''Strippers vs Werewolves'' is a 2012 British
comedy horror film
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...
directed by Jonathan Glendening. The screenplay was written by Phillip Barron and
Pat Higgins. The main cast includes
Ali Bastian,
Martin Compston
Martin Compston (born 8 May 1984) is a Scottish actor and former professional footballer. He played Anti-Corruption Unit Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in the BBC drama ''Line of Duty'', Liam in Ken Loach's '' Sweet Sixteen'', Paul Ferris in ...
,
Alan Ford,
Marc Baylis
Marc Baylis (born 3 April 1978) is a British stage, television and film actor. He trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, where he was awarded the Stage Scholarship. He is best known for his role as Rob Donovan in '' Coronation Street'' f ...
,
Billy Murray,
Simon Phillips,
Barbara Nedeljáková,
Coralie Rose,
Nick Nevern
Nick Nevern (born 8 December 1980) is a British actor, screenwriter and director. He is best known for his roles in Eastenders first as Rennie, then as Don , Shameless as Rogowski,and The Hooligan Factory as Dex.
Early life
Nevern was born an ...
, and
Adele Silva
Adele Silva (born 19 November 1980) is an English actress. She played the role of Kelly Windsor in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' on and off from 1993 to 2011. In 1989, she had a minor role in the final classic series ''Doctor Who'' story '' ...
.
Some actors, such as
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the '' Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Classically trained at the Royal Academy o ...
and
Sarah Douglas, had a small part in the film. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray. It has received mixed reception with praise for its entertainment value and complaints about its plot.
Plot
In 1984, a London club explodes. The plot then moves to a strip club in 2011 in which dancer Justice's client becomes a werewolf. Justice uses a silver fountain pen to kill the werewolf by stabbing him in the eye. The leader of the werewolves, Jack Ferris, wants retribution for the death of the werewolf. Unknown to Justice, her fiancé Scott is part of the werewolf pack. The werewolves and strippers, including some from the 1984 bombing, prepare to fight each other in the strip club.
A problem is that Scott bit Justice while they were being passionate, slowly making her transform into a werewolf.
Production and release
Jonathan Sothcott
Jonathan Sothcott (born 26 April 1980) is a British film producer and author.
Biography
Before making his name in feature films, Sothcott produced documentaries and moderated DVD commentaries for numerous cult films, including ''The Wild Gees ...
, who produced ''
Stalker'' and ''Strippers vs Werewolves'', said that funding for his productions and similar British horror films are received by pre-sales to distribution companies. Sothcott said, "My model works through a series of minimum guarantees from distributors so that, on paper at least, my films are in profit before they are even released. The distributors know that, from my track record, I will deliver a certain type of film in a certain type of genre on time and on budget." Sothcott said that the main criticism has to do with the strippers not stripping enough.
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the '' Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series. Classically trained at the Royal Academy o ...
,
Steven Berkoff,
Lysette Anthony
Lysette Anne Chodzko (born 26 September 1963), known professionally as Lysette Anthony, is an English actress and model. She is known for her roles in the film ''Husbands and Wives'' (1992), as Princess Lysssa in the 1983 fantasy epic ''Krull ...
, and
Sarah Douglas have
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s.
The film opens with the song "
Hungry Like the Wolf
"Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by English new wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album ''Rio'' (1982). The song was released on 4 May 1982 as the band's fi ...
" by
Duran Duran, but the rendition was played by the band Wild Moon.
Despite the title, there is no stripping in the film although there are characters dancing somewhat erotically.
The film was released on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
with a commentary by the producers and 11 minutes of behind the scenes footage. ''Inside Pulse'' reviewer Mike Noyes said, "Most of the film is shot very well, sometimes not so much. But good or bad, the transfer always looks great and the sound is great too."
It was also released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
.
Reception
Mark Adams, of ''
Screen Daily'', said that the film has "an amusingly smart and cheeky script" and that it "is an enjoyably silly affair that could well find an audience in the gore-hungry horror marketplace."
Author Bryan Senn said in his book ''The Werewolf Filmography: 300+ Movies'' that "''Strippers vs Werewolves'' remains an entertaining melding of the modern gangster film (as exemplified by such Guy Ritchie entries as ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', ''Snatch'', and ''Rocknrolla'') and the werewolf movie."
Noyes, of ''Inside Pulse'', wrote "Frankly, I was shocked how entertaining this film proved to be. By no means am I going to call it a great film, but for what should have been a big pile of crap rises high above the expectations."
Dennis King from ''
The Oklahoman
''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...
'' said that the film is "a muddled mess that delivers few laughs and even fewer chills".
Kim Newman said in an ''
Empire Online
''Empire'' is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989.
History
David Hepworth of Emap, the publisher of British music magazines '' Q'' and ''Smash Hits'', among other titles ...
'' review that the film is a "low-budget British genre effort" and "has an admirable streak of bloodied sweetness and decent performances going for it, but it’s also, frankly, a bit of a mess, and stronger on montages of characters getting ready for action than the action itself."
References
External links
''Strippers vs Werewolves'' at the
Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
*{{rotten-tomatoes, strippers_vs_werewolves
British comedy horror films
2012 comedy horror films
Erotic horror films
2012 comedy films
2012 films
Films about striptease
British werewolf films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films