Her Name Was Christa Movie Review!
Some films are just made to be slow burning and engrossing to the benefit of the viewer. It’s like listening to a standard mid-career Pink Floyd song, or maybe even Cradle of Filth; there’s a carefully built-up intro that can go on and on yet you are lost in it knowing damn well something big and rewarding is coming.
I mentioned Her Name Was Christa recently in my write-up about films involving necrophilia (see Top Films Involving Necrophilia here) and stated I was about to review the film, having only that day heard about it via the director who’d noticed I was writing that very essay.
Her Name Was Christa is a very different film to what you will likely expect. It forms and allows you to understand the characters contained within and the slow but inevitably tragic direction they take.
After a brief segment showing what we are to assume is our main character either locked away or being interviewed in a hospital, proclaiming that ‘she’ was more than just a prostitute, that ‘she’ had a name, we open to the weirdest telemarketing floor I’ve ever seen. People with random and styled beards are segregated from the black staff members, whilst being overlooked by an older man who has a fake tan that ends before his forehead meets his hairline. We properly meet our central bloke, Steve, having to strike up a conversation with a man, Nick, who looks like a transgender schoolgirl from an ‘80s music video. Steve admits he is more of a lone wolf (well, those aren’t his words, he isn’t cool enough to describe himself that way). However, they begin a friendship and amongst the chit-chat, Nick learns that Steve hasn’t been with a lady for around four years. His solution? “Hookers!”
Yeah, I know, this is so far beginning to sound like one of those teenage or midlife crisis USA comedies with lonely males and easy females, but trust me on this, stay a while. Steve approaches a trio of too-cute-to-be street girls (in my city, your average prostitute is either middle-aged to elderly, or young and heavily on smack or spice – non-UK residents, that means drugs, thus staring at you through heavy eyelids and speaking through drawling mouths). He’s seen the chat sites he visits have women who simply don’t wish to open and read his messages. Our man selects one girl, Raven, and they awkwardly agree to a hand job. He’s openly nervous, it’s a big issue to him. She’s bored, just another day at the office. He obviously is so uncomfy that he is only semi-erect so Raven orders him to pass her another thirty dollars, so she can blow him. Well, at least she cares about customer satisfaction unlike some street girls in films who laugh and then get murdered.
Ohhhhh, the synthwave music as she sucks him is sublime. I know, along with the neon green lit segment it’s all been done before, and I suppose many will compare this to other similar films in style, but I don’t care, I enjoy a bit of atmospheric ‘80s style synthwave!!!
Steve is still having issues. “Look, what’s your fuckin’ problem dude?” she sits up, understandably getting a bit annoyed. “What’s it gonna take? A finger is your ass??!!” Once she’s chilled out, he drops her off and retreats deeper into his shell with whatever demons reside within.
One evening he bumps into a lady who asks for a light and he’s struck by how beautiful she is. Introducing herself as Candy, we know she’s Christa, but she’s a working girl so hence the name. Steve invites her to a diner for a bite to eat. Steve has a proposition – “girlfriend experience.” Christa is a bit edgy at first, saying it will be costly, but he has some money put aside. Basically, a couple of nights per week, she acts as his partner – but not an overnight thing. She’s very surprised when he outwardly refuses sex, saying he’ll be happy just to hold her hand, or hug.
A huge portion of the movie is spent as they get to know one another and go on ‘dates‘ – including a super funny horror funhouse which has a fella wearing a Zombie Flesh Eaters “We Are Going to Eat You” rubber mask! Much to her surprise, she finds herself safe and secure with Steve. He’s middle aged, balding with a ‘stache, but he’s a cuddly man who wouldn’t hurt her. One evening she goes down on him, but he experiences the same personal demons as before and this of course upsets her. “Is it because I’m a prostitute?” Steve adamantly denies this. All he wants is just to hold her close in his arms.
After a huge argument with his boss, Steve loses his job and explains to Christa that it’s all over because he cannot afford to pay her anymore. She is visibly upset by this but not in the way he expects. “It doesn’t matter…” then she kisses him. “You are the kindest, sexiest, most wonderful man I’ve ever met…” They have a heart to heart, and both are the happiest they’ve been in a long, long time. Christa slips off to the bathroom, Steve lays on the bed smiling, falls asleep, awakes hours later, and realizes something has happened to Christa…
From that moment on Her Name Was Christa delivers one of the most disturbing, lingering but equally heart-breaking payoffs in modern horror movies. Steve’s grief-stricken mind has snapped. Christa is still with him, talking, loving him, offering herself to him.
And the effects work as time passes by far surpasses expectations, going beyond many films that deal with the subject I think because it delivers such a gut-punching emotional level. And this doesn’t really slack off at any point for the last half an hour of the flick. Steve and Christa become so close it’s painful.
James is a genius for his direction and writing. It’s all so powerful. The fact this was his first feature film doesn’t show at all. He’s been an actor more than anything (he was a dead kid in The Dead Next Door) but…. wait for it… he also plays Steve! Let’s not mistake this for a vanity project. James can act, and act well! He’s been working his trade a while and has some powerful friends who have obviously built his knowledge and wisdom in readiness for taking on double duties both sides of the camera.
However, he is totally beaten by Shianne Daye as Candy/Christa. She captures the gradual shift from a cold suspicious person to someone realizing she truly has someone special in her life. Wait up, seriously this was her first major role?????!!!! Naah, IMDb cannot be right! Both of them heap on the depth of their performances for the last half an hour.
The music by Matthew Sturgeon feels out of place here and there but more often than not gets the feel absolutely right. Her Name Was Christa plays itself low-key and carefully. The writing and direction, as I said, has power. I believe the small budget helps such a film. James has busted his scrotum to create something out of the normally envisioned idea of necrophilia creations. It isn’t the greatest cult film ever made, but it has the ability to keep you watching.
Worth mentioning that there could be a nice formula building here, since a majority of the cast appear in James’ 2021 delivery, Brimstone Incorporated.
Directed by: James L. Edwards | Written by: James L. Edwards | Produced by: Shari Rose, Brad Twigg | Cinematography by: Gordon Cameron | Editing by: Jason Kasper | Music by: Matthew Sturgeon | Special Effects by: Alan Tuskes, Taylore Cook, Elizabeth Hale | Cast: James L Edwards, Shianne Daye, Drew Fortier, Kaylee Williams, Rick Jermain, J.R Bookwalter, Gary Lee Vincent | Year: 2020 | Country: USA | Language: English | Colour: Colour | Runtime: 1h 59min
Studio: Buffalora Entertainment Group, RoseRed Lane Films, Flowtac Entertainment
