MEMBER’S CLUB

(director/writer: Marc Coleman; cinematographer: Dann Emmons; editor: Dan Allen; music: Sleaford Mods/Chas and Dave; cast: Dean Kilbey (Alan), Perry Benson (Neil), Steve Oram (Blind Brian), Peter Andre (Adonis), Liam Noble (Deano), Mark Manero (Ratboy), Juliet Cowan (Joanne), David Schaal (Geoff), Emma Stannard (Christine), Barbara Smith (Daisy), David Alexander (Carly), Jade Johnson (Trish), Charley Burling (Agnes); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Marc Coleman, Gay Mukerji, Kevin Harvey, Antoine Dixon Bellot; Blackwater Pictures; 2024-UK)

“Mildly entertaining.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A raunchy and grisly Brit comedy horror pic on Wet Dreams (a troupe of over-the-hill middle-aged male strippers in Essex). The simple-minded story is made on a tiny budget. It’s directed as a lark and is crassly written by Marc Coleman (“ManFish”/”Grindsploition 4: Meltsploitation). It riffs “The Full Monty.“ Its social satire part blends into a nasty horror film that’s messy, campy and trashy, but mildly entertaining if you can handle its slack working-class humor.

Deano (Liam Noble), their manager, who is nick-named Double Dip, has just dumped them. But as a good will measure, has booked them for a last gig at the birthday party of a 12-year-old.

This gig gives the troupe-Alan (Dean Kilbey), Neil (Perry Benson), Ratboy (Mark Manero) and Carly (David Alexander)-their first pay day in quite some time.

The troupe’s screw-up leader is Alan. The 50-year-old lives in a rented room in a student flat and works on the side as a camboy. His estranged daughter Daisy (Barbara Smith) rejects her loser dad.

Alan books the troupe’s last gig at a sinister looking club located in a village on the outskirts of Essex (a place in the old days that held witch trials). The bouncer (Steve Oram) is a one-eyed ex-darts champion. The club is run by an amateur witch Christine (Emma Stannard), a hater of men, who was rudely dumped by her gigolo hubby (Peter Andre) and has since turned to the black arts. The club’s host (Juliet Cowan) has the troupe dressed in robes and tied down to chairs, as they are being offered as sacrifices to the ancient witch Agnes.

The film shoots more for comedy than for scares, and is fun to a certain degree but it drags when its comedy slackens.

It played at Frightfest.

REVIEWED ON 1/23/2025  GRADE: B-
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