Bullet Points: Dance with Death

I find copycat movies fascinating. I find copycat action movies fascinating. I find copycat action movies with dancers fascinating. I find copycat action movies with dancers starring Martin Mull fascinating. Consider me tickled pink when I found out there is a pretty darn close copy of 1987’s Stripped to Kill that features Martin Mull in the role that Norman Fell made famous. Dance with Death came out in 1992 and has the same idea of a woman going undercover as an exotic dancer to uncover the grisly murders of strippers. Will you find Dance with Death as fascinating? Let’s take a look at some Bullet Points.

• Kelly (Barbara Alyn Woods) is a reporter for the newspaper who is not getting any of the juicy investigative stories she longs to write.  When Kelly finds out that strippers are getting brutally murdered around the Bottoms Up club she has a great lead for a story. A lead that requires her to not only go undercover as a stripper but win the amateur night contest to get a job at the club. I don’t want to body shame anyone, but we are lucky that Kelly has a face and body for film and not newspaper otherwise Dance with Death would be tough. Luckily for Kelly, she brings her boss Hopper (Drew Snyder) and Millie (Lisa Kudrow) one of her friends (get it!) from work to help cheer her on and win the contest.

• Martin Mull plays Art, the sleazy proprietor of the Bottoms Up and he reluctantly hires Kelly even though he thinks she dances like a zombie. Don’t worry, Kelly gets better. Fully entrenched into the seedy underbelly of exotic dancing allows Kelly get close to several suspects that may be the potential killer. There is the creepy Henry (a young Michael McDonald of MADtv fame) who never tips but is always at the club. He also likes to steal and purchase the ladies unmentionables. I wish I didn’t have to mention that last sentence. There is the strip club DJ who is in love with all the dancers but none will give him the time of day. Jodie is one of the dancers who also loves some of the dancers and has a real hard exterior. I can’t forget Art and his shady actions and connection to one of the dead women. We soon learn that Hopper has a history with dead strippers during his time in Atlanta. And last, but no least there is Shaughnessy (Maxwell Caulfield), a newcomer to Bottoms Up who is always snooping around.

• The murderer can be anyone of those suspects… except for Shaughnessy as he is a detective as we soon learn after another stripper is killed. And we all know that police can’t do anything bad so that eliminates Shaughnessy. Kelly and Shaughnessy team up and soon began to suspect each one of the potential killers. The police professionalism continues as Shaughnessy not only is using a reporter as an undercover stripper, the two soon get hot and heavy. Most of the action in Dance with Death comes from the pair trying to get to the killer and there is some exciting action set pieces. We eventually find out who the killer is, but not before three of the suspects end up dead, making discovering who the killer is easy at that point. I don’t want to spoil the surprise but I will let you know there is a fiery finale. Fascinating!

Dance with Death is definitely not a unique movie and probably made for one reason, but that doesn’t mean you should skip it. As long as you know what to expect coming in. A movie starring wholesome TV stars like Baraba Alyn Woods from One Tree Hill, Lisa Kudrow from Friends, and Martin Mull from Roseanne. Ok, those aren’t necessarily wholesome but compared to Dance with Death they are down right tame. If you have seen Stripped to Kill you will be very familiar with the story, but I think the cast of Dance with Death is a very big plus. A plus to any Bullet Points is ending with some Dance With Death Bonus Bullet Points.

• Club Question – Why is the Bottoms Up always crowded but almost no one ever parks in the metered street parking directly out front? What was that? It is on a set and not a practical shoot? I can’t hear you with all the dancers.
• Favorite Shot – When a Bottoms Up patron walks outside to see a man pissing on the front of the club he disgustingly shakes his head. Something about that shot spoke to me.
• Copycat Cover – Dance with Death not only copied the story from Stripped to Kill but the poster borrows heavily from Last Call.
• Best Insult – “Looks like a piece of toe cheese.”
• Seems About Right – I am thinking that a beer and a cigar is the proper compensation for a stripper falling off the stage and into your lap.
• Ding! – At the end we see Kelly writing her newspaper story and it is titled… “Dance with Death”! Cue the Credits… with the end credits song “Dance with Death”!