One bright spot per ton of unfunny slag Can you expect anything sane and decent from a film with a bright title Zombie striptease?? Naturally, this is a rhetorical question! The title itself already tells us about all the components of the film: there will be a lot of blood, there will be a lot of eroticism, there will be little sense, there will be a lot of drive and humor. Unfortunately, not all of these items turned out to be so funny and fervent that such a frank “thrash” as “Striptease from zombies” could turn from one hundred percent bad movie into a cult spectacle for a certain audience.
The picture begins in the best traditions of the flagship of the thrash industry, the studio "Troma", which, it is worth noting, did not take part in this project. So, the opening scene tells us about the re-election of George W. Bush for the 4th presidential term. All his ideas were elevated to the absolute, and the U.S. Army began fighting almost all over the world. There is a shortage of qualified soldiers. Scientists responded to the political situation with the creation of a super virus that turns people into the living dead. But only women can retain the remnants of intelligence, men become carnivorous monsters without a shadow of consciousness. In the central laboratory of the project, an accident occurred - the virus infected almost all the staff. The authorities sent a combat detachment there to clean up the area, but one of the soldiers managed to bite and he escapes from his enemies. And escapes from the underground strip club of Uncle Jena (Robert Englund), where he bites the leading dancer Cat (Jenna Jameson). Of course, she becomes a zombie, but continues her work on stage. The audience is furious, the profits of the club are increasing, but there is a nuance - Cat needs to be fed with the bodies of men. And they, in turn, become monsters. Ian, in a fit of greed, locks the infected in a cage, but the situation heats up and a real uprising of the living dead begins in the club!
Zombies and strippers are almost the perfect combination for an unrestrainedly fun garbage movie in its best traditions. And indeed, the film begins with hilarious but delusional information about Bush. Then we see an army fighter attack on zombie scientists. The coolness of the fighters cannot but laugh, and the presence of a stunning blonde in their ranks brings the situation to complete absurdity. But that's a plus. Then we are transported to the notorious strip club, where the male audience will delight naked dancers led by Jameson almost to the final. And it is here that the film begins to slow down and the whole action focuses on striptease. I do not dispute, on the one hand it is visually even pleasing, the first 15 minutes. However, I still counted on real fun and dynamics. Erotics is not bad, during the fall of all information barriers, it is difficult to surprise the viewer with a naked body. In general, we can say that the picture is 90% striptease, and everything else is a sluggish zombie fighter with a couple of spectacular scenes of exploding heads.
The main lure of the picture, according to the creators, is the former porn star Jenna Jameson, who, according to her own words, decided to enter the world of more decent art cinema and in the future direct her career in a more dramatic direction. But we all understand that we invited her to the film not only for the fame of the name, but also for the demonstration of the beautiful silicone forms. I can’t help but admit that watching her dance, as well as the dances of fellow strippers, is quite interesting, from a male point of view. But when the plot decides to slightly dilute the erotic with Cat’s philosophical arguments about the life of dancers and shows her character as an arrogant star, the picture becomes too boring. The only plus of the image of Jameson, in addition to dancing, the feud with the second most popular stripper, which resulted in the final zombie confrontation of the girls. Only in the final, the authors gave free rein to the “actresses” and all played out on indecent erotic jokes!
The only one who deserves real audience attention in such a low-grade film is Robert Englund, the classic and best Freddy Krueger, an actor who is able to draw attention to himself even in the most frankly failed film and only by his presence in the frame is able to make the viewer not stop watching. In many ways, in Zombie Striptease, it was Inglund who kept me on screen. Here he has an exclusively comedic image. Despite the fact that he owns a strip club, Ian is disdainful of his dancers. He constantly carries an antiseptic spray with him, and Ian has also shown himself as a greedy paranoid who, despite all his phobias, is ready to sell his soul, mostly someone else's, for a good profit. Inglund's character usually appeared in scenes with Paco, an illegal Latino refugee, working as a club cleaner, as well as with an African-American DJ and a poorly English-speaking mentor of dancers from Europe. This team from the administration of the club, led by Ian, is the only bright spot for the whole film. All the worthwhile humor comes only from them, but most of all from Englund, who just revels in his role. But I can’t help but remember the moment with Paco, who decides to go to the last fight with zombies, before that touching goodbye to his pet donkey and wearing a dimensionless sombrero!
In the end, I want to say that the film “Striptease from zombies” had a huge potential to become one of the best thrash horrors, but completely lost its potential. Deciding to bet on a long striptease, the authors eventually tired their viewer. So despite the relatively small timekeeping, the film is tiring. It remains to praise only Robert Englund with a company of minions who could pull on interesting and funny scenes. And only for their efforts, the picture should be given at least one point. Everything else is an artistic failure.
1 out of 10