Fear Street has quite a few iconic sub-series, but one of the more well known and beloved is the Cheerleaders series. I've had requests to cover them in some form. And with us now being deep enough into the smelly armpit of Shadyside to feel like the time is right, let's cheer and fear as we see how this saga began. It's Cheerleaders: The First Evil.
This cover is incredible. Really sells the creepy concept of the Cheerleaders right off the bat. The seemingly normal pair in the background (presumably Bobbi and Corky) adding a sense of normalcy to the more freaky girl in the middle with her seemingly possessed face. And the skull face pompoms might be one of the most ingenious ideas ever illustrated on a horror book cover. Simple and striking, just brilliant stuff.
Bobbi and Corky Corcoran start this book by putting a fake rat in the bed of their little brother Sean. They have a tendency of scaring him a lot. But they also feel that their house is pretty scary too, what with it being on, where else, Fear Street. Stories of murders in the house and how there's whispering sounds in their bedrooms, but their parents figure it's just the wind. But would-be hauntings are the least of their worries as Bobbi and Corky are trying out for the Shadyside Tigers cheer squad at Shadyside High. The sisters were all-state champs back in Missouri, so they should be a natch. As the girls get dressed and ready to go to school, suddenly Corky sees Bobbi dangling over the railing, not breathing. But turns out this was just another joke. I mean, that's not going to foreshadow anything, I'm certain.
We then cut to two other cheerleaders, soft spoken Jennifer Daly (who Stine describes as looking like Julia Roberts), and Kimmy Bass, who is full of constant energy. Kimmy isn't too keen on having the Corcoran sisters join the team as she's more fine with their status quo. But Jennifer believes that this is actually a net positive given the sisters are former state champs. Their argument is interrupted by the advisor, Miss Green, who says that they should be focusing on their routines, and that it's ultimately Jennifer's decision if the Corcorans can join, seeing as Jennifer is captain. And, much to Kimmy's chagrin, Jennifer lets Bobbi and Corky in.
The two sisters show the others their routine, which is followed by a pony mount, with Bobbi hitting a perfect dive into a double cartwheel. Needless to say, they shut up most of their doubters, though not so much Kimmy. It also means that Bobbi and Corky are in the cheerleading team. Kimmy later learns that due to the sisters getting in, her friend Ronnie is bumped to an alternate. Ronnie gets the news and it devastates her, but Jennifer and Miss Green think that the two girls will get over it.
In the showers, the other cheerleaders are also unhappy about the decision feeling it unfair that the sisters got this opportunity and Ronnie got sidelined. Kimmy and another cheerleader, Debra, argue if its the sisters or Jennifer and Miss Green at fault, when Kimmy turns on the shower and screams. For some reason, the water is scalding hot. Reader beware, you're in for faulty plumbing. As Kimmy is being helped by the others, Ronnie finds Kimmy's silver megaphone pendant and gives it back to her. She wears it all the time, but the clasp keeps breaking.
Two weeks later, Bobbi and Corky are on the bus to their first Tigers game. Unfortunately, there's a big thunderstorm making conditions pretty horrendous. Corky then remembers she forgot her fire batons, so the bus has to turn around, back to Fear Street. As they start their way back, suddenly, the bus driver, a man named Simmons, opens the bus door and begins to skid with the bus crashing hard. The bus tips over. Bobbi and Corky recover, and see tombstones outside. They realize that the bus had careened off the road and entered Fear Street cemetery.
That's where they find Jennifer Daly's body, lifeless and sprawled over the gravestone of Sarah Fear. Bobbi checks on Jennifer and she's pronounced dead. She's then given to doctors who upgrade her condition to alive. As everyone wonders what to even do, given the accident and the weather it's more logical to call off the game, Bobbi notices Kimmy staring grimly at them. Kimmy then blames them for what happened, that if they hadn't had the bus turn around, nothing bad would have occurred. Which, I mean, she's not wrong.
