2008 (USA)
Contains
spoilers.
I think I've been
spoiling myself so far with some of the best and most iconic films the genre
has to offer, so I thought it was about time I brought myself back down to
earth. I mean we all know by their very nature zombie films are the best films
ever, but if I'm honest I'm also all too aware that the medium has produced
its share of stinkers along the way, and with that in mind I went into Zombie
Strippers with low expectations...
Zombie Strippers is
a film about zombies and strippers and zombie strippers. Throw in a specialised
army dispatch squad, a well known name, Robert Englund, some famous porn stars
such as Jenna Jameson and a light farcical plot and we have a film that on paper
sounds at once both awful and fantastic.
Claiming to be based
loosely on Eugene Ionesco's classic play Rhinoceros, loosely being the word,
Zombie Strippers starts by following team Z,
a specialist military containment unit brought in to manage a zombie outbreak
at a secret military facility in Nebraska. In a satirical, farcical and over
the top opening montage, setting the standard for what was to come, we are
introduced to idea that under George W. Bush's fourth term in office the US are
engaged in so many wars that they're running out of personnel to fight them. It
was while researching a virus that could re-animate dead Marines to send them
back into battle that the test subjects got free and things got out of control.
During the battle to
retake the facility new recruit Byrdflough (Zak Kilberg) is bitten and decides,
seeing the no risk approach his comrades take, that his best course of action
is to flee. A very short time later and he finds refuge in the underground strip
club 'Rhinos' run by Ian (Robert Englund) a fastidious strip club owner whose
only motivation is money and the Blavatski (Carmit Levite), the retired Russian
madam who handles the girls.
And to the meat of
the story, the girls strip and the punters throw them money, Byrdflough bites
head girl Kat (Jenna Jameson) turning her into a zombie, with the result that
she's now not only a better stripper but the crowd are willing to throw even more
money at her. Ian whilst initially hesitant gets on board once he sees this
money and the only downside, the zombie strippers' insatiable
appetite for human flesh which they indluge between dances, is dealt with by locking the zombies victims in a
cage in the cellar.
A rather strange
decision throughout was unlike the zombies at the facility and the victims of
the strippers who behave like any good Romero zombie should, the stripper
zombies can talk, dance, argue, read and possess apparent super-human strength
and agility. For the film to work this decision was probably the right one and
the interplay between zombie and non-zombie strippers is a good dynamic that
leads the narrative for the second half of the film. Constantly painting the
strip club audience as the real mindless horde, Jay Lee plays with the idea that once
they've seen zombie strippers, regular strippers aren't enough to sate their
appetites any more and this leads to stripper politics and bitching with some
of the girls deciding they want to be zombie strippers too. More stripping,
more killing and more carnage and, how shall we put it, a lively and inventive,
on stage confrontation between the two head zombie stripper rivals later and things
get totally out of control.
When sticking to
what it does well it actually works quite well. The
zombie gore scenes are cringe worthy and in bad taste, and the action and humour ensure the
film moves along at a good lively pace. The acting is hammy but fits in well
and whilst I wouldn't exactly be dishing out any special awards I did find
myself quite caught up in the experience. As stated before though, at times
though the film tries just that little too hard as if Jay Lee got cold feet at
just how shallow the whole might be perceived, and it's these serious moments
of philosophical reflection that ironically seem the most shallow as if someone
thought that quoting a few passages from the ladybird book of philosophy would
suddenly elevate audiences' opinion of what they were seeing.
For the most part
Zombie Strippers knows what it is and plays to these strengths. Unlike other
zombie comedies like Shaun of the Dead and Juan of the Dead, it knows it's a
farce and shouldn't be taken seriously and when doing what it does well is a
fun over the top zombie bad taste popcorn flick. For what it's worth I quite enjoyed it,
5/10.
Steven@WTD.
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