An out of work surgeon creates a powerful prosthetic heart (made of solid gold) which he transplants into the body of a beautiful prostitute he accidentally runs over with his car. The two then find themselves on the run from her former pimp, and a team of gangsters the doctor owes money to. The Hooker with a Heart of Gold is a fine example of why independent film making is still alive and well, even if said 'genre' is suffocated sometimes by big studio pretentiousness and over hyped advertisement. Hooker is a gem on the internet, in that it will remain a piece of modern cinematic genius for 20 years until someone picks up on it and tries to buy it off to Troma Entertainment or Asylum films.<br/><br/>Sarah Lewis plays the title role of the Hooker, a hard as diamonds girl with a need to be cared for, she brings about a performance that is truly reminiscent of actress Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon from Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Lewis' husband Brian Lewis plays Dr Rogen, a failing medical inventor who's one goal to create a super artificial heart is met with great turmoil and eventual joy as he gets in deep with mobsters and crime lords, and Lewis bring in a performance that I couldn't help but compare to Rick Morranis as Louis Tully in Ghostbusters. Writer, Director, and Actor Brad Jones plays dual roles as pimp Zalman and crime boss Steele, one is a spaced out babbling character that the late Dennis Hopper would be proud of; the other is a sinister mad man, who only cares about money, power, and the feeling of being loved, done with acting that only could've been matched by Joeseph Pilato. And finally, Jillian Zurwaski plays Janet, best friend of The Hooker and love interest of Steele, and all I could think of during her performance was Jodie Foster as Iris Steensma of Taxi Driver.<br/><br/>The over all feel of the film is very much nostalgic, with the story feeling like something brought out of the 80's and into today. The use of classic music like Neil Young, Procol Harum, and Fleetwood Mac catches the music lovers mind and keeps them hooked into both the story and character development found within. Effects are fun to look at as you can tell that a lot of thought and effort were put into them, particularly the heart of gold prop, it gives off a sense of someone having had a good time finding the pieces for it and putting them together to the way that it was made.<br/><br/>Hooker with a Heart of Gold is a fantastic gem on the internet. I'm happy that I've seen it, and I can't wait to watch it again. Look, you don't watch Hooker with a Heart of Gold to get something that will change the form of cinema or even push exploitation cinema into another stratosphere. It's a dude who spends 10 grand (not on the song rights for sure, but hey, why carp, soundtrack kicks ass) on bringing what he loves - feisty and smart hookers, sleazy pimps, uh, nice-guy hapless "mad" doctors - and pushes it with a lot of attitude.<br/><br/>It certainly helps to already be a fan of the Cinema Snob website, not just the videos he does in character (it's all mostly exploitation films and porn), but the midnight screenings where you get to see the various actors (Sarah, Brian, Ryan, Jerrid, etc) as themselves. Seeing this movie after years of watching those videos is like watching your friends make a movie: what it lacks in technical polish (and yeah, it lacks a lot) is made up for with a tight script and some decent editing from Brad Jones (also writer/director).<br/><br/>Oh, and speaking of Jones, he's having the time of his life as Zalman the pimp. He comes with a big greasy black wig, and his voice is tuned to be like Jack Nicholson in full-on villain mode (or just, you know, Nicholson mode), and he's clearly having the time of his life in this part. The story isn't all on him - it's a genre blend of Frankenstein sci-fi and a sleaze fest drenched in 70s and 80s disco and rock ("Couldn't See the Light" is what plays as the 'gold heart' is implanted) - and Sarah Lewis is fun to watch as the lead. Everyone is an amateur here, but mostly everyone delivers the dialog with some level of conviction and it's certainly a BIG step above the kinds of movies its giving homage to!<br/><br/>So if you dig seeing this kind of lo-fi ultra-low-budget filmmaking, with a soundtrack that makes it impossible to ever be an official release, and a cast that works well together and have a lot of charm to how they play off each other. It's certainly never boring, and occasionally it's funny and genuinely clever.
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355 weeks ago