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Encyclopedia of the Zombie: The Walking Dead in Popular Culture

and Myth
By: June Michele Pulliam and Anthony J. Fonseca, Editors

ZOMBIE STRIPPERS!
Laura Helen Marks
Zombie Strippers! is a 2008 horror-comedy movie written and directed by Jay Lee, starring porn
superstar Jenna Jameson and Nightmare on Elms Street film series star Robert Englund. Lee had
previously written and directed the even lower budget demon-zombie film The Slaughter (2006).
Zombie Strippers! is set in a near future in which George W. Bush has been elected for a fourth
term. The film centers around Rhinos, an underground strip club in a small Nebraska town. The
plot device is similar to that of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) in that a chemical virus
developed by the government to reanimate slain soldiers in order to create a super military force
has been accidentally released, spreading the virus to the general population. The paramilitary Z
Squad is sent to kill the zombies. When one member of the squad is bitten, he seeks refuge in
Rhinos. After the clubs star dancer Kat (Jameson) is bitten, she continues to perform, and her
aggressive, bloodthirsty shows are a huge hit with customers, although their subsequent
Champagne Room visits prove fatal to them. Kats success prompts her fellow dancers to decide
whether to become zombies themselves.
The film is most notable for Jameson, a porn industry legend considered an emblem for women
who turn porn careers into lucrative, long-term businesses. Zombie Strippers! was Jamesons first
lead role in a nonpornographic film. The film sexualizes the zombie in more overt ways than
traditionally seen on film, in turn subverting the notion of the objectified and victimized female
stripper: it is

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Kat (Jenna Jameson) beguiles the clientele of Rhinos, who do not suspect that the exotic dancer
that they find so appealing is a bloodthirsty zombie who will soon feast on their flesh.
(Sony Pictures Entertainment)
the violent and sadistic strippers who prove to be a big hit with the masochistic male customers. In
this way, sexually aggressive women are depicted as more appealing than the traditionally
appeasing exotic dancer. The humor of the film relies in part on the dramatic irony generated by
the customers expressing glee in retiring to the private rooms with the strippers, where they will
inevitably be eaten. Consequently, the male customers are the butt of the joke, while the female
zombie strippers are the subjects, in spite of the films prolonged nude dance sequences.
Lees prior film, The Slaughter, also demonstrates an interest in feminine monsters, focusing on
the resurrection of a zombie-related female demon. Zombie Strippers! had a limited theatrical
release in the United States in its R-rated form; the subsequent unrated DVD release includes
some scenes of gore and nudity that had been cut for the theatrical release. The film was generally
received poorly by the mainstream press, who criticized the low production values, bad acting, and
one-joke premise. Horror blogs and less mainstream press, however, mostly welcomed the film as
a fun, albeit disposable and predictable offering. The film cost $1 million to make in 18 days of
shooting.
See also Comedy;
See also Pornography;
See also Return of the Living Dead Series;
See also Science Fiction

MLA
Marks, Laura Helen. "ZOMBIE STRIPPERS!." Encyclopedia of the Zombie: The Walking Dead in
Popular Culture and Myth. Ed. June Pulliam, Anthony J. Fonseca. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood,

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