Title: Strip Club Massacre (2017)
Director: Bob Clark
Runtime: 101 minutes
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Megan is having a terrible day. Her job has let her go because business is slow. She arrives home to find her boyfriend having sex with her roommate, so she decides to go visit her best friend, Amanda, and stay with her until she gets back on her feet. Amanda’s boyfriend, Bobby, runs a strip club, and offers Megan a job as a waitress as the last one disappeared. Something happens, and Megan eventually snaps. What pushes her over the edge? What happened to the other waitress who just left?
Strip Club Massacre quickly tells you what happened to the missing waitress as it shows three strippers dragging her into the woods and violently murdering her. I really didn’t care for these three girls. They weren’t attractive, but fit into the dive strip club feel, judged solely by most of its clientèle. Even if I didn’t like these bad girls, the chemistry between Megan and Amanda is spot on. They are both amazingly gorgeous, natural looking girls, and they play off of each other very well. Turns out the two actresses are best friends in real life too, and this is both of their first films. Oddly enough, these two show off their acting chops more than any of the other cast members, but alas, I am getting ahead of myself.
We also have the strip club manager, John, and Amanda’s boyfriend, Bobby. Both seem like pretty decent guys despite running a strip club. I won’t ruin the scene because it was a very nasty bit, but one of these guys – avoiding spoilers – has something horrible happen to him, and he plays it off in more of a questioning manner. “What are you doing to me?” When you see the scene you’ll understand why that reaction is far from reality as possible because what’s happening would hurt like nothing you could imagine. The rest of the cast is pretty blasé as well, never putting any real effort into it, which is a shame.
This is Bob Clark’s first time directing, and it shows. There are a lot of weird shots that make no sense. For example, there’s a scene where we see the three bad girls talking, and its shot through the spokes of a chair back. I don’t know why someone would give it that kind of thought because it honestly doesn’t work. Around the 68-minute mark there is a terrible five-minute long party scene that is basically a music video to a really awful rap song. The cinematographer was also one of the editors, and there are some really harsh cuts present. Any time there’s violence, there’s bound to be a sharp edit where it could have been a smoother transition. The gore is shown in such a way that it looks good with what I’ll assume was little effort. Nothing too crazy happens, and the film lingers a really long time on a few of the kills, to the point where I thought my copy had frozen, but it hadn’t.
The biggest problem with Strip Club Massacre has to be the sound. The finale of the film takes place in the strip club. There are a number of times where you can’t hear the dialogue over the music, which is booming, and then a moment later they are crisp and clear. I was given a digital copy to review so I didn’t have access to subtitles, so a few lines were completely lost on me.
There is a scene very early on where Bobby has just met Megan, who’s chilling with Amanda on the sofa. He says they should watch a movie, and Megan responds with something along the lines of, “no thanks. I know what kind of films you two like. Films with gore and boobs.” It’s a clear indication that tongue is planted firmly in cheek for this film, and honestly, that self-awareness is probably why I enjoyed the film for the most part. The film offers some decent gore, and one scene really grossed me out. Plus, there’s lots of nudity, but sadly none from our two leads.
Alicia Watson (Megan) and Courtney Riggs (Amanda) are downright beautiful women, and their chemistry together really sells Strip Club Massacre as a whole. I hope to see more from them. What it boils down to, though, is that this definitely is not a big-budget horror film, and it never tries to be. It walks the fine line between B-grade and Z-grade, but again, the two ladies really keep it in that B-zone, despite all of the other bumps along the road. There is a point in the film that completely turned me off, but I suppose that was the intention. And, maybe I was naive, or too into the moment, but I was a little let down by the actions and motives by these characters. Thankfully the film’s final twenty-minutes take the title to heart, and while my least favorite lady doesn’t bite it in a bloodbath of gore, it was so nice to watch her die anyway. I actually had a stupid grin on my face during the finale. Schlock should be fun, and despite a little bit of a lull in the middle, and some technical flaws, I had a fun time with Strip Club Massacre. It won’t blow you away, or add anything new to the genre, but it’s entertaining enough if the revenge genre is your cup of tea.
Strip Club Massacre (2017) is available May 2nd, 2017 on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vimeo, Xbox, Steam, Flix Fling, Vudu, Youtube, and Cable Video-On-Demand. It is also available on DVD exclusively on Amazon MOD on May 2nd, 2017. Cinefessions was provided a digital copy of Strip Club Massacre for review purposes by Brain Damage Films.
Chris was raised on horror films, which gave him a deep love for the genre, especially its most quirky and offbeat titles (like A Nightmare on Elm Street 2). This love quickly turned into an obsession for cinema in 1997, when he decided he needed to see every major theatrical release. Video games (JRPGs), reading (anything but fantasy), and reality television (Survivor) are just some of his other passions. He’s been with Cinefessions since 2013, and has been writing reviews all over the internet for the past twelve years.
