Phil sees AMERICAN MARY at Monsterpalooza-April 13, 2013

For Screamfest's third and final film of the night, they screened one of the most talked about films of the past year! A film that has won critical and numerous awards from several respected film festivals from all around the world. The film won five awards at last year's Screamfest alone! In 2009, filmmakers and twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska (aka the Twisted Twins) unleashed upon the world their debut film DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, a beautiful and gore-soaked homage to exploitation films. Now the Soska Sisters return with their latest cinematic endeavour entitled AMERICAN MARY.

Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) is a medical student, who dreams of becoming a surgeon once she's done with school. However things are not going well for Mary; she's in severe debt, has bill collectors calling her, and one of her professors keeps demeaning her in front of the class. All this pressure and stress thrusts Mary into applying for work at a strip club just to pay the bills. However club owner Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo) has another job in mind for her: save the life of a bloodied and tortured man and receive $5000 cash. This one event sets off a chain reaction that engulfs Mary into the underground world of surgeries that she dubs "Body Modifications," which proves to be very lucrative trade for the former starving med student.

Miss Isabelle's acting is simply captivating; one has to see her in the film to believe just how incredible she is! Riveting, stunning, and outstanding; she just radiates up on the big screen! Her ability to convey a wide array of emotions is marvelous. One moment we are sympathetic for her, the next we are shocked to see her go completely insane. Now if you think that Katharine Isabelle looks familiar, there's a very good reason for that. She is most famous for starring as Ginger in the beloved GINGER SNAPS Trilogy. In 2003, she broke into the American mainstream portraying Gibb in the major Hollywood horror blockbuster FREDDY VS. JASON. With this film, Katharine proves without a shadow of a doubt that she belongs in the world of the Hollywood elite! She's that goddamn talented and that goddamn good!

The film also shows off the maturity of the Soska Sisters, which is far and away a major step forward in their evolution as writers and directors. While their first film utilized the standard hand-held style of directing (which is very common in the low budget indie film world), AMERICAN MARY enjoys of having a bigger budget, which enabled the Twisted Twins to really stretch out as directors and prove what they are capable of doing. From a technical standpoint, the film is just marvelous: beautiful sets, smooth and precise directing, top notch production values, exquisite lighting, and awesome editing. Sylvia and Jen have time to really hone their skills on the film, proving that they are more than just a one trick pony and the end results are a just incredible! Writers, actresses, directors; these ladies prove that they are a force to be reckoned with!

As I previously mentioned, the film won five Screamfest awards last year, including best Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. It's played at prestigious film festivals all across the globe such as Toronto After Dark, Shudderfest, and Fantastic Fest. It has also received critical acclaim from numerous media outlets, including Fangoria, FEARnet, and Ain't-It-Cool News. The film was distributed by Universal UK overseas and it will be hitting American shelves on both Blu-Ray and DVD on June 18th.

AMERICAN MARY ranks as one of the best modern horror films of the past 20 years! In an age where Hollywood is cranking out endless remakes that lack integrity and intelligence, Jen, Sylvia, and Katharine have contributed to the horror genre a cinematic feminist fright film that has it all! It's beautiful and yet tragic, funny and subversive, insightful and bloody, this is a film that we need now more than ever! Let this be a wake up call to all other aspiring female filmmakers; get out there and make your movies because I can't wait to see them! And I can't wait to see what the Soska Sisters do next! 5 out of 5 stars!! Highly recommended!!

AMERICAN MARY will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on June 18, 2013. To pre-order a copy, visit the Amazon website at www.amazon.com or visit your local retailer once it's released. Also follow the film on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil's Halloween Horrors Marathon, Day 8: Phil reviews DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK (2009) DVD from IFC Films-October 8, 2012

Original DVD Cover (2012)

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK
Starring: Jen Soska, Slyvia Soska, Rikki Gagne, C.J. Wallis, Tasha Moth, Lloyd Bateman, and Farley M. Gagne
Written, Produced, and Directed by The Soska Sisters
A Twisted Twins Productions
Released by IFC Films

Welcome to Day Eight of my Halloween Horrors Marathon! When you think about countries that have contributed to the horror and exploitation genre, majority of the time Canada has either been overlooked or forgotten. The films that our neighbors to the north have made are now considered to be classics among fans. Films like 1974's BLACK CHRISTMAS, 1981's MY BLOODY VALENTINE and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (and recent additions like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN and FATHER'S DAY) have been regarded as influential films that have inspired countless aspiring movie makers. Enter the Soska twins, Jen and Sylvia, who on a shoestring budget of just $2,500 have added another title to this illustrious list of Canadian films. The end result is that their debut film DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is a modern day exploitation classic that lives up to the high standards set forth by its cinematic predecessors.

