Roger Corman looking to remake Stripped to Kill [Exclusive]

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

Back in the mid-1980s, actress Katt Shea (then known for low-budget schlock like BARBARIAN QUEEN and THE DEVASTATOR) was attempting to get a directing career off the ground and turned to a producer she, and so many other struggling actors in Hollywood, knew well: Roger Corman. Shea consistently pitched Corman ideas for movies, and he just as consistently turned them down – even as he promised that he would back her project if she eventually came up with a winner. Then, one day, she pitched a simple premise.

“There’s been a murder in a strip club and a female police detective has to go undercover as a stripper to solve the murder.”

Corman’s instant response: “Katt, we’ll make the picture.”

And so they did. 1987 saw the release of STRIPPED TO KILL starring Kay Lenz and Greg Evigan, which was enough of a hit that it spawned a sequel, in 1989, also directed by Shea. Perfectly watchable B-movie trash, those movies were late night cable staples in the 80s and 90s. (I should know, I watched a lot of Cinemax.)

Now we very well could be seeing STRIPPED TO KILL: THE NEXT GENERATION (not an actual title). I recently spoke to Mr. Corman about his upcoming DEATH RACE 2050 and wondered if he had any other reboots of old titles in mind. Saying he thinks it’s still a good idea, Corman named STRIPPED TO KILL as a movie he’s working on updating for today’s audience. Sadly, he didn’t tell me much more than that.

Here’s what the original film was about:

A maniac is killing strippers. Detective Sheehan has one weapon to stop him…Her body. A beautiful stripper is found dangling by piano wire from a bridge, another one dies in a fiery inferno… a third dancer is killed by being dragged by a truck for miles. And Detective Cody Sheehan (Kay Lenz, House) is determined to get to the bottom of it. To solve the case, Sheehan infiltrates the club’s tight sorority of dancers and goes undercover, uncovered, as a performer. To her immense surprise, she learns that stripping holds a powerful allure for her, and her professional and personal lives have taken on shocking new dimensions.

A timeless story, to be sure, and who would argue with a remake? Watch the OG trailer below and see if you don’t yearn for those simpler times…

Would you be up, or down, with a new STRIPPED TO KILL?