Frankenhooker.

Review #2115: Frankenhooker.

Cast: 

James Lorinz (Jeffrey Franken), Patty Mullen (Elizabeth Shelley/Frankenhooker), Joanne Ritchie (Mrs. Shelley), Paul-Felix Montez (Goldie), Joseph Gonzalez (Zorro the Pimp), J.J. Clark (Mr. Shelley), Gregory Martin (Rufus McClure), Carissa Channing (Dolores), and Louise Lasser (Mrs. Franken) Directed by Frank Henenlotter.

Review: 

"This was never meant to be a horror film."

I know, the title is interesting. But how many Frankenstein-inspired movies can you do before you want to do something a bit different? Sometimes you need something that feels crafted out of the back of a joke premise or a perhaps an old sleazy advertisement. The director of this film is Frank Henenlotter, who was born in New York City. He saw a variety of films in his upbringing before he decided to make his own 8mm films with Valley of the Zombies (1946), The Wolf Man (1941) The Tingler (1959). He made his first short (16mm) in 1972 with "Slash of the Knife" (he described it as a "phony sex hygiene film" that was apparently too much to show right before a re-release of Pink Flamingos). He met a producer when doing that film that inspired them to try and do a longer film together. The first attempt did not work, but Henenlotter went back and wrote a script for one that could be done cheaper, which he did when walking around Times Square (which he called a "seedy, wonderful atmosphere".). The eventual result (filmed in 16mm but blown up to better quality later) was Basket Case (1982). The film played as a midnight movie for several years, and Henenlotter would direct again with Brain Damage (1988) and a 1990 sequel to the aforementioned Case, which was filmed back-to-back with this film at New York City's Pier 40. Henenlotter has since directed two further films and a couple of documentaries. Apparently, Henenlotter came up with a basic story in improvisation at a pitch meeting and then had to craft a real script later. This film was written by Henenlotter and Robert "Bob" Martin (the latter had met him when it came to a novelization of one of his films and had originally served as the editor of Fangoria magazine). As one might see coming, it was distributed by a company you probably wouldn't know in Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment (so yes, there was enough money for a few pyrotechnics). The producer is the same guy behind stuff such as trying to form a version of The Protector (1985) that would make Americans want to watch Jackie Chan as a star. The film was released unrated, after the MPAA (jokingly or not) wanted to give it a rating of "S..for shit" and then an "X". An R-rated version was crafted for the market as well that apparently had one trim involve one less exploding body.

This is the movie that Bill Murray once talked about by saying, "If you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker." How can I disagree with that? The film is everything you might see coming from a cheap b-movie with a provocative title that has an interest in diving right into guts and sleaze. You will get cheap chuckles to go along with, well, eyes to see skin for gore and elsewhere. This is the kind of film you would expect to be crafted of bits and pieces to make dark humor out of the idea of trying to hack one's love back to the living while also thinking they need a drill in the head. It may be spinning one funny joke to the ground, but it is doing so with evident amusement that doesn't shy away from crafting desperation for enjoyment in its 84-minute runtime. As expected from a low-budget production, there is just one noted name (well, for 1990) in a model-turned-actress Mullen to go with a cast headlined by Lorinz and his various appearances in other smaller scale films. But they make a good effort here, with the latter being our focus that achieves that level of deluded sweetness that doesn't seem like a bland pastiche of any Frankensteins you may have seen before. Mullen comes through for that climatic moment around the hour mark (after the opening shears her off) in purple attire and a particular expression of dialogue and face-turning. It is pretty entertaining when it comes to creatures of nature that happen to electrocute people for some reason. Gonzalez is this film's idea of an adversary (a pimp that happens to deal crack that the lead character uses to make into "super crack" and yes, I am serious), and while he isn't particularly too involved, it's still nice to see him take his licks as a heavy. Of note is Lasser, used for one scene against Lorinz about "lingering sanity" that apparently needed cue cards and ADR due to sickness. While I know the film is technically aimed as a comedy, it is a ghoulish kind of comedy that fits for the macabre in sheer energy that is seen in the hunt for body parts that could only lead to prostitutes and exploding parts of non-blood. That sequence of exploding hookers is one where you know it is coming and yet it still is quite amusing to see play out in sheer energy (the whole examination leading to that moment is also damn silly). The ending is especially amusing in horrific shock, since, well, it involves both an array of body parts coming out to move around but also an ending for the couple that could only happen when one wants to close it out with a punchline. As a whole, I dug the film for its effective pacing of the pursuit of grime and guts that manages to entertain with its own take on Frankenstein that is comfortably consistent for those who enjoy films from the wilder side of the street. Hell, I like stuff like this, an 8 is appropriate for such an offbeat experience.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next up: Vincent Price as God intended in Theatre of Blood.