Soska Night, an Evening Filled with Baseball Bats and Amputated Arms

Later on the fought it out to see what was better, Marvel or DC.

Every once in a while a friend posts a photo on facebook of themselves with a dvd of a movie you want to see. Even rarer is when this coincides with the theatrical release of a film from the same directors. Well this is what happened recently and gave birth to what was dubbed Soska Night. It was a wonderful evening that started out with a Dead Hooker in a Trunk and ended with American Mary at the wonderful Rio Theatre. We laughed, we were confused, we were shocked, but most of all we had fun. Read more about the adventure (mostly about American Mary) after the break.



To start off the evening we watched Dead Hooker in a Trunk. While I personally wouldn't call it a horror film it is definitely within the realm of genre with plentiful amounts of gore including the removal of an optic nerveless eye and some good old fashioned bodily dismemberment. There was also the inclusion of one of the best lines to make an audience stop asking questions "I can't believe it worked." Now while it wasn't Citizen Kane by a long shot for a first feature it was pretty good, especially if you remember that half of the most celebrated directors started off doing Corman films. Also it turns out electrician's tape can make for a very effective eyepatch.

Now after we had our fill of dead hookers and I got killed by a teddy bear (more on that if I ever feel like posting the pictures) we headed across town to The Rio Theatre. Before we even got into the theatre we were greeted by this lovely fellow:

Diapers are so in right now.

Now once the photo op was out of the way we settled down into our seats with our alcoholic beverages (because we are adults) and before the movie began we were treated to an introduction by the beautiful Tristan Risk (who played Beatress). So we are introduced to our protagonist, Mary Mason with a show of her surgical skill... by sewing a massive amount of wings to a turkey. Someday I will feast on a turducken that looks like that beauty. She then takes part in a lecture where she learns that a severed arm can only be recovered up to four hours after removal, which made me laugh thinking about Dead Hooker in a Trunk. Clearly someone has a thing for arm limb detachment.

I must say I feel FABULOUS!

Mary then starts what I could see as a trend to make surgeon a much sexier profession... prepping for surgery in lingerie. She also sleeps with a baseball bat, knows that it's good for popping out eyes. There's also more surgical wonders such as a chicken centipede and the medical wonder of the massive asshole that is her professor. The hatred he causes is made up for by the first surgical scene in the film, which was absolutely beautiful. The musical choice and cinematography mesmerized me creating a thing of beauty, and I'm not the biggest fan of surgical scenes that are realistic.

Sweetie, don't be a c**t.

Then we get to the part we all knew was coming, so I don't have to spell it out right? I personally will never accept a drink from a stranger, even if it's at a party where I know the owner of the house. Surprisingly to me we now head straight into what I thought would be the climax of the film, the revenge scene, but we're barely into the movie! What could it possibly be about once the revenge is over? Well let's just say it turned into an exploration of madness. Even the bouncers at the strip club are afraid of her, but the best one looks out for her almost like a mother. Speaking of the strip club, for a place generally associated with degrading women it has a rather good body image message the dancers there come in all shapes and sizes.

Halloween costume this year? Maybe...

After the film we got to have a Q & A with Tristan Risk and David Lovgren who played Dr. Grant the asshole professor. (for the record he did not enjoy filming the rape scene) While there were lots of questions and a few plugs (such as for Punks Vs. Lizards, one of Tristan's upcoming projects) what stood out to me was the fact that this movie was filmed in only 15 days. That amazed me for how high quality the movie turned out to be. The Soska Sisters have clearly gone through a butt load of growth from Dead Hooker in a Trunk to their sophomore  feature. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend you watch American Mary now, in a legal way.