Showgirls (R 18+) PRESENTED IN 35MM FILM

Showgirls at The Revival House Perth

Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) arrives in Las Vegas with nothing but ambition, a suitcase, and dreams of becoming a showgirl. After her belongings are stolen, she finds work as a stripper at the seedy Cheetah Club while befriending costume designer Molly Abrams (Gina Ravera), who works for the spectacular Stardust casino show "Goddess." Nomi's raw talent and ferocious determination catch the eye of the show's star, Cristal Connors (Gina Gershon), and the lecherous entertainment director Zack Carey (Kyle MacLachlan). Through a combination of skill, sexual manipulation, and ruthless ambition, Nomi claws her way from lap dances to the main stage. But as she discovers, the glittering world of Vegas showgirls is built on exploitation, betrayal, and compromises that threaten to destroy everything she's fought for.

Director Paul Verhoeven's 1995 NC-17 rated spectacle was initially reviled as career-ending trash but has been radically re-evaluated as intentional camp masterpiece and savage Hollywood satire. Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas create a deliberately excessive melodrama where every performance is pitched to operatic heights—Berkley's feral intensity, Gershon's purring villainy, MacLachlan's sleazy corporate predator. The film's infamous pool seduction scene and elaborately choreographed stage numbers teeter between eroticism and absurdity. Alan Marshall's cinematography bathes Vegas in garish neon, while the production design captures the city's hollow glamour. What once seemed like unwatchable exploitation now reads as Verhoeven's most American film—a ruthless examination of capitalism, ambition, and the American Dream as brutal pyramid scheme. It's simultaneously terrible and brilliant, vulgar and visionary, and utterly unforgettable.

Original format and audio experience of this film faithfully reproduced by The Revival House. Presented in 35mm film unless noted otherwise.

When: Friday, April 24th at 7:20PM
Where: The Revival House at the Como Theatre
Rating: R 18+ (Sexually explicit language, Nudity, Violence, SEXUAL SCENES)

Verhoeven's notorious spectacle—once derided, now celebrated as audacious camp satire of American excess. Experience the legend in 35mm film.

Presented by: The Revival House Perth