Taking place in the beautiful city of Vancouver, the film follows four individuals: Badass (Sylvia), her twin sister Geek (Jen), Badass' rock star friend Junckie (Rikki Gagne) and Geek's Bible thumping, Jesus loving friend Goody Two-Shoes (C.J. Wallis). The day starts off when Geek asks her sister Badass and Junkie to take her to pick up Goody from Youth Group. After they pick him up, their normal day of doing errands becomes more complicated when they discover a dead hooker in their trunk. This spirals into a journey of them trying to dispose of the body and figure out whether of not Badass and Junkie were responsible for killing the hooker. To make matters worse, the hooker's cowboy hat wearing pimp is hot on their trail as well as a mysterious hooded psychopathic killer who may hold the answers that the four friends are searching for.

Original Movie Poster (2011)

The film is filled with eccentric and over-the-top characters, a lot of violence consisting of hooker beatings, gun shootings, Junkie's arm being chopped off, then sewn on only to be torn off by a passing semi truck, brains being blown out, and a baseball bashing that knocks out Geek's right eye. So right there you know you're going to have fun watching this! And this was just the tip of the iceberg folks! Needless to say there's more but I want you readers to be surprised.

The Soska do their best to entertain you by giving you snappy and colorful dialogue, a good amount of Tarentino-esque violence, great FX and buckets of blood and gore that would make Troma fans gush with joy. Now some might complain about the shakiness of the camera. At first I was put off by this, but after viewing it a couple of more times I didn't even noticed it anymore. I was too involved in watching the hilarity and madness unfold before my eyes. My attention was focused on these characters and their nightmare situations they find themselves in. Plus in the world of independent filmmaking, the main thing is this: you make your film and you make it on the cheap. Half the time you can only get one take and that's it. A lot of the time you are shooting on the fly and forget about getting permits. Like the great Roger Corman said, "Just go out there and shoot!" So the Soska sisters are to be commended to their commitment of their vision and getting their film made.

The film is released by IFC Films as part of their midnight series. The special features include deleted and alternate scenes, a funny and interesting behind the scenes feature, an interview with filmmaker/EL MARIACHI star Carlos Gallardo who talks about indie filmmaking with the Soska twins. He briefly talks about his indie film SINGLE ACTION, which was shot on 16mm film for only $11,000, The interview is very brief and it would have been interesting to see more of this, but still it's very cool to see. There's also the film's theatrical trailer as well as several trailers for upcoming IFC Films releases, including the infamous THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II: FULL SEQUENCE.

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is a fun-thrilled, gore soaked, feel-good exploitation ride of the year! The film also shows that Canada has more to offer than just hockey, beer, and Rush. The spirit of independent filmmaking is going strong there and it also shows that we will be seeing more of the Soska sisters in the very near future (their next film is the highly anticipated AMERICAN MARY). So if you're looking for a fun midnight movie to watch, then this is right up your alley. 5 out of 5 stars! Highly recommended!

DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK is currently available at your local retailer as well as at Jen and Sylvia's Twisted Twins Productions website. To purchase a copy visit www.deadhookerinatrunk.com.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the sreaming!

Phil reviews DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK DVD on The Midnight Horror Sinema Show-February 12, 2012

OK folks listen up and listen good! Over on The Midnight Horror Sinema Show, I just finished my review of DEAD HOOKERS IN A TRUNK, the film debut by the Soska twins Jen and Sylvia. Made for just $2,500 and shot in Vancouver, Canada, the Twisted Twins made a kick ass, balls to wall, no holds barred, modern day cult classic. The film was eventually picked up by IFC Films and released it as part of their IFC Midnight line. So if you're looking for a film that is not your typical cup of tea, then this is the film for you! I gave this film five out of five stars, so you know that you're gonna have a fun time watching it if I liked it. So read my review here and have fun watching this film tonight!

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!