The Majorettes
| The Majorettes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bill Hinzman |
| Screenplay by | John A. Russo |
| Based on | The Majorettes by John A. Russo |
| Produced by | John A. Russo |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Paul McCullough |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Paul McCullough |
Production company | Major Films[1] |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85,000[3] |
The Majorettes (released in the United Kingdom as One by One) is a 1986 American slasher film directed by S. William Hinzman,[4] written and produced by John A. Russo, which he adapted from his own novel.[5] Its plot follows a string of serial killings centered on the majorette squad of a small-town high school.
Plot
The movie is about a murderer who has been mysteriously killing the members of the school's majorette squad under the guise of "saving their souls" before they reach adulthood. The local sheriff and a federal agent investigate the killings, but other plotlines weave in and out of the plot.
Vicki, the main lead female character, lives with her rich but invalid grandmother and her grandmother's housekeeper. Unknown to Vicki, the housekeeper and her son (a pervert who spies on Vickie and her fellow majorette friends in the shower and takes nude photos of them) poisoned her grandmother (rendering her paralyzed, mute, and utterly helpless) and murdered Vicki's parents years earlier. The sinister housekeeper has rewritten the grandmother's will to inherit everything if Vicki and her grandmother die, but a small catch can foil the entire plot. Due to am irrevocable clause in the original will that had to be left intact in the forged revised will, if Vicki dies before her 18th birthday, the grandmother's fortune will go to the state without an adult heir left alive to inherit.
The housekeeper ultimately finds out the identity of the killer, the local Sheriff, when her son stumbles upon the sheriff killing another victim in the shower; after the victim managed to remove the killer's hood from his face prior to dying. The housekeeper and her son ambush the sheriff at his house, discovering that he is a religious fanatic that is murdering the majorette squad before they turn 18 so that they will stay pure and not become sinful adults who have pre-marital sex or do drugs. They instruct the sheriff that he is to kill Vicki for the pair, but only AFTER she turns 18 so they can steal the entire family fortune.
It is then, at this point in the film that the story takes a major shift. Vickie is kidnapped by a local biker gang that seeks to rape and killer her. The final third of the film focuses on Vickie's capture by the bikers and her boyfriend Jeff, who gets a bunch of weapons and leads a Rambo-esque siege against the biker gang's headquarters and rescues his girlfriend before harm can come to her.
In the confusion of Vickie's abduction, the sheriff turns the tables on his blackmailers. He kills the housekeeper and her son, destroys the photographic evidence of him being the killer, and frames the now dead peeping tom son for the crimes, with his mother's death covered up as her being murdered after finding out her son's "crimes". The film ends with Vickie graduating high school and watching as her coach trains a young group of elementary school girls practice as being majorettes. And watching the young girls, the sheriff, who gets away with his crimes.
Production
The Majorettes was filmed between October and November 1985, with principal photography occurring at Cornell High School in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis, with additional filming at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club.[3] Its production budget was estimated at $85,000.[3] The football coach was played by then head-coach of the Cornell Raiders, Wilbert Roncone (billed as "Wilbur Roncone").[3]
Release
The film was released theatrically in Europe in March 1987 under the title One by One, though as of February 1987, the film had not secured a theatrical distributor in the United States; at the time, Russo and Hinzman were in negotiation for a home video distribution deal with Vestron Video.[6] Vestron released the film on VHS on August 17, 1988.[7]
Critical response
Critic Jim Harper wrote of the film: "About halfway through... the film stops being a slasher movie and swings into action-thriller territory, with chase sequences explosions and gunfights. Not that it makes the film more interesting. The kills are mostly bloodless and the suspense non-existent. Bill Hinzman (the first zombie in Night of the Living Dead) handles the direction pretty well but the script is pretty dumb."[8]
References
- ^ Willis 1997, p. 306.
- ^ Harper 2004, p. 124.
- ^ a b c d Tiech 2012, p. 51.
- ^ Dyess-Nugent, Phil (February 7, 2012). "R.I.P. Bill Hinzman, Night Of The Living Deads original zombie". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ Kane 2010, p. 159.
- ^ Blank, Ed (February 7, 1987). "Ghoul-masters ponder the living dead". Vidette-Messenger of Porter County. Valparaiso, Indiana. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ The Majorettes [VHS]. ASIN 6301049888.
- ^ Harper 2004, pp. 124–125.
Works cited
- Harper, Jim (2004). Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies. Manchester: Critical Vision. ISBN 978-1-900-48639-2.
- Kane, Joe (2010). Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0-806-53331-5.
- Tiech, John (2012). Pittsburgh Film History: On Set in the Steel City. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-6142-3589-7.
- Willis, Donald C. (1997). Horror and Science Fiction Films. Vol. IV. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-810-83055-4.