For the trope this special is loosely based on, see Hooker with a Heart of Gold.A five part internet special written and directed by Brad Jones. It tells the story of an unnamed hooker who has a literal heart of gold surgically implanted into her body at the hands of a fringe, out-of-work doctor named Dr. Rogen. The doctor is desperate for his experiment to succeed so that he may pay off an insane gangster named Steele. It just so happens Steele's twin brother, Zalman, is the aforementioned hooker's pimp, both of them being masterfully played by Brad Jones himself.What follows in an incredibly well written and well edited homage to all of Brad Jones' favorite film genres, from exploitation to revenge to low budget snuff films that never saw the light of day (and thankfully never did). Jones' choice of soundtrack really steals the show, though. His love of all kinds of music, from 70's soul and disco to old school rock and roll to beloved hits of the 80's, really shines here and adds to the overall film.Tropes included:
Acting for Two: Brad Jones, who plays brothers Zalman and Steele, two of the main villains.
Actor Allusion: Zalman (played by Brad Jones) makes reference to low budget films much like the Snob does. In fact, his whole performance as both Zalman and Steele is very Snob-like, if he were a sociopath.
Author Appeal: Brad's wife Jillian sure does a lot of sexy things in this movie...
Because You Were Nice to Me: Janet develops Stockholm Syndrome after Steele starts treating her kindly, to the point that in several scenes in part 5, they actually look like they're married. She flat out tells the hooker after Steele's dead that she wants to stay in his house because he was the only john who ever liked her.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Well, more evil. Dr Rogen operated on Steele, after which Steele became noticeably and considerably unhinged and sadistic. We're not told why, but Dr Rogen probably did not have any anaesthetic...
Best Served Cold: Steele goes after the hooker for killing Zalman and Rogen for protecting the hooker, while the hooker goes after Steele and co for stealing her heart and killing her.
Danger Takes A Back Seat: A hilariously casual version when Steele sits up in the back of Doc's car in broad daylight.
Deadpan Snarker: The hooker. She conducts her dialogue pretty nonchalantly in most scenes.
Dogged Nice Guy: Zig-zagged. Don's in love with the hooker, while she hates him. In later parts, he pretends that he's only attracted to her for her body, and that she means nothing to him, but he continually does his best to let her off the hook, including killing Steele and giving her and Dr Rogen every opportunity to skip town.
Downer Ending: Part 4. Good news? Don allows Dr. Rogen to go save the Hooker. Bad news? He's a little late...
The Dreaded: Steele. Zalman gets angry at the mere suggestion that he works for Steele, and Janet freaks out hugely when she's sent to him.
Drugs Are Bad: Averted. The Hooker's cocaine habit only seems to make her stronger, and Dr Rogen theorises that it might make the heart work more efficiently. No anvilicious statement here.
Everything's Funkier with Disco: Pretty much every time there's a scene between The Hooker and Zalman, a funky disco record will be playing in the background.
Pet the Dog: Steele treats Janet quite kindly in part 5.
Psycho for Hire: The trio of mercenaries who are the best at being the worst.
Punch Clock Villain: Matty and Don, who unlike the other bad guys don't seem to derive pleasure out of doing bad things all that much.
Soundtrack Dissonance: Say, did you ever like Neil Young's "Heart of Gold"? You won't after seeing Part 4!
Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels" plays during the gunfight/fistfight in Part 5.
Shout Out: Probably unintentional, but as you recall, the Hooker's cocaine habit makes her stronger, like one Snowflame.
The three hitmen are all named after characters played by Pierre Kirby.
Stockholm Syndrome: Janet gets this after she's sent to Steele, because despite choking her, threatening her and forcing her to fuck him in the same room as the corpse of his dead girlfriend, he genuinely liked her and admitted that he might have fallen for her if they'd had more time together- hell, he even gave her the right to sell the golden heart so she'd have enough money to live on- and no other john actually liked her. At the end of the series, she chooses to stay in Steele's house rather than leave with the hooker.
Took a Level in Badass: Despite usually being a non-combatant, Dr Rogen manages to fight Don off. He doesn't clearly win, but at the end of it, he's sitting up and moving, and Don's on the floor.
The hooker manages to defend herself and Dr Rogen from the mercenaries and Steele with only one gun. OK, she does run out of bullets, but she does a good job.
Wretched Hive: The city the story takes place. To paraphrase Dr. Rogen: "Is everyone in this town a fucking sleazebag!?"
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Steele executes the three mercs he hired because the hooker was doing a good job of defending herself- thus, they didn't kill her.
0 reviews