Matty finds some worth in an eccentric but underwhelming follow-up to a solid gold classic.

According to legend, after surveying Dance of the Damned’s (1989) dailies, B-movie titan Roger Corman was so taken by Maria Ford that he ordered director Katt Shea and her creative partner/then husband, Andy Ruben, to place the debuting starlet front and centre in another movie right away. Thus, when Dance of the Damned wrapped its brisk twelve day shoot, STRIPPED TO KILL II: LIVE GIRLS started shooting, their productions broken by a weekend. There was no script, and no plan beyond bagging footage of Ford sashaying around Dance of the Damned’s titty bar set and a few others still standing on Corman’s Venice backlot.

As Shea says, Stripped to Kill II was quite literally made up as they went along. 

With an uneven pace and lack of focus, a cynic could argue that much is evident. However, for those open to something wild, this curiously compelling cheapie exudes a charm of sorts, even though it’s an obvious step down from its barnstorming predecessor. 

Like many a Corman sequel (think: the Carnosaur and Bloodfist sagas), Stripped to Kill II completely ignores the events of the first movie [1]. Instead, it concerns itself with another bunch of murders being committed in and around a playfully seedy strip club, the new wrinkle being that the utterly striking Ford is menaced by strange and disturbing psychic visions of the film’s villain – a masked, razor blade chewing wacko. 

Stylishly done, Shea and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael continue their Dance of the Damned trick and lean into the dreaminess, presenting Stripped to Kill II as a cross between Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980) and a Technicolor MGM musical. The images they conjure often atone for the narrative shortcomings. Many are extremely potent, and several are outright nightmarish – all at once kinky, grotesque, thrilling and perturbing. Stripped to Kill II’s opening is especially impressive. It’s an evocative and oneiric piece of performance art which establishes the film’s sensory-driven approach; a mode augmented by Ted Lin’s dizzying choreography.

A vital part of Shea’s early movies, Lin – whose union with the helmer includes Dance of the Damned, Poison Ivy (1992), and, of course, the original Stripped to Kill (1987) – orchestrates some truly outstanding bursts of jiggy abandon here. Outrageous and highly expressive, Lin’s meticulously staged dance sequences are woven deep into the fabric of the film. Sure, there are times when they’re clearly a symptom of the wing-it production. Extending the snazzy flailing is great filler, ditto the protracted scenes of Ford et al pouting and cod-philosophically brooding. But within Stripped to Kill II’s kooky inner world – which, a la Stripped 1 and Dance of the Damned, is deliciously immersive – Lin’s gyrations are a gateway; the doors that let another flutter of madness – a disquieting visual, a peculiar bit of dressing, a macabre idea – creep in…       

Premiering ahead of Dance of the Damned, Stripped to Kill II hit select U.S. theatres on 13th January 1989, playing malls, drive-ins, and second-runs in Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and, by February, California and Florida. It’d roll out to Georgia, Alabama and New York come April, and landed on tape via MGM/UA Home Video on 26th July. MGM/UA issued the film in the U.K. at the back end of the year in a slightly cut version.

USA ● 1989 ● Erotic Thriller ● 82mins

Maria Ford, Eb Lottimer, Karen Mayo-Chandler ● Wri./Dir. Katt Shea (as ‘Katt Shea Ruben’)

[1] Debra Lamb appears in both movies, albeit in different parts.