male being the "dumb blonde".

While the events all revolve around teenagers and high school, PEP SQUAD is not a teen-movie. Balderson uses the high school microcosm to dissect American social habits and turn them on their ear. Often, as with Suicide Chick and goth culture in general, Balderson lumps groups generically to illustrate their conformity. Other times, such as with the lazy, drunk, cheerleaders, Balderson plays the conventions against type to show how these mid-west girls generally end up 10 years after high school - vomiting their miserable lives away. It's frightening to think that Balderson probably based these characters from his own personal observations.

Even with events this dark, Steve Balderson keeps the tone light. He finds a satirical middle ground somewhere between the whimsy of OFFICE SPACE and darkness of THE WAR OF THE ROSES without ever crossing the line into utter meanness. Perhaps this is where those other reviewers are finding fault with the film, they want the pure meanspirited nature associated with the horror films the box art reminds them of. Perhaps it's easier to separate the fiction from true-to-life possibilities. This is, after all, the country where mothers kill just so their daughters can where that damned crown, so why can't the kids kill each other? Opps, in this post-Columbine world I'm not even supposed to ask question like that. Maybe if I ask it louder someone will unleash Cherry on my backside.

The DVD release is standard from The Asylum releases that I've seen, mainly trailers and a cast and crew commentary. Since this is a family production, with poppa Clarke Balderson producing, the commentary gets a little catty in that "it's only family here" way. There's no making of or behind-the-scenes footage, but don't let any of these stop you from checking out the disc. The picture is absolutely stunning. How this movie missed those cinematography awards is beyond me. It's the kind of movie where you can turn off the sound and fully appreciate the images for what they are - reinforcement to Steve Balderson's view of American.

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