Favorite Film Posters: Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls

The first of many posts celebrating my favorite film posters.

As an artist and a cinephile, I’ve long been enamored with the art of the film poster. I was fortunate to grow up during a golden age for movie posters—the seventies, eighties, and into the nineties, when real, honest-to-goodness artists crafted 27×40 inch masterpieces to entice moviegoers to drop their hard-earned cash on a film. For decades, both hand-illustrated, or painted, and photographic posters were as artistic as gallery art. Chances are high that most of the posters I discuss here will be from that era. Nostalgia plays a role, of course, but there is simply no arguing that movie posters back then were often Art with a capital “A” and, sadly, the same can rarely be said today.

To kick off what I hope will be a long-running series, I’m going with a bit of a dark horse pick: the Katt Shea-directed cult gem, Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls (1989). Now, is this poster “Art,” you ask? Yes, kids, I really think it is. The composition of star Maria Ford, being groped by disembodied hands, and the text is visually arresting, but obviously nothing is more eye-catching here than Ford, her frightened yet seductive facial expression, and her white-lace, lingerie-clad body. Striking an achingly vulnerable pose, she positively beckons for us to come save her. Maria, please, feel free to continue stripping while I take care of those roving hands! No worries, I gotchoo, babe.

Stripped to Kill 2 is one of my favorite “strippers in danger” exploitation films, right alongside the original Stripped to Kill (1987), and, of course, Dance with Death (1992). Maria Ford’s performance—both her acting and her stripping, I might add—is suffused with the same vulnerability she exudes on the poster. I’ve always loved this poster because it reminds me of Ford’s ultra-sexy performance and because it’s pure, exploitation solid gold. When you see this poster, you know what you’re getting into. A sexy, sleazy serial killer thriller with dark humor and a supernatural twist, Stripped to Kill 2 is a damn good time. And, thanks to Maria Ford, the film’s poster absolutely sizzles with sex appeal. Sometimes that’s all you need, and this one does it perfectly.

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