Bust out the Versayce and Doggy Chow, Showgirls fans!
It was 25 years ago, on Sept. 22, 1995, when one of the most infamous films in history arrived on screens. And promptly flopped. Thanks to an evisceration from critics and a challenging NC-17 rating, the high camp lunacy from director Paul Verhoeven seemed destined to be forgotten like so many other flops that had come before it.
And yet, something in the film’s bonkers tale of a hardscrabble dancer making her way to Las Vegas and falling in with the smuttiest of Sin City connected with viewers when they finally got around to checking Showgirls out on home video. And like that, a cult classic was born.
Starring Saved by the Bell actress Elizabeth Berkley—in what she tragically thought would be her big break—as Nomi Malone and Gina Gershon as her nemesis Cristal Connors, Showgirls is truly the wildest ride, matched only by the journey the film’s been on since its ill-fated initial release.