Bloodsprayer.com: Dead Hooker Review

Zach from the bloodsprayer.com posted his review entitled: "look mom, there's a dead hooker in a trunk"

The Soska Sisters are poised to throat punch Hollywood and shove their debut feature in its blood gurgling face. Their first full length film from Twisted Twin Productions delivers an adventure like Stephen King’s STAND BY ME in reverse, all grown up and tweaked out on meth. Four misfits labeled Junkie, Bad Ass, Geek, and Goody Two Shoes are forced on a drug fueled road trip to escape consequence and stay alive. After picking up Geek’s Bible thumping buddy from Youth Group they’re on their way to score some drugs when they sniff a stench from the trunk of their slick ass Pontiac. Each character lives up to the labels of their stereotypes as they discover the title of the film, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK.

It seems the night before is a bit of a blur for Junkie and Bad Ass when they try to figure out how a deceased lady of the evening and a cache of narcotics end up in the boot of their classic car. The sensible thing would be to call the authorities, but if you can’t suspend your disbelief here, then you probably won’t enjoy what’s to follow. The group decides that they have to dump the body, burying any responsibility along with it in a shallow grave. Well, that’s not as easy as just grabbing a shovel. First comes the moral consequences posed by Goody Two Shoes and Geek as they feel compelled to find this poor tramp’s family and follow social protocol of a proper burial. Then again when a gang of Triads show up with chainsaws and start cutting off arms, and a Cowboy Pimp starts chasing these misguided free spirits for the lost filly that disappeared from his track, normal social etiquette kind of flies out the window. Imagine Quentin Tarantino’s take on Scooby-Doo mystery and you’re as twisted as I am for enjoying this movie.

The acting is fun and light, like a Twinkie. But as this junk food adventure progresses you realize how unsettling these semi-sweet characters sit in the gullet. The Soska Sisters, Jen and Sylvia, perform a commendable job as you guessed it, sisters who seem to barely co-exist, seething in their own daily routines. Jen brings a calm as the nerdy girl next door in her portrayal of Geek. Sylvia’s Bad Ass broods for the childhood pain she carries with her and she uses it as a means to lash out at all that oppose her. It only takes finding one dead body and creating some more of their own to bring family together again. To understand their aesthetic and their appeal, take equal parts Xena Warrior Princess, Kathryn Bigelow, and Sasha Grey, squeeze into a blender, mix with gasoline and inject intravenously. They’re like Tomax and Xamot from Cobra, but with XX chromosomes and twice as bad ass. Look for a cameo from EL MARIACHI’s Carlos Gallardo, a champion of truly independent filmmaking. A closer look at the film’s credits reveals that the sisters also have written, produced and directed this feature. CJ Wallis, playing Goody Two Shoes, lends a hand with cinematography, editing, and the film’s score. Rikki Gagne as the Junkie brings a physicality to her performance thanks to her stunt background. Loyd Bateman not only plays the Priest but also helps CJ with cinematography and visual effects. It’s somewhat astonishing to see how much talent is exerted by such a small group of filmmakers with such a small budget, especially with their very first feature film.

The action of the film is a riveting. I’m not saying that in a douche bag way meant to slap a thumbs up blurb on a movie poster. I say that in the way the stunts slam about on film with friction and noise. It’s not perfect and safe, it’s gritty and dangerous, and damn, it’s effective. The stunt sequences are performed by the likes of Loyd Bateman, Lauro Chartrand, Jacob Rupp, and Kim Chiang. Spend a morning on IMDB.com with your coffee and try not to spew the screen with caffeine juice as you realize how many big budget features this squad has conquered. Sparks fly and blood gushes as the sisters tool around town playing the game to the finish with the bad hand they’ve been dealt. Car stunts, fist fights, and plenty of gun play set a pace that keeps the film barreling along.

The special effects and the visual effects are a stand out in this independent feature. The twins recruited Alyssa and Katie Satow of AlyKat FX, as well as the pyrotechnic and blood splatter skills of David Barkes’ Thistlehead Productions. Red dyed Karo syrup is never in short supply as the Twins piece together who is responsible for their decaying cargo. There’s dismemberment, a gut churning torture scene, and plenty of gore to make horror fans wet. It’s unapologetic and unflinching with a healthy dose of gallows humor to wash it all down with, just the way every splatter flick should be. If you need further motivation, even director Eli Roth has given his endorsement to the Soska Sisters. But you’re reading this for my opinion, right?

The soundtrack sets an adventurous tone. Bands like Fake Shark–Real Zombie!, Ione Sky, the Titan Go Kings, and an original score by CJ Wallis makes you want to stand up for and then update your iPod. The pairings of songs with the content on screen offers a disturbing duality, one that soothes the audience into the plethora of violence and yet amps up the drama. The Soska Sisters know that a rock ‘n roll adventure needs just that, rock’ n roll, and they crank plenty of it, nice and loud. It plays like what MTV should be if we lived in a world of permanent midnight.

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is truth in advertising, crystallized, and ready to addict all those jonesing for a hit. You don’t need a review to sell it to you because the title alone will bring you to the fringe festivals and midnight screenings where fans of such films will gobble this alive. It’s a high octane gear grinder, shifting back and forth between action and horror, drama and comedy, leaving a trail of dead bodies and broken hearts in one blood splattering burn out. As the end credits roll, you wonder what could possibly come next from this troublesome twosome and hot damn, I call shotgun to ride along.