topsfrombottom The late, great Rick Dean carried nearly the full weight of this film, imho. Other than he and Lance('C-C-C-C-Carey') August, the entire cast needed changing. Kinda-pretty Maria Ford's acting was as stilted and amateurish as ever - and She clearly needed cast against a stripper's pole about as much as Mr. T does. Now, I cherish all Women and especially pretty Ones in high heels and lingerie - perhaps even more than most guys - and I was let down to see Her as the lead. I mean, Ms Charlize Theron would have been WAY more fun to watch in a strip club than Ms Maria ever could be - AND they surely could have afforded Ms Charlize easier, back then - of course, in '95, She was only 20. But, nearly any Pinup from back then would have done this movie much better than our Ms Maria was able to.HOWEVER - I DID enjoy it, I'll NEVER forget it. If you can yawn past Ms Maria's halfhearted performances on both the pole and Her dialogue - as well as tolerate the hokey directing - it's actually a damn cool film.It's also got several chuckle-moments in it, too - i.e. Rick's clumsy entry into the club - that was worth a few rewinds, right there, hahaha!-Just focus on Rick's character (he's topping his game, here) and the strippers (other than Ms Maria, hehe) and you'll be fine.In a nutshell: This is a flawed-but-memorable film; a fun, dark, attention-holding watch.

Uriah43 This film has a few good things going for it and a few bad things as well. First, Maria Ford (as "Christina Loren") was fantastic. Her acting was solid, her dance routines were top-notch and she was very sexy. The other dancers, Nikki Fritz (as "Sandra") and Ann-Marie Holman ("Kitten") weren't quite in the same league but at least they provided some entertainment value. Additionally, Rick Dean (as the psychopath "Neil") performed exceptionally well. At least at first. But eventually his constant diatribes got very annoying and towards the end I hoped he would turn the gun on himself. Anything to get him to shut up. I also didn't care for the character "Carey" (Lance August) or the two cops who just sat in the car taking up valuable time and film footage. They detracted from the film more than anything else. Especially Carey. Even so, this film wasn't too bad. But Maria Ford couldn't carry the entire movie by herself and Rick Dean had too much film time as it was. Perhaps if the writer (Duane Whitaker) had devoted more time and energy to a few other cast members (other than Lance August that is) this would have been much better. But he didn't and the film suffers accordingly. Still, for an extremely low-budget production and all of the aforementioned flaws I suppose it was okay and merits an average rating. But just barely.

Woodyanders Cunning and lethal blind maniac vagrant Neil (a wired, intense, bravura performance by the late, great Rick Dean in one of his patented insane villain parts) terrorizes a handful of folks in a strip club at gunpoint. Neil cruelly uses everyone's individual weaknesses against them. The main target of Neil's twisted obsession is lovely stripper Christina Martin (well played by the stunningly gorgeous Maria Ford). Director Dan Golden, working from a clever and compact script by Duane Whitaker, wrings plenty of gut-wrenching tension from the simple, yet gripping premise and certainly doesn't skimp on the tasty bare distaff skin. Dean and Ford both turn in stand-out work in their juicy lead roles; they receive excellent support from Lance August as stuttering shy guy Carey, George Tovar as corrupt cop Roland, Nikki Fritz as mannish, domineering lesbian Sandra, the adorable Ann-Marie Holman as Sandra's mousy, passive lover Kitten, and R.A. Mihailoff (Leatherface in "Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III") as tough bartender Little. Both Timothy Wynn's funky score and Andrea Rosotto's slick cinematography are up to par. Popping up in nice cameos are John Lazar (Z-Man in "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") as a bar patron and Linnea Quigley as a waitress. The DVD boasts a few nifty extras: several trailers, a funny outtake reel, and a lively, informative and highly entertaining commentary by Rick Dean and Dan Golden. Good, nasty fun.

pearceduncan I was surprised by this movie. It's not bad at all. It's basically your standard "psycho-in-a-strip-joint" movie, but this time the psycho is pretty memorable. Oh, and the main stripper is Maria Ford, who is incredibly gorgeous.As movies set in strip joints go, this is nowhere near Exotica (obviously) but much better than Showgirls or Striptease.