Hollywood has long been fascinated by the world’s oldest profession. Movies often show us tales of sex workers, but they don’t always get it right. Sometimes, the stories are too sad, too silly, or just plain strange. We’re diving into films that take a truly bizarre look at prostitution. Get ready for some wild and weird movie nights ahead!
10. Bordello of Blood
This vampire-prostitute flick has a strange history indeed. Believe it or not, the script was one of the first ever written by Robert Zemeckis, the famous writer of Back to the Future and director of Forrest Gump. Due to some unusual business deals, this silly movie about Dennis Miller fighting sexy vampires became Zemeckis’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Forrest Gump in 1996.
The movie was released under the Tales From the Crypt banner, so you’ll see the Crypt Keeper at the beginning and end. Otherwise, it has little to do with the show. The film itself is an hour and a half of Dennis Miller making his typical jokes while glamorous models lure men to their deaths. It’s certainly a bizarre watch!
9. The Happy Hooker Franchise
The Happy Hooker trilogy is bizarre for several reasons. The first film, based on a real memoir, follows Xaviera Hollander, a well-off Dutch immigrant. Through bad choices and terrible luck, she ends up in prostitution and jail. Despite this grim summary, it was meant to be a comedy.
Even stranger, the film led to sequels like The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington and The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood. This turned the real Xaviera Hollander into a recurring character, almost like the Ernest of call girls. The third movie is particularly odd: it’s about the fictional Hollander trying to make her memoir into a movie. That means the third film dramatizes the making of the first film. How’s that for bizarre?
8. Sin City
In Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City, just like in Frank Miller’s graphic novels, sex workers are portrayed as tough, leather-clad mercenary ninjas. And frankly, it’s awesome. These women control their own section of the city, Old Town, a super intense red-light district where they make their own rules. They also police themselves, using katanas and throwing stars instead of badges and nightsticks.
Sin City shows prostitutes in charge of their own destinies. They define themselves by their sisterhood and skills as much as by their profession. Plus, it gave us that unforgettable moment where Miho “doesn’t quite chop his head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of him.” Truly wild.
7. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a fun, light-hearted musical comedy starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. Sounds great, right? However, it ends up being surprisingly depressing. The story is similar to Roadhouse: a powerful local politician tries to shut down a beloved business run by underdogs.
But unlike Roadhouse, the good guys don’t win in this one. The movie ends with the brothel closing down for good, despite their fight to save it. Strangely, Dolly Parton’s character seems to shrug off losing her life’s work just because someone proposes to her. The other prostitutes? They lose their jobs and homes with nothing in return. A bizarrely sad ending for a happy-go-lucky musical.
6. (The Real) Pretty Woman
If you think of a movie about prostitutes, Pretty Woman probably comes to mind. It’s an iconic film, remembered for its hopeful, happy ending where Julia Roberts’s character is saved from her life on the streets. But here’s a bizarre fact: the original ending was the complete opposite.
Pretty Woman was first titled “3,000,” and its original script was apparently too dark to be made as written. In the version we all know, Richard Gere’s character falls in love with Vivian and lifts her into a life of luxury. The original script, however, had him tossing Vivian out of his limo into a dirty alley, throwing her money on top of her, and speeding off. A bleak and bizarre start for such a beloved romance.
5. The Girlfriend Experience
In 2009, acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh decided to make something truly bizarre: The Girlfriend Experience. The film presents a series of slice-of-life scenes about a New York City prostitute. What’s unusual is that she finds herself selling companionship and conversation more than just sex. The movie also starred Sasha Grey, who was known as a porn star at the time.
Fans of Grey’s earlier work might be surprised by this film, and other viewers might be too. It’s the kind of movie that makes you ask, “What am I watching?” and “Is this terrible, or is it brilliant?” It’s worth watching if only to experience its unique, puzzling style.
4. Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a true cultural landmark. It’s often listed among the best films ever made and is a standout in the careers of both Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese. That’s saying a lot! The film is also notable for introducing many people to a young Jodie Foster. Her role? An abused 12-year-old prostitute named Iris.
Iris’s character is incredibly tragic. Saving her becomes one of the few redeeming goals for De Niro’s deeply troubled character, Travis Bickle. While the movie explores obsession, stalking, and mental illness, it also finds an unusual, poignant focus in the form of this exploited child prostitute. A dark but important film with a bizarrely sentimental core.
3. Risky Business
Risky Business is famous for that iconic scene where a young Tom Cruise slides across his floor in his underwear. Because that moment is so popular, the film’s actual plot often gets overlooked. And that plot is quite bizarre for a teen comedy.
The movie is about a high school boy who, with his parents away, ends up running a brothel out of their house. His clients are mostly other high school students. And the bizarre part doesn’t stop there. Cruise’s character gets accepted into Princeton, largely because he bribed the university’s interviewer with prostitutes. For a teen comedy, it’s a surprisingly edgy and strange premise.
2. Midnight Cowboy
If Midnight Cowboy were released today, it would still be seen as an excellent film, but perhaps not shocking. Today’s artistic and political climate would likely accept it among many other poignant dramas about lost souls. But Midnight Cowboy came out in 1969, and its reception was truly bizarre.
The film stars Jon Voight as a male prostitute who isn’t picky about the gender of his clients. In 1969, this earned the film an X-rating, a label usually reserved for pornography. The reason given was its “homosexual frame of reference” and “possible influence upon youngsters.” Even more bizarre? This X-rated movie won the Oscar for Best Picture. To this day, it’s the only X-rated film ever to win that prestigious award.
1. Frankenhooker
If you haven’t seen Frankenhooker, you need to put it on your watchlist immediately. But be warned: it’s packed with nudity, gore, and some of the silliest special effects ever put on film. This B-movie horror-comedy fully embraces its genre’s absurdity more than most.
The plot follows a scientist whose fiancée tragically dies by being sucked into a lawnmower (yes, you read that right). He decides to reanimate her using only the most attractive body parts collected from prostitutes. How does he get these parts? He kills the women with a special brand of crack cocaine he invented that causes users to explode. The reanimation goes wrong, and his fiancée becomes a murderous monster. There are more twists, including a final “horrific” surprise guaranteed to make you laugh. If that’s not enough, Bill Murray once said, “If you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker.” A truly bizarre recommendation for a bizarre film!
These ten films definitely take the “world’s oldest profession” into some strange and unexpected territory. From vampire bordellos to ninja sex workers and even Oscar-winning dramas with X-ratings, Hollywood’s portrayal of prostitutes can be truly bizarre. They make us laugh, cringe, or just scratch our heads, offering unforgettable, if often unconventional, movie experiences.
What are some other bizarre movies about prostitutes you’ve seen? Have you watched any on this list? Leave your comment below and share your thoughts!
