By Maximilian Mueller
Tell us about Zombie Strippers.
Okay. Well, I like to call it a “very offensive piece of trash.” But that’s what we made. It’s basically a very high shock value grindhouse exploitation film that delivers what the title promises but at the same time has many underlying themes: social statements, political statements, and parodies of everything from The Warriors to [Eugene] Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. So it’s many things wrapped into one film.
How long had you had the idea to do this movie?
Not very long, actually. It was the fastest a project ever happened for me. When we were trying to get into the horror world for business reasons, we were making a shamelessly marketable horror film and we were hitting all the stereotypes. And I made the joke, “At least we’re not shooting Zombie Strippers.” And that stayed with me so I did the research on the title and no one had done it yet. Within a few months I had a script and we got Jenna Jameson attached. And somebody heard of Zombie Strippers with Jenna Jameson attached, saw the money sign, and within a year and a half from making that joke, we had the movie.
How did Jenna Jameson get involved?
My sister Angela Lee, who is also the producer, hunted her down. I’m not sure how she did it, but Jenna got the script, read it, and agreed to do it. And this is when we were a small independent film trying to get financing. She liked the humor, she loved the horror, and she liked the political content of it, so she was all for it.
What was it like working with Jenna?
It was amazing, because I did not know her career very well prior to this, and so was not quit sure what we were going to get from her. It’s obvious that there’s something about her because she’s this American icon. We didn’t see her in any rehearsals or readings, she just showed up to the set and started acting. She was fun and funny and having a blast. And when she started doing her dance sequences, she just blew everyone away. She was very patient, too. She had to go through hours and hours of makeup, but she trudged through it and she was a pleasure to work with.
What’s your favorite genre to work in?
I’m a big fan of any kind of genre. The last few horror films we’ve done have been more on the comedy side. But now that we’re knee-deep in the stuff, hopefully we can do some movies on the more serious side and disturb audiences instead of amuse them. That’s the thing about horror. You can really sink your teeth into the human psyche and affect audiences. And that’s one of the things you want to do most with film. To leave some sort of impact on your audience. So far, horror seems to be the sharpest tool for that.
What was the first horror movie you ever saw?
The first horror movie I ever saw was when I was a really small kid and it was a thing called The Legend of Boggy Creek. I remember watching and waiting for the creatures hand to bust through a window, but it never did. After that, nothing I saw ever really affected me again.
Do you have a favorite?
Evil Dead II is definitely my favorite horror movie. It’s one of the most original films I think I’ve ever seen, and every time I watch that film it’s like watching it for the first time.
How important is it to have nudity in a horror movie?
I actually don’t think it’s that essential. A large percentage of the audience definitely needs it or looks for it. And when I was researching horror movies and had two DVDs in my hand and one had nudity, I would probably rent the one that had nudity. But when it comes down to the horror films that are films before they are horror, I don’t think it’s that essential. I think some of the greatest horror films do not have nudity. Like Evil Dead II, for instance. Or you have films like Inside that came out, which was so horrifically disturbing, or even The Strangers, which wasn’t as disturbing as Inside, but definitely had its moments. I think nudity can help for marketing, if you’re just there for a shamelessly bad (or a shamelessly good) time, it’s great!Are there any scream queens that you would especially love to work with?
Well, there’s Jamie Lee Curtis. And I’d like to work with her because of her sense of humor, and that’s more of her films outside of the horror world. I was always a Linnea Quigley fan, though. I think she’s my favorite scream queen. She really had fun with her characters and never took herself too seriously. Even when she was a punker in Return of the Living Dead, she was always having fun. And in Savage Streets, which I saw recently, she was the deaf mute sister who gets raped. There’s just something about her. She’s my favorite scream queen.
What Hollywood actress would you like to cast as a zombie stripper if you were making another movie?
I would love to see Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel. And on the other hand, there are a number of actresses that I would love to see as zombie strippers, and those are of course, Laura Bach and Jennifer Holland and Shamron Moore and all of the ones that were in the last one.
What was the first nude scene you ever saw?
I think it was Caddyshack. When we were watching it again recently, I said, “Hey, I remember this scene! I think this was the first time I ever saw nudity in a film.” I remember seeing it in the theater as a young kid. And I remember very distinctly the impact that it had on me.
What’s next for Jay Lee?
We have a bunch of scripts ready to go. We have some horror comedies, some parodies, and some serious horror. Right now we’re talking to some investors and to Lionsgate about making a very serious, very disturbing horror movie. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that because if we start early, we can be done by the end of the year. Of course, I’d like to do a lot of other things, but we’re going to do this horror thing while it’s hot.
Anything else you want to add?
Yes. There are a lot of extended and deleted scenes on the DVD that give the characters in the film more purpose and meaning. Paco now has a more noble out. Jessy and Davis, too, have a resolution to their characters that was cut out. You get more Blavatski, more Cole, more humor. Definitely Ian is a more offensive character. There’s a lot more on the DVD, and I’m very happy the studio let me put those on.
