Orgy of the Dead: These Dances Please Me!

As expected, Screaming Chicken's production of Ed Wood's Orgy of the Dead was a highly-entertaining collision of low-budget b-movies and classic burlesque. The rowdy mishmash of intricate costumes, blood and gore, over-the-top camp, and audience participation a la the Rocky Horror Picture Show made for a fun evening for everyone involved. And did I mention enthusiastic overacting? Bernie Bombay's Emperor of the Dead made William Shatner seem subtle and restrained by comparison.

Of course the focus was on the girls, and they ruled. The common theme running through all the dances, aside from bare naked girls, was a heavy dose of gore... a slashed throat here, a smashed-open skull there, intestines hanging out, a heart torn out by hand... and Camero Luvroc's gold-digger dance performed to Link Wray... complete with a bloody nose, bloody crotch, and cringe-inducingly realistic finger bruises on her thighs... and undead clubber Connie Lingus as the scab-peeling zombie grooving down to the Chemical Brothers both made me laugh with disgust and raised a few hairs on the back of my neck.

I'm no expert on the art of burlesque, in fact, this was the first show I've checked out. But it was fun, it was hot, and the two girls I was with both said that it made up for last month's lacklustre performance put on by pseudo-alterna-darlings the Suicide Girls. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Screaming Chicken's next production.

Photo courtesy of A.M. Kuchling.