Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is an American black comedy slasher film from 1988 directed by Fred Olen Ray. Starring Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, Jay Richardson and Michelle Bauer. It is known as a B-movie.
Plot
A detective embarks on a mission to track down a woman in L.A.’s seedy nightclubs, only to come face-to-face with a blood-thirsty cult of lethally beautiful prostitutes. Is he the next victim of Hollywood’s demented Chainsaw Hookers?
Entrusted with finding the whereabouts of the teenage runaway, Samantha, the experienced private detective, Jack Chandler, embarks on the seemingly easy mission to track down the girl in Los Angeles’ seedy nightclubs. Suspecting that the missing woman has fallen prey to a Hollywood prostitution ring, Jack goes undercover, only to discover that a blood-thirsty cult of lethally beautiful and chainsaw-wielding prostitutes is terrorising the city. Could innocent Samantha be part of Hollywood’s demented Chainsaw Hookers? Is Detective Chandler going to be the demonic sect’s next victim?
Notable scenes
The chainsaw killings
Making of Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers
Some of the hooker extras in the background might have been actual prostitutes. The director said that girls were chosen off the street and drank all the wrap beer on set before they left.
It took three people, including co-star Dawn Wildsmith, Fred Olen Ray’s wife at the time, over seven hours to paint Linnea Quigley’s body for her Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws scene. Quigley said later she thought it was hilarious that entertainment shows on TV kept showing clips of her dancing without realizing she was naked except for a thin layer of paint and a g-string.
Maxim Magazine bestowed this film with the title of “The 4th greatest B-movie of all time.”
The temple set was recycled from House II: The Second Story.
Linnea Quigley was often surprised to see the Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws used to advertize the film on TV and print ads, since she is actually nude and covered in body makeup. Censors mistakenly thought she was wearing a skin-tight costume.
The tomb seen in the film was the same one used in the movie Vamp. If you look closely, you can see that it still has Grace Jones’ face adorned on the front.
The leader of the chainsaw cult is portrayed by Gunnar Hansen, who also played the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
More trivia
Linnea Quigley had read for parts in several other films directed by Fred Olen Ray, but never got cast. When Michelle Bauer mentioned that she knew him, Linnea asked that she introduce her. She was cast as Samantha in this film because she had an innocent quality and reminded him of Goldie Hawn, another petite Hollywood blonde
Michelle Bauer is actually dancing to a different Elvis Presley song. The song used during filming cost too much and they had to substitute it with another one. As a result, her gestures don’t match the lyrics heard in the film.
Michelle Bauer said that when they filmed scenes where she chainsawed her victims, Fred Olen Ray would stand next to the camera throwing fake body parts at her and splashing her face with Dixie cups full of blood while a prop guy squirted more blood all over her body with a little hose.
Fred Olen Ray said he enjoyed working with Gunnar Hansen. He even let Hansen stay at his house during the shoot and they had a great time.
Fred Olen Ray isn’t fond of Linnea Quigley’s popular “Dance of the Virgin Chainsaw” scene. He said he only came up with it because he ran out of money and had to kill some time.
Fred Olen Ray told Femme Fatales magazine in 1992 that he’s been asked several times to make a sequel but said he won’t unless a distributor pays him money up front to cover production costs. He said he didn’t really make any money on this one. It became famous, but it didn’t sell overseas.
Our view on Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers
“Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers” is one of the best examples of those trashy, cheesy, horror/spoofs of the 80s. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is about a cult of chainsaw massacring babes who use fresh limbs from their victims, there is cheesy rock music and scream queens Michelle Bauer and Linnea Quigley. Exploitflix must see!
Trailer
Where to buy
DVD/VHS/Betamax/VCC
Watch on Dailymotion
Details
Country: USA
