Streetwalker Review from Just Got Here Collective Pictures!
Streetwalker is new material from Jeffery Husselman who I’ve seen films from before in the past under Grammabum Motion Pictures. Pay to Play comes highly recommended and is available on YouTube from Grammabum themselves.
Other films such as The Place They Go to Die, American Holocaust 2000, Creepies: Creeper 2 are all worth checking out and on YouTube uploaded by Grammabum. If you dig quirky indie films with charm and vigor, I highly recommend taking the time to watch them. This brings us to the short film Showstopper. Streetwalker is the full-length feature which came out of the Showstopper short film. Some of the same characters are featured in Streetwalker as well as a cool execution scene by firing squad used in the short.
Streetwalker features Corissa Gabor as Ruby. Gabor is wife of writer and director Husselman and has been in his past films as well. Ruby goes about her routine rendezvous with her repertoire of male clients including nice guy nurse Roy (Keith Ortiz) and the asshole scumbag cop Duffy (George Weslyn) who probably has my favorite line in the film, “I come to you to do the shit I’m not allowed to do at home so tonight we are gonna do the shit I’m not allowed to do at home!”
One night after a cocaine fueled binge coerced by Duffy, Ruby is brutally attacked on the street. She ends up in the hospital but begins seeing visions of a being with antlers and mime/clown makeup whom we see more of later. While in the hospital Ruby is also visited by religious fanatic Isaiah Rose (Nick Villaire) who offers some insight into her situation but who is more intent on harm and ill will than helping her. Throughout the film we see Rose give his sermons via television. Rose’s character has some great dialogue and is very well acted by Villaire. I also notice a correlation of the perfume Duffy tells Ruby to buy that will get rid of the stench of other clients called rose summer. I’m not sure if this plays into the character of Isaiah Rose or if I’m reading into it too much.
Ruby is also visited in the hospital by her fellow streetwalker friend Zoey (Wren Hansen) who is deeply concerned for Ruby. Zoey notices Duffy in the hallway at the hospital and hears him mentioning to have Ruby discharged and discarded back out on the street as gutter trash.
While in the hospital bizarre events and visions continue until Ruby is finally consumed by the madness with nowhere to run and no one to turn to. Ruby stumbles home and seems to make it back to her apartment safely by the help of a crippled alley cat. We later see the cat is just simply not a cat.
Ruby becomes haunted by this bizarre being known as the ringleader played by director James Husselman who eventually presents itself. This being has its minions including the Driver played by Michael Williams and the hooded henchmen Tick (James Husselman) and Tock (Andrew Chambers) disposing of those who wronged Ruby in any sort of way. Ruby attempts to escape with Roy and Zoey but she is pulled back in and used to do this ominous being’s bidding.
Streetwalker is a breath of fresh air. I love what it does with mixing retro throwback vibes with quirky characters/sensibilities, great sound editing and cinematography, an amazingly memorable and unforgettable soundtrack by Adam Amos that simply delivers. The soundtrack is the lifeblood and backbone for Streetwalker in my opinion.
Gabor is a marvel to watch on the screen in the lead role. Her chill demeanor, gestures, and performance in general could not be more perfect for this role and the lady can act. Gabor manages to pull off a convincing performance without having to disrobe. I was actually surprised about how this one was not as sleazy as I thought it was gonna be especially with the particular subject matter. None of this hinders the film and how much I enjoyed and took away from it. All the scenes are occasionally laced with a poignant quote from famous historical Swiss Psychiatrist, Carl Yung, which adds another layer of meaning to the events unfolding on the screen. The ending sequence does contain some graphic gore and neat prosthetic makeup effects (as Gabor and Husselman both went to Tom Savini’s effects school in the past).
Streetwalker is a quirky and trippy film noir fever dream mixing ‘70s exploitation with modern sensibilities, delivering an original and memorable film deserving of recognition and future cult status. Streetwalker is probably one of the most enjoyably odd indie films I’ve had the pleasure of viewing in before the end of 2022.
Directed by: Jeffery Husselman
Written by: Jeffery Husselman
Produced by: Jeffery Husselman, Steven VanderWeele
Cinematography by: Jeffery Husselman
Editing by: Jeffery Husselman
Music by: Adam Amos
Cast: Corissa Gabor, Keith Ortiz, Ray Hansen, Nick Villaire, George Weslyn, Matt Smith, Wren Hansen, Michael Williams
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 38min
Studio: Just Got Here Collective Pictures
