Directed By: Jay Lee
Starring: Jenna Jameson, Robert Englund, Roxy Saint
Tag line: "They'll dance for a fee, but devour you for free"
Trivia: The actresses choreographed their own striptease routines
Calling your movie Zombie Strippers is itself enough to set your audience’s minds to spinning, and to writer / director Jay Lee’s credit, he delivers what the title promises!
Zombie Strippers is set in a world where George W. Bush has just been elected to his 4th term as U.S. President, and one of the first laws he and vice-president Arnold Schwarzenegger enact (congress has been disbanded) is a ban on all public nudity, in essence putting every peep show and strip club out of business. In addition, the country is embroiled in a number of costly wars (in areas like Syria, France, and even Alaska), and as such is in dire need of additional troops. Fortunately, the government-funded W Industries has developed a new virus that turns dead soldiers into ravenous zombies, capable of keeping up the fight under the heaviest of fire.
Of course, like most viruses, this “zombie serum” has been difficult to control, and as a result many of the company’s test subjects, and even a few scientists, have joined the ranks of the undead. To neutralize the threat, “Z” squad, a highly-trained marine unit, is sent in. Unfortunately, during the ensuing fight, one of “Z” Squad’s own, a soldier named Byrdflough (Zak Kilberg), is bitten on the arm. Realizing he’d be immediately executed if his superiors found out, Byrdflough flees the building and ducks into an unmarked staircase, which, to his surprise, leads to an illegal strip club owned and operated by Ian Essko (Robert Englund).
With his bevvy of beauties, such as Jeannie (Shamron Moore), Lilith (Roxy Saint), and newcomer Jessy (Jennifer Holland), Ian pulls in a small fortune each and every day. His livelihood is threatened, however, when his star dancer Kat (Jenna Jameson) is killed by a now-zombified Byrdflough. As Ian and his associates, including Madame Blavatski (Carmit Levité), Cole (Calvin Green), and Paco the Janitor (Joey Medina), are trying to figure a way out of this mess, Kat shocks them all by getting up and demanding to take the stage!
Strangely enough, the virus that turns guys into mindless zombies works much differently on women, transforming Kat into a sexy ghoul who, after working up an appetite on-stage, takes a random patron into the back room and devours him. Soon, the other girls, jealous of Kat’s newfound popularity (it seems the clients love zombie strippers), line up to be bitten themselves, and before Ian knows what’s hit him, he’s rolling in more money than he ever imagined possible. But how long will it be before his undead employees turn the tables on him?
Robert Englund delivers a bravura performance as Ian, the greedy sociopath whose undead strippers are more profitable than the live ones ever were, and it’s clear the former Nightmare on Elm Street star was having a great time. But as good as Englund and the rest of the cast are, it’s the more exploitative elements that make Zombie Strippers as much fun as it is.
Though primarily a comedy, the film doesn’t chince on either the make-up or effects, and there’s lots of gore as well (one poor guy gets his head ripped apart at the jaw). While it does have its share of piss-poor CGI (especially later on, when the blood and guts become more plentiful), horror fans are sure to like what they see in Zombie Strippers.
And even if the look of the zombies doesn’t impress you, the strippers definitely will. Led by the gorgeous Jenna Jameson, the women of Zombie Strippers do more than take their clothes off (which they do plenty of times throughout the movie). In many ways, these ladies are the most well-rounded characters in the film (Kat and Jeannie have a running feud that has apparently been going on for years; and Jessy, who never stripped before, is trying to raise money to pay for her grandmother’s operation), and when one by one they decide to “take the plunge” and become a zombie, we understand what it is that’s motivating their decision, and actually root for them to succeed.
Whether it’s the zombies or the strippers that you’ve come to see, Zombie Strippers will give you exactly what you’re looking for!
