Charlie Kersey "Ladies of the House" is an intelligent and insightful film with even some touching moments that upends the "grindhouse" and "slash horror" genres completely and logically in a way that hasn't been done before. It's also about family, in a way, and how, especially in today's fast-paced society, we make our own family. The characters are wonderfully deep and developed and excellently portrayed. Writers Justina Walford and John Wildman craft a believable and intriguing story and Director Wildman does an excellent job bringing it to life on camera. Kudos to the cast and crew for a well-done buffet of lovingly crafted genre delight!! ** Full Disclosure: I backed this film when it was in its formative stages via crowdfunding.

BA_Harrison Three guys—Jacob (Gabriel Horn), his simple brother Kai (Rj Hanson) and pal Derek (Samrat Chakrabarti)—leave the strip joint where they have been celebrating Kai's birthday and decide to follow one of the strippers, Ginger (Michelle Sinclair), back to her home in the hope of partying in private. Amazingly, Ginger agrees, inviting the guys (along with their bottle of tequila) into the house.The merriment takes a downward turn during a drunken game of 'dare' when Kai assaults Ginger: weapons are drawn and both Kai and Ginger are shot, Kai in the shoulder, the stripper taking a slug in the belly. When Ginger's stripper house-mates, lesbians Lin and Getty (Farah White and Melodie Sisk) and young protégé Crystal, suddenly arrive home, the men panic and hide; their evening goes from bad to worse when it transpires that the ladies of the house are cannibals and intend to have Ginger's attackers for dinner.Taking obvious inspiration from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM's iconic shot of a sliding door slamming shut is mimicked here), with echoes of Wes Craven's The People Under The Stairs, Ladies of the House might seem derivative in many ways, but proves to be an impressive debut from writer/director John Stuart Wildman nonetheless. The film owes much of its success to the well defined characters, a testament not only to Wildman's writing, but also the skill of the cast, whose nuanced performances ensure that the film's more cartoonish aspects never verge on the downright ridiculous.Inspired production design also helps to lend this film a unique atmosphere: the girls' style is a colourful mish-mash of '50s-themed pin-up kitsch and rockabilly, a garish look that lends itself perfectly to the tawdry subject matter, their home an eclectic collection of weird kitsch ephemera, the origins of which would most likely tell many an unsettling story.With its obvious exploitational elements, The Ladies of the House doesn't shy away from the nudity and gore either: there's a rather graphic lesbian sex scene between Lin and Getty (as Derek hides under their bed!), while the film's more splattery moments include a brutal scene of butchery and the macabre sight of a mutilated corpse presented as a guest at the girls' dinner table.A suitably downbeat ending sees the only survivor of the strippers' wrath dreaming of escape, while in reality resigned to his fate as Crystal's plaything.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

arfdawg-1 The Plot.THE LADIES OF THE HOUSE follows the events surrounding a birthday outing with two brothers and a friend which turns into a horrific fight for survival after they become trapped in a house with a "family" of malevolent women who enjoy a pin-up lifestyle and a special diet. Firstly,there were only two reviews when I wrote THIS review. One of them gives the movie 10 stars AND it's the dude's ONLY review which clearly mean he worked on the film.So right away, I thought this was going to suck.It is very cheaply made and sort of reminds me of some of those horror films like Frankenhooker -- not plot wise, but the way it looks and the way it's directed. Although some of the direction is disjointed.And the pacing is often slow. A bunch of gore and no nudity! What????The storyline is really dumb. And soon the movie becomes tedious. Nothing allows you to suspend disbelief. THis movie could have been so much better in the hands of a different director and writer.It could have been really cool and a cult classic.Unfortunately It turns out to be a dud

gavin6942 A birthday outing with two brothers and a friend turns into a horrific fight for survival after they become trapped in a house with a "family" of malevolent women.Apparently this film was birthed by a single two-word phrase: "cannibal strippers". How do you take that combination and turn it into a feature-length film? If you happen to be talented (such as these filmmakers are), it apparently comes naturally.Add in some vibrant colors, reminiscent of "Amelie", and you have beautiful cinematography. The film's press kit says the aesthetic as inspired by the films of Douglas Sirk, though it is not obvious. We are also told it is a bit gender-bending and post-feminist, but this, too, seems questionable. Indeed, the victims here are men rather than women, but horror has had a long history of strong women and this is not outside of what we have come to expect. (This is not a criticism of the film, but rather just a question of how accurate the press kit is. Other viewers may see the gender politics differently.) Early on we have none-too-serious acting, which fits the light-hearted nature of the first few scenes. But the movie has its dark and disturbing moments, too, that will make the viewer squirm. Some great tension, and plenty of gore. We see a wide range from the character of Kyle, who is like a man-child in the body of Tor Johnson. Is he dim-witted, a victim, naive, or something more menacing? His character is quite complex, and perhaps the most interesting.Horror fans might see the film as Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Til Dawn" with just a dash of "Texas Chain Saw Massacre". But unlike the Sawyer family, this family is a bit more nonchalant about their appetites. Which completely changes the way we look at them: are they monsters if they are just acting "normal"? Or is that even more disturbing, because unlike Leatherface, they can blend in anywhere?This is not a perfect film, but we should not expect it to be. What it is, however, is a great exposition of a simple concept ("cannibal strippers"). The acting is better than average, and the direction and camera-work are top-notch. These are people to follow. And there is enough originality here to please even the jaded horror fan. A welcome addition to the cannibal subgenre!