Dead Hooker in a Trunk

Spiritual awakening in the scenic byways of western Canada...but only sort of.

Less extreme horror exploitation than a null-budget anarcho-punk statement from identical twin sister auteurs Jen & Sylvia Soska (a.k.a. Twisted Twins), DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is the visual equivalent of lo-fi riot grrrl garage rock—mashing up Robert Rodriguez, Harmony Korine, Nick Zedd, Amos Poe, and Eli Roth, with an occasional whiff of Greg Araki.

The movie has to be taken on its own terms. In keeping with a homage to no wave and grindhouse esthetics, the Soskas apparently consider continuity to be cisgender heteronormative fascism imposed by imperialist capitalist elitism: exterior shots filmed before & after a snowstorm are spliced together; one character's severed limb randomly appears re-attached; it seems that a lead role had to be reinvented on the fly when the actress cast for the part didn't show up on set and the only available substitute was the cameraman. Some viewers can roll with this; others can't.

Still, the script is energetic, brutal, funny, often quite sparkling, albeit the actors mumble and stumble through any dialogue more complicated that "F*&K!"

The plot? There's a dead hooker in the trunk: roll camera and--ACTION!

More specifically: Geek, her severely hungover twin sister Badass, and Badass' equally hungover punk-rawk pal Junkie are giving Geek's friend Goody Two-Shoes a lift home from his Christian youth ministry when, en route, they discover that someone's stashed drugs and a corpse in the boot of Badass' car.

So...call the police? It's not like they had anything to do with it, right? Well, that's another problem--

BADASS: "Last night is really fuzzy..."

Thus the quartet, uncertain whether they're psycho-killers, have to find an informal way to ditch a cadaver in suburban Vancouver in broad daylight in winter--and pious Goody Two-Shoes demands they do so while respecting the dignity of the deceased. Plus, they're all being hunted by the real murderer or murderers.

Complications, mayhem, mutilations, homicides' 'n' hijinx, along with gratuitous everything and a cameo appearance by God, ensue.

It all hangs together—often barely—by dint of the Soska sisters' relentless fan-sensibility attitude.

I read some pretty positive reviews for this film, and am always willing to support indy film.

but seriously WTF! I just payed 7 bucks to rent this, I feel so strongly about it that I will ask for my money back from the store.

I could only sit through 20 minutes of it. When the movie starts the first thing you will notice is just how terrible the audio is.

quickly followed by the lighting, camera work. and editing.

you will not know what the hell is going on.

Then when the performances start you will face palm at the writing and execution.

The thing that bothers me most is that the film makers have cast themselves in the lead roles, when really, if they cared at all about film making, they would have stayed on the other side of the camera, at least that way they could have attempted to limit the damage of every other terrible element at work.

0 out of 10

Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009)

* (out of 4)

Badass (Sylvia Soska), Geek (Jen Soska), Junkie (Rikki Gagne) and Goody Two Shoes (C.J. Wallis) discover a dead hooker in their trunk and that's about it. The Soska twins directed, wrote and stars in this movie that seems to have gotten some pretty glowing reviews but I'm a little confused as to why because I found the film incredibly hard to get through. The film isn't a complete disaster so I'll start off with the only good thing. I think the vision of the film was actually quite good and it's hard to believe that this thing was shot for just a couple thousand dollars. I give the sisters credit for certainly having an eye because they've made this film look quite professional and that there is saying quite a bit considering how most low-budget horror films look. With that said, the rest of the film was pretty much dreadful with the story being the most annoying thing. I'm not really sure what the point of the film was except to come off like a Quentin Tarantino movie and mix countless genres together with quick dialogue, over-the-top violence and other bizarre matters. The problem here is that none of it works as the story never makes a bit of sense and the characters are all just annoying to the point where you're hoping they all die. The movie has one drawn out sequence after another and sometimes we get some graphic gore but more often than not it's just dialogue full of F-bombs. The performances aren't the greatest in the world but they are slightly better than we typically see in this type of picture. I know many are calling this a "terrific homage to grindhouse pictures" but I found the film to be far from that. I guess people will have to make up their own minds but while the Soska girls show talent here, the final result is quite horrid.

I recently saw the film American Mary which was directed by the Soska Twins. I was pretty impressed, as it was quite an interesting and fairly original horror concoction. With this in mind I had to see their debut movie, the brilliantly titled Dead Hooker in a Trunk. Well, after seeing it, all I can say is that they definitely got a lot better. In fairness, this movie seems to have been made on an ultra-low budget, we're taking peanuts here. But even cutting the Soska's some slack on this front, that doesn't change my view that Dead Hooker in a Trunk is a really terrible movie.

Its plot-line is certainly high-concept - four friends find a dead hooker in the trunk of their car. That's it more or less. A strong story is certainly no requirement in a good film but a movie needs to get other things right in the absence of one. And on a technical and artistic level this is an abomination. It has terrible camera-work and sound; really bad acting and an awful script. It's overall just too amateurish to offer very much to anybody. I am nevertheless pleased that these two Canadian sisters have gone on to do better things – as apart from anything else, there should be more women directors out there – but this debut just isn't good on any level I am afraid.

Amidst the list of other movies attempting to pay tribute to the grindhouse spirit at the Pollygrind Festival in Las Vegas, NV. The Film "Dead hooker in the Trunk" was the highlight of my time. The twin sisters (Jen and Sylvia AKA Twisted Twins) delivered an extremely well executed film.

Basic story is about a group of teenagers driving around town in their black Camero notice a strange smell coming from the car. They pull over and open the trunk to find a dead hooker hidden in it. It just gets crazier from there. You might have a hard time catching your breath between each crazy event!

They did an amazing job considering what their budget probably was. The script was well written, the cinematography was decent, the special effects where low budget which actually added to the charm of the film. Also I have to mention that the twins are not only beautiful but they are good actors.(something that is often overlooked in films in this caliber)

This film was a true passion project. Not only did the sisters star in this joyride, but they produced and directed it. And I can't forget C.J Wallas, who played the "Goody Two-shoes". He is also credited for the cinematography, editing and composing of this film.

If you are looking for the normal multi-million dollar cookie cutter action film filled your high priced actors, expensive car chases, explosion or even the latest 3D animation, you won't enjoy this film. But you are looking for some fresh new faces and good old fashion story telling, check this film out.

I am anxious to see what Twisted Twins do next!