Dead Hooker In A Trunk (2009)
Distributor: Bounty Films/Eureka Video
DVD Release Date: 23 May 2011
Directed by: Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska
Starring: Ricki Gagne, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, C J Wallis
Review by: Ben Bussey
If I’m not mistaken, I’ve never written a second review for the same film at Brutal As Hell. I’ve given my own take on films that have been previously reviewed, and done follow-up bits and pieces on my own reviews, but I’ve never attempted to fully re-assess a film within the 800-1,000ish words that generally constitutes a full length write-up round these parts. But I’m doing it now. Not because my feelings about the film in question have changed all that radically since the UK premiere at Ghouls on Film in February 2010; but more because, in the time that has elapsed since, it has become abundantly clear that the Soska Sisters really do mean business, and that they are here to stay.
Allow me to put my initial viewing of Dead Hooker In A Trunk in context; after all, as I’ve noted before the circumstances under which we see a movie have a tremendous impact on our interpretation, and oftentimes we don’t acknowledge this enough. Well, back in February ’10, I’d had it up to my bloodshot eyeballs with microbudget DV horror. Why? Because I’d been given so much of it to review in the months before, screener after screener dropping through my letterbox, and the vast majority of it was absolute horseshit. I know Marc in particular prides this site as being heavily pro-indie filmmaking, ‘punk as fuck’ and all that, and philosophically speaking I wholeheartedly concur; but seriously man, some of these fucking films… take a look at any given title released under the Brain Damage label. Taste of Flesh, Fist of the Vampire, Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned. It’s one thing to want to fly in the face of mainstream convention; I can respect that. But it doesn’t hurt if you actually have the first clue about what constitutes good filmmaking, which so few of the people behind these lo-fi flicks seem to. These weren’t so bad-it’s-good movies, they were so-bad-you-are-tempted-to-gouge-your-own-eyes-out movies, and they left me with a very low tolerance for the tell-tale signs of microbudget filmmaking: shaky DV photography, fuzzy sound, incoherent editing, incompetent actors. (Is Dead Hooker In A Trunk guilty of all of these? No; some, but not all. Bear with me, I’m getting to that.)
And so, to Ghouls On Film. The opening feature, Slaughtered, pretty much ticked all the boxes for bog-standard microbudget horror: poorly assembled and executed, and worse still painfully derivative. Coming off the back of that, my expectations for Dead Hooker In A Trunk were kept in check. So when the movie started, I had the kind of Pavlovian response Keri spoke of in her Red Canyon review, noticing nothing at first but the shaky, murky image and muffled sound, and as such immediately supposing the film to be just ‘another one of those.’
The difference here, however – and the thing I should have paid heed to from the get-go – is how Dead Hooker In A Trunk does not adhere to a set format the way the bulk of microbudget horror does. It isn’t five kids in a house. It isn’t another zombie, slasher or Blair Witch wannabe movie. It’s more grindhouse, yet it doesn’t ape a 70s aesthetic as most do. Bad girls on the run versus cops, drug gangs, pimps and psycho killers; sure, it’s not a unique premise, but it’s not one we see too often, particularly at this level of indie-filmmaking.
As I said of the Soska Sisters’ efforts in my first review: “They may be trying a little too hard here, but that’s a minor offence considering so many no-budget indies of this ilk don’t seem to try at all.”
I maintain there’s plenty about Dead Hooker In A Trunk that doesn’t really work. It’s overloaded and feels overlong, even at 85 minutes; its incessant quirkiness and expletive-ridden dialogue tends to feel contrived, and at times works against the film overall. But, as repeat viewing makes clear, there’s so much about it that really does work. There aren’t too many microbudget films I could mention that boast action sequences as well-conceived and brilliantly realised as those here. There really are moments where, even with repeat viewing, you can’t help but gape and wonder how the hell they did it. Also, while blood-drenched torture scenes may be ten a penny these days, how many of them play out to the dulcet tones of the Beach Boys?
And then there’s the central cast. One of the key problems with most of the indie horror I’ve so derided here is that they tend to be cast with either charmless buffoons who are presumably friends of the director, and/or talentless pretty people whose only redeeming quality is their willingness to disrobe on camera. Not so here. Ricki Gagne, CJ Wallis and of course the Soskas themselves are genuinely charismatic performers; people you enjoy spending an hour and a half with. It is their charisma as individuals, and overall chemistry as a group, that will bring people back to watch this movie over and over. And their work is all the more impressive when you consider all but Gagne were doing multiple jobs on the film; the Soskas multi-tasking is established, plus CJ Wallis was one of the principal cinematographers, as well as editing the film and composing and performing the music.
This DVD from Bounty/Eureka is a pretty good one for repeat viewing and fan indulgence. The sound and picture looks to have been cleaned up a fair bit, and with two commentaries, behind the scenes footage and deleted scenes, all the trailers and a (regrettably brief) interview snippet with Carlos Gallardo – and, as the directorial commentary makes clear, El Mariachi and Robert Rodriguez’s book Rebel Without A Crew were a major influence on the Soskas – pretty much all the bases are covered. And as the Twisted Twins themselves excitedly announced on Facebook, Amazon UK sold out its initial run within 48 hours. Yes, the fanboys/fangirls are out in force already.
Their upcoming second movie American Mary is, I think I can safely say, one of our most anticipated films of 2011. Once that’s in the can and on the screen, we shall see if the Soskas can deliver on this early promise. Either way, they’ve made a debut feature that, for all its flaws, really does stands apart; that’s a rare thing, and worthy of celebration.