The press materials for Kerry Beyer's "Spirit Camp" is likened as a cross between "Bring it On" and "Friday the 13th," when in reality that's not the whole truth. Much like every single slasher ever invented, characters here only serve an importance as red herrings introduced to the hunting grounds who clash with other red herrings. There's even a scene where the cheerleaders go to the camp and are given a speech by Mrs. Haddonfield (get it? Like "Halloween"!) who literally does nothing but lay out a series of blatant red herrings and plot devices that we know will come in to play in the future when our killer or killers will come along to use these devices. That said, "Spirit Camp" is a certain kind of slasher homage that may not work for everyone. It's definitely polarizing in that it strives in putting on display some rather horrific performances from horror archetypes like the token heavy best friend, the well meaning mother, and the snot nosed little brat who is given a shocking amount of leeway from her mother to tell some of the raunchiest sex jokes I've ever heard. "Spirit Camp" is not an awful movie, but it certainly isn't the best horror film to come around in years, and it's mostly helped from its performance by Roxy Vandiver who plays the ex-juvenile delinquent Nikki whose signed up for cheerleading camp. As you can guess she's an outcast here as she was in juvie, and she's happened in to a camp where someone is murdering these cheerleaders.

"Spirit Camp" definitely has its heart in the right place with set ups and murders that are on par with your usual slasher fare. But you unfortunately have to wade through the endless padding and tedious dialogue to get to the sparse murders and slashings that occur within the grounds of this camp. There's even a horrifically impossible sub-plot involving one of the cheerleaders and her secret meetings with her boyfriend who talks with her more than sleeps with her. Meanwhile whenever the killer does off these characters, it's off screen and void of actual bloodshed, which defeats the actual purpose of sitting through a movie that promises splashes of blood in the prologue. There are also a series of plot holes including the offing of these characters who disappear without anyone actually questioning why they're nowhere to be found, while Beyer harps on terribly unfunny homosexual jokes involving one of the cheerleaders constant attempts to have sex with a flamboyant male cheerleader.

I really wanted to love "Spirit Camp," because it has a premise ripe with possibilities for gore, splatter and tongue in cheek humor, but often times it's much too concerned with padding and pointless scenes involving cheerleader interplay to get to the point of the movie which is the murder mystery. Watching "Spirit Camp" is like watching a porno without the sex. We watch two people getting naked and then cut to them sweaty under the covers only left to wonder what happened in between. That's basically what Beyer does. He shows a cheerleader, then immediately cuts to the blood soaked corpses leaving us to feel as if we missed out on something truly entertaining. Roxy Vandiver is insanely attractive as the heroine Nikki who manages to catch on to the body count before anyone else does, and only on the one hour mark does the film finally start making with the hacked limbs and does away with the endless pointless exposition. "Spirit Camp" is pretty much forgettable, but it does make good with gorgeous women, a sexy leading lady, and some interesting moments of slasher grue that work.