Oddly, except in the case of Berkley, whose cruel, career-killing treatment injects a note of real pathos, the absence of updated perspective from those key players is not a significant liability. Verhoeven, Eszterhas and Showgirls stars Elizabeth Berkley and Gina Gershon are heard from exclusively in interviews from release junkets or during the intervening years.
#PERIAN SALVIOLA MOVIE#
Among the most interesting commentators are Canadian critic Adam Nayman, author of the book It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls poet Jeffery Conway, who published Showgirls: The Movie in Sestinas drag performer Peaches Christ, whose Showgirls events regularly sold out San Francisco’s Castro Theatre (every large popcorn purchase came with a free lap dance!) and writer David Schmader, whose hosting of annotated Showgirls screenings led MGM to enlist him to record commentary for a 2004 DVD release. The film airs the often-conflicted feelings of a range of pundits in stimulating audio interviews. The more wistful “Must be weird not having anybody cum on you” makes the cut. Many of us can still quote examples of its jaw-dropping dialogue, though I was sad to note that my personal favorite - Alan Rachins telling an auditioning Vegas dancer, “Come back when you’ve fucked some of this baby fat off” - is not included here. But more likely, as McHale and his commentators illustrate, because it was just so extreme there’s nothing else like it. However, Showgirls endures, possibly because it was the most critically reviled of them all. Glenn Close’s bunny boiler with a triple-processed perm and Sharon Stone’s fancy legwork have ensured that Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct left a lasting mark, but the others are mostly forgotten, with good reason. The films ranged from intellectualized Euro-art ( Damage) through satire ( To Die For) to lurid exploitation ( Jade), while Demi Moore had her own mini-monopoly on screen salaciousness with Indecent Proposal, Disclosure, The Scarlet Letter and Striptease.
The trend revved up with 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction and climaxed (sorry) with the Verhoeven-Eszterhas lesbian ice-pick killer sleazefest, Basic Instinct. Via quick shots of theatrical-release print ads, McHale swiftly contextualizes Showgirls - which is basically All About Eve in body glitter and thongs - within the late-’80s and ’90s wave of Hollywood movies that sensationalized sex as something both titillating and dangerous, often inextricably linked with female covetousness, ambition and obsession.
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