Review: Dead Hooker In A Trunk (2010)

Ever wake up after a particularly hedonistic episode of partying to discover that the details of the night's festivities are fuzzier than koala balls?  Maybe a complete stranger is found snoring in bed next to you.  Maybe you can't find your wallet.  Or the pants you were wearing that you left it in, for that matter.  And where'd those bruises come from?  How did I even get home?  Or possibly - at least if you’re the Soska Sisters - you discover a dead hooker most curiously stuffed into the trunk of your Firebird.  Don't you hate it when that happens?

The twin siblings in question are only referred to as Badass and Geek.  Their friend Junkie (can you guess this lady's demeanor?) wakes up at their place after a rowdy rock show the night before.  She asks Badass if she'll take her to score some drugs and Geek asks if they'll pick up her old bible-thumping friend Goody Two-Shoes on the way.  Seems harmless enough, until a foul smell is detected wafting from the trunk and the quartet is compelled to investigate.  Enter one dead hooker.  What follows plays out like a deranged variation of The Trouble With Harry - no one is sure how she got there, where she came from and more importantly, what to do with her.

Numerous complications arise at every turn before they can agree on how to dispose of the body.  While waiting at the drug den for Junkie, other pushers arrive to put a hurtin' on their competition and all hell breaks loose.  A chainsaw is produced, intestines spill, Badass ends up wasting nearly everyone in sight and her poor sister loses an eye.  Then they have to contend with police officers, Goody Two-Shoes' weak stomach, Junkie getting her arm temporarily separated and the trick's pimp showing up to retrieve his rightful property.  Of course there's also the small matter of the person who actually did her in and his own intentions.

Dead Hooker In A Trunk is a raucous, swiftly paced film full of seemingly random plot developments that sometimes negate plausibility, but doesn't suffer much for it.  The tone is admittedly a tad uneven and the editing occasionally leaves you confused as to when things are happening; however, considering there is also no real concern for consequence in most of what transpires, it gives the film an anything-goes attitude that sucks you right up into its nonsensical vacuum.  It does hold the limitations of any low budget DV film (especially in the audio dept), but the highly spirited delivery certainly makes up for that, preventing this Dead Hooker from ever becoming a stinker.

In addition to starring in the film, the sisters Soska also wrote, produced, directed and filmed it.  They also share the bulk of the other principal production credits, including the effects (which are honestly some of the best I've seen in a DV feature), along with their co-stars C.J. Wallis and Loyd Bateman.  The dialogue is sharp, the acting is commendable, the photography is ambitious, the violence is well choreographed and it even offers a little something for the gore-hound.  The accompanying soundtrack is no slouch either, contributing nicely to all the excitement.  For such a self-contained and modest effort, Dead Hooker In A Trunk shows an amount of skill you have to admire.

These tenacious twins have assembled an undeniably energetic and inspired effort that does precisely what it intends to - entertain.  Yes, a few things develop during Dead Hooker In A Trunk that go against logic and it bares some technical hickeys; however, for an unpredictable and action-packed black comedy of exaggerated proportions you can't ask for much more, even from the mainstream.  More indie film-makers should aspire to what they've accomplished here.  I nearly orgasm to think what these two talented vixens could be capable of on a much larger budget.

and the awards go to:
*  Sylvia Soska as Badass, who doesn't take shit from anyone and after having dispatched of Cowboy Pimp and asked what she was thinking, answers "gee, wouldn't it be nice if this fucking guy wasn't fucking dragging me down the fucking road."
*  Jen Soska as Geek, who calls the police on her sister and Junkie and says to them "I already told you, they're picking up drugs. I don't know what kind. Lots probably, knowing them" right before her eye gets knocked clean out of her skull.
*  Rikki Gagne as Junkie, who tells Goody Two-Shoes "I can take care of myself, I don't need your fussing over me" moments before losing an arm to a passing truck.
* John Tench as the Cowboy Pimp, who rides up on horseback and remarks to Badass before lassoing her "I reckon you got my whore."
*  C.J. Wallis as Goody Two-Shoes, who despite being an accomplice to all manner of criminal activity believes he'll still be let into heaven and asks Cowboy Pimp's corpse "you ever been skull-fucked after an ass-rape?" then adds "Jesus doesn't love you."
*  and finally to the illustrious namesake, the dead hooker in a trunk, whose presence conveniently makes all the ensuing insanity possible.