Dead Hooker in a Trunk

Title: Dead Hooker in a Trunk
Directors and writers: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Cast: Rikki Gagne, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, C.J. Wallis, Lloyd Bateman, Farley M. Gagne, Tasha Moth
Year: 2009
Min: 92 min

Two beautiful twins, a Badass sexy one (Sylvia Soska) and a Geek(y) hot one (Jen Soska), and their two friends, the Bible-thumping Goody-Two Shoes (C.J. Wallis) and the hard rocking Junkie (Rikki Gagne), find a dead hooker (Tasha Moth) in their trunk. Shit starts going from bad to worse for them, as they confront chainsaw and machete wielding criminals (maybe they watched Friday the 13th and Scarface one too many times), a crazy cowboy pimp, and a serial killer. All the while they try to keep their act together and not let things fall apart for them.

This low-budget indie flick is the debut from the lovely and talented Soska sisters who do a great job despite the multiple hats that they wear in the movie. It moves at a nice pace and is so clearly fun and enjoyable, it's hard not to love it.

The acting ranges from good to adequate. The four leads in particular do a fine job with their roles. For the most part you like their characters. Badass comes off as a bitch many times, but she's meant to. And, even she has moments where you can't help but cheer her on. It also helps that the twins are extremely beautiful. I think you will find your new horror crushes in the Soska sisters, dear readers and friends.

It's actually quite a funny and thoroughly enjoyable movie throughout it's running time. I really like that the humor is quite dark, even necrophilia is thrown in for good measure! There are also some pretty dark and brutal moments, that keep you on your toes and remind you that you are watching a genre piece, and good one at that.

The gore FX are well enough done. There is chainsaw arm cutting, violent beat-downs, torture, head-shots, and other sanguinary slaughter to make sure the gorehounds stay happy.

In all this Canadian, black comedy mix of gore and action is one of my favorite indie/ underground horror films in quite a while. It certainly ranks along the best of this year's genre releases. Plus, I think it has one of the greatest titles in the history of cinema (which has also drawn some controversy for it at festivals, so I have read). I think the Soska sisters have a great future in the genre, and I totally await their next project, American Mary (with the lovely Katherine Isabelle of Ginger Snaps fame).

Dead Hooker in a Trunk is currently available on DVD in Britain, but US fans can see it streaming on Amazon for a measly 4 bucks here: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Hooker-in-a-Trunk/dp/B005FYL60E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316281693&sr=8-1 IFC films is releasing, so I very much look forward to getting this one and adding it to my collection, when it hits DVD in our neck of the woods.

***1/2 out of ****