This is a very clever comedy.Tommy Smothers has made a couple of unusual comedies, and this is one. The other is 'Get To Know Your Rabbit' where Orson Welles himself gets into the act.'Pandemonium' is an excellent spoof of the slasher films that got too numerous to count.Carol Kane is wonderful as the girl who's "finally going to get to use my diaphram". I think this is the first film in which I ever saw Judge Reinhold. Paul Reubens could hardly be better.Give 'Pandemonium' a chance and you won't regret it.

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.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.This movie is cute. Not hilarious, and of course not scary, but cute. Carol Kane makes the movie worth watching (I'm afraid it wouldn't be without her), as a teenage girl off to college with the same psychogenetic powers as Carrie from "Carrie." How did she get her powers? They came to her when she got started on the Pill. If the movie had been a parody of Carrie with Carol as the lead, and a sharp script, it would be hysterical. Unfortunately nothing about the script is sharp, and Carol Kane is not given enough screen time. The funniest part of the movie to me is when she is yelling at her levitated mother, and finishes with "...And I'm finally gonna get to use my Diaphragm!!!" Many moments from other actors are amazingly painful, but its the fault of the script. Definitely worth checking out if its on Comedy Central. But I wouldn't spend the money at BB unless you are a serious Carol Kane fan.

at first glance in the tele mag i thought that Pandemonium would be a disappointing film to watch, but i watched it anyway and to my delight it was a well spent hour and a half.It's a comedy spoof of friday the 13th. there are many refrences to friday the 13th in the film like when they play strip poker and how there are 3 boys and 3 girls, and one teacher.If you like comedy and you like spoof films this is definitely the film for you. All the characters have their own comedy side to them essential to the nature of the film.Watch out for appearances by Judge Reinhold and Pee Wee Herman!!!