Robert Englund, cast & crew on the horror-comedy action flick
What happens when a bevy of stripperdom’s most beautiful girls take on the meanest pack of werewolves since that famous American one stalked through London? British horror fans will find out first this Fall when Strippers vs. Werewolves opens.
Produced by Black and Blue Films, the maverick UK company behind Dead Cert, Stalker and Elfie Hopkins, the comedy horror action romp boasts an impressive cast including British soap opera royalty Adele Silva, Ali Bastian, Billy Murray and Martin Kemp, Hostel lead Barbara Nedeljakova, Scottish heart throb Martin Compston from Wild Country and Red Mist, Superman and Conan the Destroyer star Sarah Douglas, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake/A Clockwork Orange acting legend Steven Berkoff and horror icon Robert Englund.
Producer Jonathan Sothcott recalls the genesis of the project that has just completed shooting on London locations. “A first draft of this spec script entitled Strippers vs. Werewolves turned up at our office completely out of the blue. It was from writer/director Pat Higgins who I knew of by reputation because I had kept an eye on his career making micro-budget movies as Bordello Death Tales. Pat clearly saw the script as another one of those types of shoestring epics whereas I thought it could be something much better and on a far bigger scale. I felt it could really amount to something special in the comedy horror arena. I never saw it as a horror film with comedy, always with the view it could become a classic of the reverse.”
Sothcott continues, “I got Phillip Barron, a writer who we’d worked with on Just for the Record and Stalker, to up the jokes and funny business, until we tonally had something like Kick-Ass meets From Dusk Till Dawn while paying homage to a particular favorite of mine The Monster Squad. It’s a comic book affair, with lots of references to other werewolf movies. If you know where the gag is coming from it’ll mean a double sucker punch, if you don’t it won’t get in the way of your enjoyment.”
It was at Film4 FrightFest 2010 that Sothcott found his director for the project. “The moment I saw the world premiere of 13 Hrs I knew I had found the right person in Jonathan Glendening. 13Hrs was tense with a nice line in black comedy and when I found out what the actual budget was, frankly I was amazed. Jonathan was clearly a proper filmmaker with a keen Hollywood sensibility and the power to get great performances from his actors. I was initially worried he might not want to follow one werewolf movie with another, but Strippers was at a complete 180-degree angle. I didn’t want it nasty or sleazy â I wanted it to be something a guy would drag his date to see and the girlfriend would end up adoring it just as much. Jonathan understood that approach exactly.”
“It was like something out of a Hollywood movie,” recalls Glendening with a smile remembering the incident. “Jonathan told me he loved 13Hrs and wanted me to make a movie with him. Naturally I was delighted, and thought I’d never hear from him again! Then the script arrived and, Oh, I thought, he was being sincere and it’s going to happen. I did have trepidation about doing another werewolf movie at first. But when I read the script and realized how different in tone it was I relaxed. There was no way I was going to get tagged âThe Werewolf Guy’ any time soon. Although it was very much designed as a cartoon movie I wanted to make sure each of the strippers had a strong character arc that made them real can-do women. I also wanted to feel secure about the comedy, horror and action balance. Once I felt those issues had been addressed I was happy to go ahead.”
The first person attached to the project was Adele Silva, one of producer Sothcott’s best friends whom he’d wanted to cast in a leading role for ages. “But my frantic soap opera career got in the way,” says Silva, famous in the UK for the series Emmerdale and as a popular glamour pin-up. “When Jonathan sent me the script he told me to ignore the title and just read it. I found it outrageous, blatant, smart, funny, full of laugh-out loud innuendo â a bit like the Scary Movie [series] but far cleverer. The female characters came out on top after dancing round poles and head-butting gangster werewolves. My character Justice had a nice âRomeo and Juliet’ style story going on with one of the werewolves, my sexy outfits were going to be fabulous and I adore horror movies like Shaun of the Dead. I’d never done anything quite like it before so I couldn’t wait to begin in truth.”
“Jonathan Sothcott saw me in Pimp,” says Hostel‘s Barbara Nedeljakova, “And asked me to read the script with a view to playing Raven, whose boyfriend is the Van Helsing-type occultist of the piece. My first worry was that I’m not a dancer in any way, but once we all had an intensive pole-dancing course, I got to like the empowerment of being on stage. My last few movies have been brutal and dark so this project signalled a nice and welcome change of pace. Basically though Raven looks sexy with a gun and shoots lots of men in the balls. What’s not to like about a character like that?”
Looking after her Vixens, and hiding the fact that she has a history of violence with wolf pack leader Billy Murray, “Jeanette is the original tart-with-the-heart,” describes Sarah Douglas about her role. “She may be past her prime and a little cheap, but she’s still a major player. Her last club venture was the site of a major lycanthropic massacre. Now Billy’s character has caught up with me and it’s the final, feral showdown. The script was very tongue in cheek, a breath of fresh air and a good romp, no more no less, with nubile actresses, fit werewolves and Martin Kemp! I was such a huge Spandau Ballet fan and now I’m appearing with my idol wearing Curse of the Werewolf Hammer-style make-up in a terrific British movie. Bliss.”
Hard to believe it but horror legend Robert Englund has never played a werewolf before in his long and illustrious career. That’s mainly why he took on the crucial role of the enigmatic prisoner Tapper. The one and only Freddy Krueger also knew Cesar Alonso, the special make-up prosthetics supervisor working for designer Kristyan Mallett Ltd on the movie from a prior accidental meeting in Spain. He remarked, “We had met at a Death of Freddy party and I thought that was a great omen after reading the script. This is why you have to be nice to your fans and encourage them to follow their dreams. They might just end up working with you.”
He continues, “I’m in this movie because the commercial title means it will have a receptive global audience. And you know what, it’s funny â both on the physical action side and on the joke front. It was gory, gross, sexy and character-based – the best of British in fact. When I contacted the producers and they told me Sarah Douglas was playing the strip club madam I knew I had to do it more. We starred together in the V mini-series and I loved hanging out with her. I knew who Billy Murray was too and as I was mostly playing opposite his character, all the odds were in the movie’s favour. Plus, there’s the possibility of a sequel if I’m not mistaken â Strippers vs. Vampires â and I’ve never played a vampire either. So that could solve another casting desire!”
Source: Alan Jones
