By Forris Day Jr.
When you’re 21 years old everything seems like a good idea. No matter what the plan is, or how bad it seems on the surface, at that age you justify things and convince yourself everything will turn out fine. It is the formula for a horror movie. Sure you might break a bone, anger your friends or get some kind of funky rash, but in the end you will have fun and get through whatever roadblocks are thrown at you. So it goes for our 4 friends in the movie “Stripped”.
3 friends, Luke (Josh Cole), Cameron (Carson Aune) and Tommy (Alvaro Orlando) decide to take a trip to vegas to celebrate one of them turning 21. Their attractive friend Capri (Nicole Sienna) decides to tag along so she can go visit her boyfriend who lives in Vegas. This creates lots of fun and tension as we ride along with the group seeing the interactions through the lens of Cameron’s camera as he records the trip. Once in Vegas lots of fun and shenanigans ensue. (Yea…I just used the word shenanigans.) One of the guys decides they all need to get hookers, so they call a phone number on a business card one of them found. Hey, you’re in Vegas so it seems like a good idea, right? Once on the phone they are told that they have to go to the hookers, not vice versa. No reason for alarm right? At first they think this is a bit suspicious but being 21 they decide it will be alright. (See opening sentence of this review)
Our male heroes show up at a very sketchy building where they are to meet the Ladies of the Evening and quickly decide something is wrong BUT they are 21 and, well you get the idea by now. Once inside things get off to a wonderful start but quickly fall apart as they realize they are in for far more than they anticipated. They are strapped to tables in preparation to have their organs removed. Oh no! That rash sounds like a pretty good alternative at this point. Can this trio escape alive from this trap? Will the evil doctor who runs this organ trafficking ring show them no mercy? Will the hookers still charge them for a good time? Um, OK, scratch that last question.
I enjoyed this movie and am really impressed that this is Josh Cole’s first attempt with his talented crew of filmmakers. Although I do not generally enjoy films that bring you along through the lens of a handheld camera I did enjoy this because at the midpoint it changes to a third person POV as we watch the boys try to avoid certain death at the hands of the evil doctor played by Joseph Buttler. A bit long in some scenes but really well done and put together. I feel most horror fans will like watching “Stripped”.
Rating: 7/10
This sounds awesome!! Gotta watch it.