An ageing group of male strippers get far more than they had bargained for when they take on a private gig at a desolate members-only club in rural Essex. Led by absentee dad Alan (Dean Kilbey, also starring in this year’s Abigail and Derelict), the lads must attempt to survive the night when they are served up as guests of honour in an occult ritual intended to raise an ancient force from beyond the grave.
This crude comedy-horror assembles a lively cast of British talent, including Sightseers star Steve Oram, Peep Show’s Liam Noble (Big Mad Andy, to you and I), and This Is England star Perry Benson. It’s a less misogynistic version of the sort of thing Danny Dyer would have starred in during his early 00s horror phase, eschewing the casual sexism in favour of fart gags and ripped-off willies.
Opening on a sign which reads ‘No Dogging,’ it’s clear what kind of path Members Club is headed down, and writer and director Marc Coleman rarely deviates from course. A subplot involving Alan’s daughter and her dimwit best friend is clumsily inserted, but Kilbey’s grubby earnestness helps see the film through its less convincing moments. If not all of the jokes land, something more (or less) palatable is never far off, including cameos from Peter Andre (!) and Alan Ford.
It’s The Full Monty by way of Green Room and From Dusk Till Dawn, with all of the gross-out humour and bloody violence that entails. A crude, oafish work, but one that possesses a certain vulgar charm.
MEMBERS CLUB is released on digital platforms on October 21st.
