Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Strippers vs. Werewolves Blu-ray Movie Review

Budget vs. quality.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2012

It may be a tad early yet to be announcing an exciting new subgenre of film, but with the releases of Zombie Strippers and now Stippers vs. Werewolves, along with the theatrical offering Zombies vs. Strippers which hasn't yet matriculated to Blu-ray, it seems that ecdysiasts may be busting out all over (so to speak) as a cinematic trope. We’re perhaps not quite at the level of the recent influx of historical characters, both fictional and real life, battling various supernatural phenomena, as in the recently released Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies or the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D, or the hotly anticipated Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which transports the saga of the Bennets and Mr. Darcy into the realm of the undead, but one can hope, can’t one? As my colleague Martin Liebman mentioned in his review of Zombie Strippers, Strippers vs. Werewolves is a film that probably greenlit on the allure of its title alone, without anyone bothering to worry very much over little things like plot and character. What proves to be a relative saving grace for this film, though, is its resolute awareness that it is Grade Z fare, a living comic book, and with a complete lack of ambition, it does indeed pit strippers against werewolves with a minimum of fuss and bother, but with a surfeit of bosoms, fangs and gore. It’s never quite as funny as it really should be, but there’s a spirit of goofy fun that inhabits large swaths of the film and which may make it perfect late night fare for those in search of a film they don’t really need to pay attention to, and in fact may not want to if they actually do pay attention to it.

Strippers vs. Werewolves references its comic book ambience almost immediately not just with its slightly lunatic subject matter but with the visual presentation itself, which utilizes split screens mimicking comic book panels and, later, several interstitial illustrations that look just like comic book pictures. The story, such as it is, deals with a stripper club called Vixens and their battle with a horde of criminal werewolves. The opening scene sets the stage as a scantily clad young woman named Justice (Adele Silva), in all her Lolita-esque finery and lasciviously sucking on a lollipop, does a little dance for a stern looking man who then seems to be having some sort of seizure. We quickly realize that Justice’s dance has ignited some sort of feral response in the man and he transforms (none too convincingly, it should be stated) into a werewolf. Justice reacts almost instinctively, jabbing the poor beast in his eye with a silver tipped pen that she just happens to have at her beck and call.

That in turn sets off the central promised showdown between the two camps, except guess what: there really is no showdown until very late in the film. It’s a disastrous gambit that deprives the film of any sense of menace, leaving the running time filled up with lots of shenanigans that hint at an upcoming werewolf – stripper apocalypse, but which fails to deliver on that promise. A kind of low rent Van Helsing character (if Van Helsing hunted werewolves instead of vampires) named Sinclair (Simon Phillips, also one of the film's many co-producers) enters the fray, and the Vixen’s no nonsense head lady Jilly (Lysette Anthony) also reveals a little back story that places everything in supposed context, but it’s a lot of energy expended for very little palpable result.

Strippers vs. Werewolves does its darnedest to work in a variety of interconnecting subplots, but nothing ever really gels very well in a film that kind of lurches and starts, with one bit landing acceptably, but many others falling flat. The dead werewolf turns out to be the head honcho of a gang of criminals (of course), and they set out for revenge, but as Jilly reveals, there may be more to the story than this one episode. In the meantime, Jilly’s dunderheaded assistant Franklyn (Nick Nevern) is desperately trying to hide the evidence while one of the stripper girls turns out to be romantically involved with one of the werewolves. The major problem here is not actually with the setup, which is fine as far as it goes, but with the execution, which simply never gets to the satiric heights it needs to in order for a film like this to really work.

The film has some good talent in it, especially for being such a low rent affair, although its biggest name, Robert Englund, appears in what is basically a cameo, obviously added for his marquee value and little else. The best thing about Strippers vs. Werewolves is its resolute tendency not to take itself even slightly seriously, and there are some undeniably goofily funny moments scattered throughout the film. But when you advertise a film as what amounts to a showdown and then delay that showdown until the final few minutes of the film, it means the lead up had better be spectacularly entertaining. Unfortunately that’s where Strippers vs. Werewolves is all tease with no payoff.

Strippers vs. Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Strippers vs. Werewolves is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Technical specs on this film are next to impossible to come by, but this certainly has the look of having been shot on HD video. That gives the film a typically flat, shallow look which actually plays rather well into its comic book ambience. The image here is acceptably sharp, though it never really pops magnificently, and unfortunately many of the darker interior scenes are murky, with ineffective shadow detail and strangely low contrast. What's especially odd about Strippers vs. Werewolves is how strangely desaturated it appears at times (see the screencap of Robert Englund for a good example). This should be a gorefest, but instead blood is kind of rusty brown and flesh tones look pallid enough at times to make the viewer think this is a vampire film.

Strippers vs. Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Strippers vs. Werewolves features a fun and immersive lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that helps establish the film's goofy ambience rather well. There's an appealingly retro-eighties feel to much of the music (that is not in fact Duran Duran doing "Hungry Like a Wolf," but a cover band), with British duo The Soda Jerkers providing some fun tunes that kind of are reminiscent of The Pet Shop Boys. The Vixens moments are also very well designed, with good use of surrounds helping to recreate the noisy atmosphere of the club. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented and the track exhibits a rather surprisingly wide dynamic range, with low end especially impressive.

Strippers vs. Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Producers' Commentary Featuring Jonathan Sothsott and Simon Phillips Sothsott and Phillips seem to be only too aware that they have not exactly produced another Citizen Kane, and so their tongue in cheek commentary is quite enjoyable. Their thick Cockney accents can be a bit difficult to decipher at times.


• Strippers vs. Werewolves Undressed (HD; 11:27) is an enjoyable enough making of featurette, replete with interviews with the cast and crew and scenes from the film.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:37)

Strippers vs. Werewolves Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Strippers vs. Werewolves could have been good, brainless fun had it gotten to the central showdown earlier and if it had utilized some of its more renowned actors a bit more effectively. The problem with starting with a title and then building a film around it is that if the title references a battle, you need to have a battle before the closing moments of the film. Too much of this outing is spent in relatively pointless sidebars. Some of them are undeniably funny, but the overall feeling of Strippers vs. Werewolves is, to quote a certain overused metaphor, like taking a shower in a raincoat. There's too much masking the central conceit here, and that façade keeps the film from ever breaking through into the outrageous satiric content that it really should have mined more effectively.