Ever since Hollywood's woeful attempt at bringing two of horror and science fiction's greatest monsters together in the 2004 feature-length adaptation of the ALIEN VS. PREDATOR comic books, high concept titles have become somewhat of a trend in cinema. They harken back to the exploitation movies that frequented the grindhouses back in the '60s and '70s; low-budget genre films with titles that didn't bear a lick of ambiguity, but gave you a promise with only a few words and a hand-drawn one-sheet that looked like it was advertising a movie made for millions of dollars.
Largely thanks to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 2007 collaboration GRINDHOUSE, there has been a recent surge of independent films that have tried to capture the look and feel of what are now arguably regarded as cult classics, with high concept titles to boot. Take Jason Eisener's immensely successful HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN for example. One new film that doesn't look to the past however, yet does exactly what it says on the tin in the style of some of yesteryear's most memorable and outrageous genre pictures, is the British horror-comedy romp STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES, directed by Jonathan Glendening (whose first brush with werewolves came with 2010's 13HRS) and produced by the prolific Jonathan Sothcott, formerly of Black and Blue Films and now CHATA Pictures.
At long-time gentlemen's club owner Jeanette's (SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN II's Sarah Douglas) establishment Vixens, things are about to get a little hairy as a pack of bloodthirsty, shape-shifting creatures from her past return with only one thing on their minds: vengeance. Led by the cold and calculating alpha wolf Jack Ferris (Billy Murray, who also produced), the hungry therians intend to finish what they started two decades earlier, but standing in their way is a band of tough-as-nails exotic dancers (Adele Silva, Barbara Nedeljakova, Charlie Bond, Coralie Rose) defending their livelihoods and fighting for survival, one bullet at a time.
The film doesn't waste any time squeezing every last drop of lycanthrope goodness from its title, kicking off with a werewolf transformation and demise within the first couple of minutes, courtesy of producer Martin Kemp, who makes a cameo appearance. One would even say that the werewolf-shaped ball gets rolling almost too fast and you're thrown into the movie. Minus a brief explosion in the opening frame, you find yourself sucked into the world of STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES before you've had time to establish any sort of real introduction. Despite a fair amount of time being set aside to introduce the gorgeous girls and devilish dogs, the beginning is somewhat jarring.
From the artwork in the opening titles (played out to Duran Duran's “Hungry Like the Wolf” no less) to the explosive, bloody climax, the film suitably takes its stylistic tone from the pages of comic books and superhero movies. With its tongue planted firmly in cheek from start to finish, STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES finds itself somewhere between the rebellious, no-holds-barred nature of KICK-ASS with its adult edge, and the kind of horror movie that Russ Meyer may have made if he were still with us today: pulpy to the core and bursting with beautiful femme fatales, but with the sole intention of being a fun experience.
The movie has no problem with being self-referential, poking fun at itself nor reaching for gags with the likes of the crude make-up worn by the titular beasts, but unfortunately it often misses the mark. The script simply isn't strong enough to carry the weight of the irony and incessant silliness. While many of the jokes fall flat, there is thankfully no shortage of very funny one-liners.
Make no bones about it, STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES is a goofy indie affair and its sense of humour is just as puerile, but it works. For how much it cost, I think everyone involved did a stellar job of accomplishing the comic book aesthetics. Despite its lack of polish (this ain't Hollywood) and an overabundance of transitions (although probably used to cover up poor shot choices), it's gorily enjoyable and its merits can be found in the strong cast (which includes cameos by Steven Berkoff and Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund) and the simple fact that its heart is in the right place.
STRIPPERS VS. WEREWOLVES is released in cinemas across the UK on April 27, before it hits DVD and Blu-ray on May 7.
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