DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK

Early flashbacks reveal how our two heroines, known as The Cunt and The Geek (played respectively by twin sisters Sylvia and Jen Soska – the latter in spectacles to complete her role), saved their mother from her abusive partner when they were kids by blowing him away. You get the impression they’ve been pretty badass ever since.

As if to prove the validity of their names, we first meet them when Geek turns up at Cunt’s pad one morning. The latter has been out living it up at a rock club the night before and wakes up with a random bloke. Geek spoils the fun, wanting her sister to come with her and help her pick up her Jesus-loving friend from Youth Group. He’s known, quite appropriately, as Goody Two-Shoes (C J Wallis).

Cunt reluctantly agrees to pick Geek’s friend up, and races them off to Youth Group with her pal Junkie (Rikki Gagne) by her side.

Once Goody Two-Shoes has been picked up, the four of them drive back across town. And that’s where the fun begins. Noticing a bad smell while they’re driving, the mismatched quartet pulls over and checks out the content of the car’s trunk. Any idea what might be in there?

Geek obviously wants them to ring the police and report the finding. Junkie, meanwhile, discovers a shitload of drugs on the corpse and thinks reporting the incident would be detrimental to her chances of getting high.

Eventually the foursome get back in the car and decide to travel a little further, to a motel where they can further thrash out what their next move should be. The motley crew retire to their rooms for the night, still unable to agree what they should do with the corpse.

And they don’t even know at this point that their moves are being watched by some very dangerous people ...

Cue lots of sleazy adventures as these four airheads find it increasingly difficult to dispose of a pretty blonde corpse – and have to deal with some truly despicable low-lives in the process ...

The title made me think of EIGHT HEADS IN A DUFFELBAG, that fucking dreadful excuse for a comedy that effectively ruined Joe Pesci’s leap into A-List territory, following from his successful supporting turns in Scorsese gangster films and the HOME ALONE flicks.

Thankfully, DEAD HOOKER isn’t as naff.

For a start, it’s filmed with an eye towards warm aesthetic qualities, boasting colourful compositions, good lighting and some wonderful sun-kissed exteriors. Camerawork is fluid and imaginative, and the editing is sharp throughout.

The use of music is also very intelligent. From the commercial songs used, to the original score by Wallis, it’s a hip soundtrack that complements the stylised colours and Texan chill of the film perfectly.

The script is occasionally amusing. But it all seems a little desperate to be considered as cool. DEAD HOOKER definitely comes from the school of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino filmmaking – which will please many, but I personally find a little tiresome. But, little wonder that Tarantino and Eli Roth have championed this film, such must be the familiarity to them of its profanity-riddled and pop culture-heavy screenplay.

The bottom line is that DEAD HOOKER is entertaining. It moves along at a fair old rate and benefits from agreeable, energetic performances. Best of all, the gore – when it comes – is splashy and of the old-school variety.

The Soska sisters co-wrote and co-directed this slice of splatter chic for the MTV generation. They’re skilled at what they do, and I’d be interested to see what they come up with next.

Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1, the film looks great in day scenes. Sharp, clean, detailed, fine ... it’s how modern films should look on DVD. Very nice indeed, with strong colours and blacks, and no distractions such as compression or image enhancements. Darker interior scenes don’t always cope so well, but that’s most likely inherent of the film’s low budget shooting, rather than being any transfer flaw.

English audio is provided in 2.0 and is a very good prospect throughout: evenly balanced, lots of up-front muscle, and good mixing between the rocking score and dialogue.

Bounty Films’ disc opens with a static main menu page. The static scene-selection page offers access to the main feature via 14 chapters.

There is a good selection of extras proffered on this disc.

First up, we get two commentary tracks: one from the directors, the second from the producers. I’m betting the chat track from the Soska sisters will be the one most go for. It is the more engaging of the two, and sees them drop their cool personas on occasion to become more candid about what makes them tick. The production track is even more straight-laced.

5-and-a-half minutes of anamorphic widescreen deleted scenes follow. There’s nothing to get irate over here: none of what’s gone to the cutting room floor could have made the film better.

A 15-minute Behind The Scenes featurette offers plenty of jovial on-location footage. It’s an attractive, well-edited affair. Anyone looking for a gag reel need look no further than here.

Finally, we get three trailers: the theatrical trailer, a preview teaser and a raucous festival trailer. They all capture the essence of the film well.

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is gory, fast-paced and stylish. It’s got humour, it’s got tits, and it’s got chainsaws. While it may be a little too ‘cool’ for its own good, it shows enormous promise from its young co-directors.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Bounty Films
Region 2 PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
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