Some time passes and Kimmy is glowing with excitement during their pep rally. The reason, aside from Ronnie being in the squad again, is that she believes that now that Jennifer is hurt, Miss Green will name her the new captain. Jennifer is now in a wheelchair, possibly crippled for life, so while Kimmy feels bad, she's more interested in being captain. Miss Green makes the announcement, which ends up being that Bobbi Corcoran is the new captain. Kimmy does not take the news very well. She thinks that looks had everything to do with Bobbi getting the spot, and given everything she did to prove her worth, it wasn't fair to her. So, Kimmy walks out, not before promising to get back at the Corcoran sisters.
Bobbi is on cloud nine, excited about being the new captain. Her day seems to get better when she hits it off with Tigers quarterback Charles "Chip" Chasner. It's all going great for Bobbi, but she does soon realize that maybe Kimmy didn't take the news too well. While visiting Jennifer in the hospital, she learns that Jennifer managed to get Kimmy to come back to the team. Bobbi's happy, but Jennifer says that given Kimmy hates her, that might make things difficult. And when she learns Bobbi said yes to a date with Chip Chasner, Kimmy's ex-boyfriend, she may have just signed her own death warrant.
Practice doesn't go well, not just because of Kimmy, but because most of the other cheerleaders have taken Kimmy's side, thinking it wasn't fair for Bobbi to waltz into this position. As Bobbi walks the school corridors, she hears the sound of loud banging, as if the school lockers were being slammed constantly, followed by a scream. But when she goes to see, there's no sign of anyone, making her think she might be losing it a bit. Later, at home, Bobbi and Corky get scared by a creature in the closet, which is just their brother Sean.
At the next Tigers game, Chip seems to be acting strangely. When he gets the ball he seems frozen with fear, unable to do anything. As Bobbi and the other cheerleaders try to cheer him on, she spots Kimmy not participating. Suddenly, Chip gets tackled by several rival Winstead players and brutalized, buried on the field. He gets carried off the field which makes Bobbi worry. When she meets with him later, Chip mentions that he doesn't know what happened. It's like his body went dead and he couldn't move himself. And he seems genuinely frightened about it as well.
Kimmy confronts Bobbi, mad about her being with Chip. When Bobbi defends herself, Kimmy loses it and the two get into a hair pulling tussle. Miss Green separates them, but neither are willing to apologize. They practice the routine, which is a shoulder stand into a flip. Bobby hits it effortlessly. But it's Kimmy's turn next. Bobbi readies to catch Kimmy, but her body seems to tense up, like she's being frozen against her will. Like what happened to Chip. And sure enough, this causes her to be unable to catch Kimmy who hits the ground hard, smashing her head hard on the gymnasium floor. Everyone, including Jennifer, are obviously concerned for Kimmy after such a hard crash. And already I think I know where this story's going, but 60-odd pages to go. So, given what just happened before the routine and her not catching Kimmy, everyone begins to think Bobbi did this on purpose. Kimmy's got a broken wrist, and everyone but Corky thinks that this was attempted murder.
In a panic, Bobbi runs off, only for Chip to find her. She tells him that she too has had the weird lock-up, and now both are worried. She tells Jennifer about this later, who just tries to calm her down, but that doesn't really help given, you know, everything. Jennifer leaves, but soon sees a lit window in Jennifer's house. She sees inside and sees Jennifer is walking. Thoughts fill Bobbi's head to the point she rings the doorbell, but when she's back inside, Jennifer is back in her wheelchair. Bobbi tries to tell Corky about all this, but now Corky's taken the side of the others as well, believing that maybe all the stress is making her see things and maybe that's why she didn't catch Kimmy. So, now Bobbi doesn't even have her sister on her side.
Next practice arrives, and no sign of Corky. Kimmy's there, still hating Bobbi, so swimmingly is the best possible description of the day's events. Made no better when Miss Green takes her off the team after the Kimmy incident. So, now she doesn't even have this anymore. She heads to the showers and is just upset and confused about everything. Suddenly, the doors close and the showers turn on, spraying scalding water. She struggles to open the shower doors, but no luck. Corky eventually finds her sister lifeless on the ground, body burned up by the hot water. Dead. And not a fake out this time. Bobbi's actually dead.
