Apr
19
“Zombie Strippers” (Review)
Filed Under Movies
Five years ago, I landed my one and only P.A. gig on a film set. It was for a day’s worth of shooting on a Troma movie in West Los Angeles. The scene in question involved a half-dozen or so winners from the since-canceled game show “Beat the Geeks” that were lined up to be slaughtered by a vampire stripper — played by b-movie Amazon goddess Julie Strain — at someone’s bachelor party. For 12 hours that day, Ms. Strain tore out people’s eyeballs and spilled people’s guts while completely naked. I was certain I’d never work on another movie (how right I was) that would be as much fun.
Jay Lee’s “Zombie Strippers,” which opened at the Nuart last night, must’ve had a similar shoot. I can’t imagine a director of a film such as this showing up on set thinking he’s William Friedkin, and this is “The Exorcist.”
The film is set in the near future; by my estimates, it’s the year 2016, as it opens with the announcement that George W. Bush has been reelected to a fourth term in the White House. Scientists have created a “chemo-virus” that can reanimate dead tissue and thus prolong our war efforts in a litany of Middle Eastern countries, as soldiers who are killed on the battle field will simply now get up and keep on fighting.
The virus, as virii are given to do in films such as these, escapes from the lab and infects the exotic dancer Kat (played by adult film actress Jenna Jameson — no relation to J. Jonah) who works at a strip joint called Rhino’s. Though the infection does nothing for Kat’s looks, it does spice up her performance, making her even more popular with the creeps huddled around the main stage. Club owner Ian (Robert Englund) decides that losing the occasional customer to Kat’s cannibalistic hunger is worth infecting more dancers and building positive word-of-mouth for the establishment among the growing clientele.
The fun that the filmmakers had during production is clearly on display. I’m actually kind of jealous that they got to work on this for a month or so, and I only put in one day on the Troma flick.
-Brad Lohan
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