DVD Review // Hooker with a Hacksaw [2017]

One of my favorite parts about film is being able to look up a director, in this case Donald Farmer, find a film that doesn't stream anywhere and then use that as logic as to why I should purchase it on DVD.    Now, there is also a special edition of "Cannibal Hookers" which comes on Blu-Ray with "Hooker with a Hacksaw", but having this DVD won't stop me from also picking up that Blu-Ray as a double feature.  

What I like most about this film is that it's a story of revenge.  Kirsten, who is a hooker but mostly just does phone stuff, is lured into a trap where someone in a bird mask and someone in a pig mask try to kill her.  When she escapes, she gets a hacksaw and begins cutting up all the filth and just evil people out there in her city.   She even goes out of her way to stop a character portrayed by Jocephus Brody (RIP) from assaulting a woman.  I also like this character a lot because she still uses cassettes in her car and she says at one point she makes mixtapes and watches VHS.  (Very relatable) 

If you know the films of Donald Farmer, you'll likely know some of these cast members.  Jason Crowe is the main bad guy, Raymond.   Roni Jonah is Riley, Claude D. Miles is in here as a street dealer and even Linnea Quigley makes an appearance.  I feel like one of the things which benefits Donald Farmer using the same cast in his films is that if I look up his films, I see this one.  I look up and see what else Roni Jonah is in, I see it again.  And so on.  So I see the title of this film so many times, I just end up having to see the film.

The two true stars of this film though are Kasper Meltedhair (Kirsten) and Colleen Herkert (Ali) who are the main characters.  If you asked me how much screen time Kasper Meltedhair gets in this, I'd say close to 80%.   But this is her story and not just because she co-wrote it.  She is the main character and everything that happens within here just seems to revolve around her.

What's funny (not haha) is that Bird Boy, who is a pigeon, ends up capturing and killing Ali, which could've been prevented if Kirsten was just there a little bit earlier.   Many writers and directors will have these elaborate James Bond style plots of how people may or may not die, but this just goes to show you that timing truly is sometimes the biggest bitch of them all.

"Hooker with a Hacksaw" is also just a gentle reminder that there are so few women in lead roles in film still.  Kasper Meltedhair reminds me of Lori Petty in "Tank Girl" at times, but if instead of being in a water-less wasteland she was in a city.  But I also am reminded of characters from films such as "SLC Punk", which made me wonder what would the version of that be with a woman in the lead and I don't think there is one.

Perhaps the best part of this film is the end where another woman hears this story and is inspired to go out, get a hacksaw and start dishing out some justice.  This film was made nearly ten years ago, but I feel like it's going to take a lot of women to clean up the mess that the United States is in.   I'm just forever waiting for that fall of the patriarchy.

Utilizing the music, which is something I love when a film does, this film can feel like you're on a high speed chase, hitting bumps along the way and instead of crashing, you get away at the end.  It's not scary, but there is a lot of blood and guts.  I also could watch Kasper Meltedhair in anything for any amount of time after seeing this and perhaps that is what a film should also most convey.  Well, other than the message that women always have to clean up after evil men.