PEELERS (2017)

USA/2017
Directed By: Seve Schelenz
Written By: Lisa DeVita, Seve Schelenz
Starring: Wren Walker, Caz Odin Darko, Madison J. Loos
VOD Release Date: March 28, 2017

The final night of business at the Tittyballs strip club isn't the cakewalk owner Blue Jeans (don't call her BJ!) was probably hoping for as she prepares to sell to a skeezy businessman with questionable intentions. The night is full of drunks, a new girl dancing for the first time because a regular is about to pop with a baby, jealous boyfriends and a group of workers from the local coal mine that come in covered in a weird black oil substance that turns anyone that comes into contact with it in to a bloodthirsty maniac. Is it closing time yet?

Seve Schelenz returns for his second feature film after making Skew back in 2010 (previously reviewed HERE) with an overly gory splatterfest that isn't out of line from body melt films like Street Trash and Slime City though it is played straighter than either of those films and doesn't go for the day-glo look instead opting for a thick, black splatter that is vomited and spewed by the gallon. PEELERS will have no trouble attracting an audience with all of the blood and guts flying around in addition to the black sludge. The film is wildly bloody and nobody is off limits. CGI is mixed in with large amounts of practical effects and while it is immediately and definitely a noticeable shift from the practical stuff it isn't off putting.

PEELERS will stand apart from similar films that are released each month because it takes far greater care in its writing and characters than the majority of independent horror films even think about. We get real relationships built within the confines of the walls of this strip club and it all begins and ends with Wren Walker's performance as Blue Jeans. She's a tough but loving owner and a total bad ass chick. Walker is damn good and really carries the film while the support from her security guard Remy played by Caz Odin Darko is more of a straight forward performance that doesn't need any nuance but he plays it exactly how he should. He's a sympathetic character that most guys can relate to in one way or another. It's not just good performances but actual character development that make it such a good script.

PEELERS is a really solid horror film, I can't say it's perfect because it isn't but it is damn entertaining and even though it's not the most original premise and reminds me of countless movies that came before it, it is one of the better strip club horror movies I've seen to date and I had a great time with it. It's rare these days that a movie as splatterific as PEELERS has such a quality production. This one is definitely worth a look.