Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Blistering performances.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The legendary, hard-bodied Scream Queen, Linnea Quigley stars in this sleazy B-movie horror-comedy that truly delivers all the sexy stripping and chainsaw wielding glory! Directed by Fred Olen Ray, this dime-store classic is a tribute to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and belongs in the same realm as the sequential Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2 which has the same unique 80s look and feel.The big city of L.A. is the setting, and a crazed religious cult of hookers worship chainsaws and hack up unsuspecting johns according to the ceremonial rituals established by leader (Gunnar Hansen), who was 'Leatherface' from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. All throughout the madness, fed up but determined private eye Jay Richardson chases L.A.'s night life with pretty girls and severed body parts all leading up the center of the evil sect's most important ceremonial rite.This has all of the elements of the typical 80s horror camp comedy; cheesy gore FX, plenty of nudity, and it never takes itself seriously enough to be confused with later chainsaw venues. Linnea Quigley is in her prime, and the gorgeous Penthouse Pet and B-movie goddess, Michelle Bauer shines as the deadly, Elvis-loving 'Mercedes' with the perfect body, charm and demented eyes.The action is combined with humor to form the perfect blend of political satire, goofy quotes and in-jokes all adding up to the an impressive climatic performance entitled; 'The Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaw'! Beneath all of the dirty L.A. sleaze and slime, this little flick has a charming quality about it that still entertains its audience 20 years later.

I wholeheartedly agree with earlier reviewers that said this movie is one of the best of its genre--unfortunately that genre is worthless crap. This is an early example of horror/comedy "scream queen" movies, featuring two of the more ubiquitous screams queens Michelle Bauer and Linnaea Quigley, and directed by one of the pioneers of these kind of films (along with Dave DeCoutea and Jim Wynorski)--Fred Olen Ray. This movie, however, is surprisingly creative and long on plot, and it actually has more than one set and a budget that approaches whole numbers. It is also genuinely funny in places.These kind of films were largely inspired by the 70's Roger Corman-produced films like "Hollywood Boulevard" or "Caged Heat" (Jim Wynorski actually got his start with Corman--thank's a lot, Roger), but there's a good reason many of the directors of those films went onto bigger and (usually) better things while the three amigos here have kept doing this same thing year after year. There's a big difference between seriously making schlocky films that nevertheless demonstrate real talent, and just mugging your way through self-consciously campy "cult films" in attempt to disguise a total lack of it. Olen Ray, at least, has a genuine love of film which shows in some of his best work (Wynorski, as he himself brags in every interview, is more interested in improving his own dating life than in making good movies, while the openly gay DeCouteau is just a hack by any standard).As for the "scream queens", Quigley and Bauer, they certainly camp it up as usual, but make enough of effort that they seem more like genuine actresses than strippers here. This is the kind of the movie that really floats to the top of the HUGE pool of worthless crap movies that have been churned out since the early 80's, but it also, mind you, doesn't quite float ABOVE that pool. If you like these kinds of movies, of course, you won't want to miss it. And for everyone else?--well, you could do worse, I guess.

Linnea Quigley is cute. She is always cute in most of her movies. But she can't save this mess. Nor can Michele Bauer. The best thing about this movie is the title, and if you have the video box or the poster then you have the next best thing about it. The movie itself is far from funny -- not even in a B movie way. At 70 or so minutes, it's 69 minutes too long. There is no attempt at providing a script that is intelligent in any way. The gore effects are just plain bad, not humorous. Bad movies are not entertainment; they are an insult to audiences and especially an insult to people who are truly creative and can't get their scripts produced for one reason or another. If you're expecting to be entertained in any way, then you will be thoroughly disappointed. Fred Olen Ray is not Sam Raimi. He is not even George Romero. Even the nudity can't redeem this movie! Avoid!

Hehe, apart from chainsaw-horror completists, this should also be viewed by silly b-movie/exploitation fans. With quite enough blood and at times funny quotes, this is for an easy night with friends and beer. Again, don't take this for serious horror because that;s not the case! Serious horror fans could actually hate this.