An irresistible piece of 80's cheese. I actually remember this one from its initial broadcast. Back then I thought it was terrible. Now, though, seeing it through my world weary, irony-heavy eyes, it has a brand new appeal. Let's start with the premise. A killer is stalking and slashing male strippers in the middle of their act. Oh no! Well, I can only imagine the writers had intended this to be an antidote to the inherently misogynistic stalk and slash genre by putting a gender reversal spin on the proceedings. Here, the audience gets to see half naked men get butchered, and see the female protagonist(Marilu Henner)rescue her hunky young boyfriend from the the clutches of the killer. Being a made for television film, the slashings are remarkably tame. In fact, in the first kill scene, I had serious doubts the victim could die from the wound inflicted on him. It kind of looked like a big cat scratch. Also, the romance between Henner and a pre-"Melrose Place" Thomas Calabro(looking pretty comely here)is not particularly interesting. Better, is Lesley-Anne Down's Joan Crawford-like performance as the owner of the strip club and Susan Blakely's big hair. There's also a potentially interesting sub plot that's introduced early in the film involving a housewife/mother sneaking away to catch the strip shows. When her husband sees a story of one the murders on television, he asks "What type of woman goes to a place like that?". Unfortunately, we later find out this woman had been a prostitute. Although it probably was not intended, I think this plot point uncomfortably links her former life and her current interest in seeing men strip. It definitely underscores how marginalized women are sexually. Putting my soap box aside, though, this is still one of those oddities from the 80's that warrants at least one viewing.
Review of Ladykillers
