Sevé Schelenz (Skew [2011]) reportedly avoided tossing in gratuitous nudity for his second horror outing. Instead, he built the concept around a strip club setting – giving birth to the Canadian comedy-horror Peelers. On paper, it’s a clever workaround. In execution, however, screenwriter Lisa DeVita making her debut delivers a script that largely misses the mark.
The biggest issue isn’t entirely on her shoulders: the premise itself feels worn out. Horror has already mined the “zombies in a strip club” angle to death. Films like Zombie Strippers! [2008] and Zombies vs. Strippers [2012] got there first, while even Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse [2015] took a swing at the same territory but layered a hefty amount of teenage angst. By the time Peelers rolls around, the concept doesn’t feel fresh—it feels recycled especially since a core reason for the infection feel lift from, The X-Files Season 3, Episode 15 titled “Piper Maru.”
Wren Walker and Caz Odin Darko
From its opening frames, Peelers drenches the screen in neon, trying to mask what is ultimately a grimy, low-rent strip club sitting on the edge of a nowhere desert town. Blue Jean (Wren Walker (The Curse of Willow Song [2020])) is closing up shop for good, having quietly struck a deal with the corporate vulture Chromagnum (Al Dales (3 Hours Till Dead [2016])), who’s more interested in the oil beneath the building than the business itself. Trouble arrives in the form of four miners and with them, a strange black oil that quickly proves to be more than just a resource. The substance infects on contact, transforming victims into violent, fast-spreading monsters. From there, the film settles into a familiar rhythm: outbreak, chaos, and escalating carnage contained almost entirely within the club.
The body count ticks upward with mechanical efficiency. Dancers like schoolgirl Tina (Victoria Gomez) and Diaper-girl Elaine (Nikki Wallin (Camp Death III in 2D! [2018])) are dispatched with brutal flair, while bouncer Tony (Cameron Dent) joins the infected and delivers one of the film’s more graphic moments. Blue Jean rallies a small group—Remy (Caz Odin Darko (Evil Exhumed [2016])), her stepson Logan (Madison J. Loos (The Tooth Fairy [2006])), and dancers Frankie (Momona Komagata (Collar [2014])) and the heavily pregnant Carla (Kirsty Peters)—in a last-ditch attempt to survive the night.
Cameron Dent
But for all its gore and energy, Peelers never gives these characters enough weight to matter. The deaths feel less like losses and more like checkpoints in a running tally. Director Schelenz leans heavily on splatter and throwaway one-liners, mistaking noise for tension. The result is a film that moves quickly but never builds momentum—coasting toward a conclusion that’s as predictable as it is forgettable.
Composer Vincent Mai (Driver from Hell [2016]) delivers a score that actually understands the assignment, the opening Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation—sets a sultry seduction… but the film itself fizzles ay delivering that excitement. On the practical side, effects supervisor Keir Vichert brings some gratifying splatter with gore that occasionally hits hard—though one ill-judged effect literally splashes onto the lens, snapping the illusion in the worst way.
The film’s fatal wound lies squarely in its script—a lifeless backbone that never finds the pulse of its own dark humor. What should crackle with the offbeat tension of films like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil [2010] or Shaun of the Dead [2004] instead collapses into forced jokes that die in mid-delivery. The narrative trudges forward not a single worthwhile twist, stripped of all tension and shocking moments. Though it gestures toward From Dusk Till Dawn [1996], it never captures that film’s humorous intents or memorable charms.
Performance-wise, Walker and Darko manage to inject some much-needed presence, anchoring scenes that might otherwise drift into monotony. The rest of the cast—many clearly green—struggle to convey convincing fear or emotional weight. Director Sevé fails to unify these performances, resulting in jarring tonal shifts and uneven delivery across the board. On a technical level, the production makes decent use of its primary location—a closed-down bar—with practical effects and set dressing doing the heavy lifting to sell the film’s grimy aesthetic.
Peelers is a film defined by wasted potential. Beneath the grime and fleeting technical sparks lies a production that never understands its own identity—settling instead of a hollow imitation of films like Zombie Strippers!. It reaches for grindhouse excess but never commits, leaving behind nothing but the echo of what might have been. The script isn’t constructed so much as barely held together, its seams splitting wide as plot holes bleed through. In the end, Peelers isn’t shocking, subversive, or even particularly fun—it’s disposable. A one-night watch, and an easy one to forget.
TAGLINE: You may not get the happy ending you were looking for.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2769828/
IMDb Rating: 4.1/10
Baron’s Rating: 4.0/10
