Saturday, July 14, 2012

Honourable Mention: Strippers Vs Werewolves

A 2012 comedy horror directed by Jonathan Glendening, UK flick Strippers Vs Werewolves essentially does what it says on the tin… pits strippers against werewolves somewhere in London, after dancer Justice (Adele Silva) gets a punter (Martin Kemp, Embrace of the Vampire) so excited that he turns in the private booth. His wolfish desires are cut short as she stabs him in the eye with a silver fountain pen but his untimely death brings the club to the attention of the other wolves – led by alpha Ferris (Billy Murray, Dead Cert ).

Luckily club owner Jeanette (Sarah Douglas, Dracula) has come across these creatures before (indeed she was involved with Ferris at one time). As for the other girls, Raven (Barbara Nedeljakova) is a bit of a goth gal who is in a relationship with (the rather dorky) Sinclair (Simon Phillips), an occultist, ghost hunter and vampire killer. Actually he doesn’t have too much of an impact given that he is off on a hunt when Raven contacts him.

Sinclair and the brides
It is here that our vampires come into the frame as it is a pair of vampire brides that he is hunting, Carmilla (Lucy Pinder) and Regine (Sabine Jemeljanova), and they are the sort of vampire brides that wear see-through negligées and black underwear beneath. In a nod towards genre fans there is a throwaway line, by the vampires as he enters their lair, of “there are kisses for us both” – slightly misquoting but still referencing Dracula. We don’t see a huge amount but cut into the hunt a couple of times as Raven phones Sinclair for advice.

vampires of Dagenham
At the end of the film there is a further coda of good werewolves, under Sinclair’s tutelage, hunting down the vampires of Dagenham. These are male vampires who attack women leaving the cinema (it seems) and go up in flames when staked.

Carmilla and Regine
Is it a classic film? It’s called Strippers Vs Werewolves and a lot of the cast are from soaps; what do you think? But, to be fair, it perhaps hit the mark more, comedy wise, than Brit horror comedy Lesbian Vampire Killers - though to be fair that wouldn’t be the most difficult feat. So it isn’t great cinema… but it has strippers, werewolves and (very briefly) vampires. Thanks to Leila who let me know about the vampire connection.

The imdb page is here.

No comments: