Available on Blu-ray and VOD Tuesday March 28th from Uncork’d Entertainment is Peelers, a zombie style infestation flick taking place in a strip club. It’s the perfect combination to merge nudity and horror together and the format has already been used previously with Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Strippers, Big Tits Zombie, and probably countless more. I was admittedly looking forward to watching this after seeing the trailer, always excited to check out anything that is gross or pushes the boundaries of taste. Peelers is gloriously disgusting, filled with an assortment of elements that will repulse and offend the common viewer. Despite these positives, it still suffers to be nothing more than subpar with a series of poor special effects, lack of humor, and average acting.
Wren Walker plays Blue Jean, a former baseball player turned small town strip club owner who has just sold the club, with tonight being her last night. The only problem is a group of miners come into the club with a zombie-like infection and everyone must fight for their survival. They are never called zombies, but they are essentially zombies. The story could be described as 28 Days Later meets From Dusk til Dawn. The first act mainly sets up the various characters and plot points that will be used throughout the rest of the movie. There are more attempts at comedic dialogue in the first act then the rest of the picture. Once the killing begins, it becomes more of a straight horror flick. Personally, I think this is part of Peelers downfall. They should have embraced the outrageousness and added more comedy and comedic elements.
This is an unappealing looking location and set design. It is a strip club that is painted black on the outside and also on the inside. There isn’t a whole lot to work with, making the job of creating interesting visuals a difficult task. While the gore is filmed well, there simply aren’t many finely composed visual scenes in this. Some may say that isn’t necessary for a horror film, yet I could point out many bad productions that still have excellent camera work and memorable sequences.
The acting is what you would typically come to expect in a low budget indie movie, mostly falling in the passable range. I wasn’t particularly impressed by Walker, but she is attractive enough to please most horror fans. Minor changes to the characters and dialogue may have altered my initial perceptions on the actor’s performances.
The high amount of kills, gore, and nudity are sure to entice and please most fans, as it delivers those in spades. They don’t hold back, kills are many and they are usually on screen. Blood sprays, spews, runs, and flows. Vomit projects through the air. Strippers are topless and perform certain special activities that you don’t witness at the normal clubs. While the practical effects are excellent, the cgi effects are bad enough to question including them. Using a mixture of cgi and practical blood almost always doesn’t work, especially when it involves a low production.
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| Warning: Lap dances can kill |
In the end, there are aspects that I loved and then there were aspects that just didn’t work for me. For those reasons, Peelers ends up being a middle of the road flick for me. Other viewers may feel completely different and would rate it higher. My suggestion is to watch this while having a few beers; it’s suited for a night with drinks and a few rowdy friends.
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