Review of Stripped to Kill (1987) by Michael W — 04 Jan 2016

STRIPPED TO KILL by Katt Shea embodies the later '80s excess of the slasher genre. Strippers are being murdered, so a hot, young female detective goes undercover as a dancer. It is trashy and fun with some technical issues. This is Shea's first movie; although SLUMBER PARTY was Amy Holden Jones' first and much better. The dance sequences are pretty awesome. There's much more of a burlesque element than I was expecting.

The lady detective's partner/love interest was a real downer. He tricks her into doing topless dancing as a 'joke,' and they literally have a conversation where he says, "You're too emotional." She goes, "Well, you know what I need." Cue love scene (and give me a barf bag). The twist ending (SPOILER) is a little too close to Robert Hiltzik's SLEEPAWAY CAMP and Brian De Palma's DRESSED TO KILL, and, I swear I never thought I would say or write this, the whole picture is significantly less classy compared to DRESSED TO KILL. Still fun though!

Katt Shea did some nearly notable movies later, mostly latter day exploitation fare like POISON IVY and THE RAGE: CARRIE 2. She recorded a video to play before the movie at Cinefamily, stating that she loved working on STRIPPED TO KILL and was excited that we were watching her film. She also said she was working on a new project, but I'm not sure if it's a film as she hasn't directed anything since 2001.