From the title alone it's safe to say that one will have low expectations, but low-grade schlock still has plentiful promise for cheeky, ridiculous entertainment if there's enough wit and earnest effort behind it. I don't think that this is the case with this movie, however. The concept is delightful. There are a handful of recognizable names and faces in the cast, and I trust that those of less renown would prove themselves if given the chance. Very, very rarely, irregularly and infrequently, the film can claim slivers of cleverness, almost eliciting a laugh. The basic hair and makeup work is swell, and any tangible blood and gore look good. This, unfortunately, is where my praise of 'Strippers vs werewolves' ends.
Too much of the attempted humor specifically, and the writing generally, is pointlessly crude and cheap, if not puerile, obnoxious, and empty-headed. There is little to no tact or nuance to be found anywhere in this picture - at best, so minimal as to be effectively meaningless - and wide swaths of it are emphatically overdone, glaring to the point of blowing past any novelty and being altogether painful. The latter word applies above all to the deeply imbalanced sound design, and slightly less to the production values at large. Yet the sheer gawky, club-footed inelegance and artlessness pervade this feature down to every last aspect: editing, cinematography, direction, sound effects, production design, art direction, props, costume design, special makeup, post-production effects and graphics, acting, lighting, music, dialogue, characters, scene writing, narrative, plot development, pacing, and so on, and so on. Even just the broad vibes that this tries to inculcate, those of comedy, horror, action, or eroticism, fall absolutely flat.
All this rottenness might theoretically be baseline acceptable were 'Strippers vs werewolves' not just a horror-comedy, but an abject parody thereof. Yet, again, we return to the problem of this being nowhere near smart enough, or cunning enough, to achieve any measurable value. As if to illustrate the point, I don't think I so much as cracked a smile beyond the first third of these oafishly long ninety minutes. In fairness to the cast and crew, no doubt their contributions (not least the look of the lycanthropes) were shaped by the intent and design of the director, writers, and producers; they did their jobs well, I trust, within the bounds that were set for them. If that's true, though, then it only means that those overseeing the production are to be condemned all the more for forcing their participants into such small, tawdry, worthless corners. So utterly scarce is any trace of fun herein that the end result can only be described as hopelessly tedious.
I'd rather completely hate a movie than be completely bored by it. I am bored by 'Strippers vs werewolves.' The most that I can say for it is that it had a chance of being genuinely enjoyable, and there are ideas scattered sparsely throughout the runtime that represent a fleeting spark of ingenuity. For such possibility, I want to say I like this more than I do. For lack of vibrancy, however, and discretion, and intelligence, I'm probably already being too kind in my assessment. Whatever it is you think you're going to get out of this, I regret to inform that you're mistaken. There are many other films you could be watching instead, so please save yourself the trouble of this one.
Too much of the attempted humor specifically, and the writing generally, is pointlessly crude and cheap, if not puerile, obnoxious, and empty-headed. There is little to no tact or nuance to be found anywhere in this picture - at best, so minimal as to be effectively meaningless - and wide swaths of it are emphatically overdone, glaring to the point of blowing past any novelty and being altogether painful. The latter word applies above all to the deeply imbalanced sound design, and slightly less to the production values at large. Yet the sheer gawky, club-footed inelegance and artlessness pervade this feature down to every last aspect: editing, cinematography, direction, sound effects, production design, art direction, props, costume design, special makeup, post-production effects and graphics, acting, lighting, music, dialogue, characters, scene writing, narrative, plot development, pacing, and so on, and so on. Even just the broad vibes that this tries to inculcate, those of comedy, horror, action, or eroticism, fall absolutely flat.
All this rottenness might theoretically be baseline acceptable were 'Strippers vs werewolves' not just a horror-comedy, but an abject parody thereof. Yet, again, we return to the problem of this being nowhere near smart enough, or cunning enough, to achieve any measurable value. As if to illustrate the point, I don't think I so much as cracked a smile beyond the first third of these oafishly long ninety minutes. In fairness to the cast and crew, no doubt their contributions (not least the look of the lycanthropes) were shaped by the intent and design of the director, writers, and producers; they did their jobs well, I trust, within the bounds that were set for them. If that's true, though, then it only means that those overseeing the production are to be condemned all the more for forcing their participants into such small, tawdry, worthless corners. So utterly scarce is any trace of fun herein that the end result can only be described as hopelessly tedious.
I'd rather completely hate a movie than be completely bored by it. I am bored by 'Strippers vs werewolves.' The most that I can say for it is that it had a chance of being genuinely enjoyable, and there are ideas scattered sparsely throughout the runtime that represent a fleeting spark of ingenuity. For such possibility, I want to say I like this more than I do. For lack of vibrancy, however, and discretion, and intelligence, I'm probably already being too kind in my assessment. Whatever it is you think you're going to get out of this, I regret to inform that you're mistaken. There are many other films you could be watching instead, so please save yourself the trouble of this one.