Two weeks pass since Bobbi's funeral and Corky's been to the Fear Street Cemetery quite often, often passing by Sarah Fear's grave. The same Sarah Fear's grave that Jennifer crashed into, when this all began. Kimmy's captain of the team now and her wrist miraculously cured. But Corky doesn't care, it doesn't change what happened. She goes to get a tissue out of her pocket, but grabs something else. A silver megaphone pendant. KIMMY'S silver megaphone pendant. She found it by Bobbi's belongings on the day of her death, but didn't think much of it. Now she realizes that maybe Kimmy was involved in all this. That maybe Kimmy killed Bobbi.
Corky drives to Kimmy's house and shows her the pendant and tells her what she's discovered. Debra and Ronnie are there, and they try to calm her down, but she says that she knows that Kimmy killed Bobbi. But Kimmy says that she hasn't had that pendant since she gave it to Jennifer. Corky is shocked, but after the others try to calm her down, she heads off to get more answers. She then sees Jennifer walking into the cemetery, confirming that Bobbi was right about her being able to walk again. Jennifer is circling the grave of Sarah Fear.
When Corky confronts her, Jennifer says that she isn't actually Jennifer, then creates a swirling tornado of dirt from the grave of Sarah Fear. Yes, Jennifer Daly actually did die on that fateful night. But the evil spirit that possessed Sarah Fear, waiting for years to find a perfect host, took over her body. She was the one who killed Bobbi, and now she plans to do the same to Corky. Why? Because the perfect sisters came in and ruined everyone else's lives. So she put the paralysis spell on Chip and Bobbi to mess with them, to make Bobbi's life worse before ultimately killing her in the shower. She then lowers Corky into the grave where the coffin below opens to reveal a skeleton filled with hungry worms.
As Corky is about to be laid to unrest, she hears voices. It turns out to be Kimmy, Debra and Ronnie. Corky manages to grab "Jennifer" and pull her down with her. But the evil spirit opens her mouth and emits a noxious odor which weakens Corky, but she holds on and tries to push "Jennifer" into the grave. And it works as the spirit vanishes, while Jennifer's corpse lay motionless. The other girls rush to Corky's aid, calming her down. Police arrive and see Jennifer's corpse, which now looks like it's been dead for weeks.
So yeah, this one was really good. I can see now why people suggested the Cheerleaders books. Cheerleaders: The First Evil is a strong first start for the saga. Mainly because it's our first Fear Street book since I started covering them to feature supernatural horror. We've been so accustomed to villains in the book being normal people who do evil things without any supernatural element that when we finally get a villain who is a demonic spirit, it actually ramps up the value to the book immensely. Granted, that also made the ultimate villain reveal too obvious. Once Jennifer smashed into the grave of a member of the Fear family, of course she was going to be our big bad, inhabited by an evil spirit. Though having Kimmy as the red herring worked well too.
I liked how this book was structured into a book about three points of view. Bobbi's at first, then to Kimmy. Giving us enough of a reason to not really be against either of them. Bobbi didn't really do anything wrong, and most of what she did to Kimmy wasn't with malice, but being a victim of circumstance. Kimmy's disdain for Bobbi does feel warranted as well, which is enough to make her a sympathetic enough character and not a full blown villain. And then there's Corky, who plays such a minor role to the story until Bobbi's death, but then becomes the driving focus into the finale. Almost a bit too in the background, but I think it managed to work well enough.
I like the pacing of the story, how well structured it was. While the horror element takes a while to get there, what we do get, especially in the ending, is chilling and memorable, especially Bobbi's death and the encounter with the skeletal remains of Sarah Fear. And the twists and turns to get there makes the mystery more enticing. Though the end twist seems kind of lame, but I guess Stine hit a wall. Not a hard enough wall to ruin things, but still kind of a whimper after such a strong overall book. So, it leaves us with a strong start to a side series of books that I'm definitely going to follow up on. Cheerleaders: The First Evil gets an A.
It Was Acceptable in the 90s: Julia Roberts comparisons, "Well, duh".
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