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Frankenhooker
DVD/APPROX. 85 MINS/1990/USA R18+
DVD/APPROX. 85 MINS/1990/USA R18+
9
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Floating somewhere between the outlandish Re-animator and the ‘nice and friendly’ Weird Science, lies the formidable comedic terrors of
Frankenhooker. Its director, Frank Henenlotter is responsible for some of the more gory horror/black comedy movies of the eighties and nineties:
particularly Brain Damage, the Basket Case movies, and, of course, Frankenhooker. Henenlotter was obviously inspired byexploitation films, and
in addition to the nudity, he added the most ridiculous line up of blood and slime effects to hilarious results. This is the type of ‘splatter movie’ that
Henenlotter excelled at, which was also defined by films such as Sam Raimi’s 'Evil Dead 2', Peter Jackson’s 'Bad Taste' and Brian Yuzna’s 'Society'
that could almost slip into ‘comedy’ rather than horror. But with the extremes of gore being used as a gross out comedic device, rather than
inspiring terror, they are best described by using Bruce Campbell’s wonderful term ‘splatstick’.
Frankenhooker tells the tragic tale of young medical deviate/mad inventor Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) whose life goes tragically off the rails
when the love of his life, the portly Elizabeth (Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen) is cut down by an errant remote control lawnmower of his own
invention. Heartbroken, Franken does the only thing a twisted genius could do: he saves the head of his beloved and sets out on a mission to get
her a new body…a perfect body…and what better place than the local red light district to find a young, supple, sexy body…
The sound on the disc is really good, and except for the occasional artifact floating around, the image is right up there as well!
Featuring the wonderful combination of power drill trepanning, killer lawnmowers and exploding prostitutes, Frankenhooker is a winner for the
gore scoreboard, the comedy stakes, and the plain out freak-o-philes. Even newcomers to the gore genre, who enjoyed such madness as 2001
Maniacs and Evil Aliens will love this one…a bit of 80s campiness, with over the top gore make for a classic of its type. One warning though, the
reviewed copy is the region 1 DVD from Unearthed Films, the region 4 version of this film doesn’t show this film the respect it deserves, so don’t
expect this line up of extras on that disc!
The extras on this disc are fantastic and give a great behind the scenes look at the way this film was conceived and realized.
The commentary on this disc is mainly by Frank Henenlotter, with asides, and added information by Make-up expert Gabe Bartalos. This is a great
commentary, with some great insights into the making of this film, and shows that Henenlotter has great recall!
‘A Salad that was once named Elizabeth: Patty Mullen remembers Frankenhooker’ is a great piece interviewing Patty Mullen about the film and her
performance in Frankenhooker. Still a glamour today, she discusses working for Henenlotter and how she would love to do a sequel…not as much
as I would love to see one, I am sure.
‘A Stitch in Time: The Make Up Effects of Frankenhooker’ is a great documentary with Gabe Bartalos where he both reflects upon making the
effects for this film, and shows some great behind the scenes footage of make-up applications, and some excellent on the set photos, and
generally just has some great tips for filmmaking. This documentary even has some great behind the scenes stuff from Henenlotter’s other films
such as the ‘Basket Case’ series and Brain Damage’. These guys don’t just look like they had fun making the film; they even look like it was fun
making the documentary!
‘Turning Tricks: Jennifer Delora remembers Frankenhooker’ is a discussion with Jennifer Delora, who played the hooker named ‘Angel’, about her B
movie career and her reflections on Frankenhooker. This is another amusing look back at one of the smaller cast members, and what she had to
go through for her small, albeit pivotal role.
‘Jennifer Delora’s Frankenhooker Photo Scrapbook’ is a slideshow of pictures from the Frankenhooker, with a commentary by Delora. This is a real
personal look behind the scenes, that is interesting, but probably MORE interesting to those who were actually their to appreciate the ‘you had to
be there’ stories.
‘Production Photos’ is a slideshow of behind the scenes photos.
The are many trailers on this disc, including Frankenhooker, Nails, Bone Sickness, Visions of Suffering, Das Komabrutale Duell, Lethal Force
and the movie that zer0hal0 can't praise enough City of Rott.
This is one of my favorite films from the golden age of gore, and is filled with more disembodied tits and gore soaked bits that you can shake a
power drill at. This film is a must for any splatstick collection!
Frankenhooker. Its director, Frank Henenlotter is responsible for some of the more gory horror/black comedy movies of the eighties and nineties:
particularly Brain Damage, the Basket Case movies, and, of course, Frankenhooker. Henenlotter was obviously inspired byexploitation films, and
in addition to the nudity, he added the most ridiculous line up of blood and slime effects to hilarious results. This is the type of ‘splatter movie’ that
Henenlotter excelled at, which was also defined by films such as Sam Raimi’s 'Evil Dead 2', Peter Jackson’s 'Bad Taste' and Brian Yuzna’s 'Society'
that could almost slip into ‘comedy’ rather than horror. But with the extremes of gore being used as a gross out comedic device, rather than
inspiring terror, they are best described by using Bruce Campbell’s wonderful term ‘splatstick’.
Frankenhooker tells the tragic tale of young medical deviate/mad inventor Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) whose life goes tragically off the rails
when the love of his life, the portly Elizabeth (Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen) is cut down by an errant remote control lawnmower of his own
invention. Heartbroken, Franken does the only thing a twisted genius could do: he saves the head of his beloved and sets out on a mission to get
her a new body…a perfect body…and what better place than the local red light district to find a young, supple, sexy body…
The sound on the disc is really good, and except for the occasional artifact floating around, the image is right up there as well!
Featuring the wonderful combination of power drill trepanning, killer lawnmowers and exploding prostitutes, Frankenhooker is a winner for the
gore scoreboard, the comedy stakes, and the plain out freak-o-philes. Even newcomers to the gore genre, who enjoyed such madness as 2001
Maniacs and Evil Aliens will love this one…a bit of 80s campiness, with over the top gore make for a classic of its type. One warning though, the
reviewed copy is the region 1 DVD from Unearthed Films, the region 4 version of this film doesn’t show this film the respect it deserves, so don’t
expect this line up of extras on that disc!
The extras on this disc are fantastic and give a great behind the scenes look at the way this film was conceived and realized.
The commentary on this disc is mainly by Frank Henenlotter, with asides, and added information by Make-up expert Gabe Bartalos. This is a great
commentary, with some great insights into the making of this film, and shows that Henenlotter has great recall!
‘A Salad that was once named Elizabeth: Patty Mullen remembers Frankenhooker’ is a great piece interviewing Patty Mullen about the film and her
performance in Frankenhooker. Still a glamour today, she discusses working for Henenlotter and how she would love to do a sequel…not as much
as I would love to see one, I am sure.
‘A Stitch in Time: The Make Up Effects of Frankenhooker’ is a great documentary with Gabe Bartalos where he both reflects upon making the
effects for this film, and shows some great behind the scenes footage of make-up applications, and some excellent on the set photos, and
generally just has some great tips for filmmaking. This documentary even has some great behind the scenes stuff from Henenlotter’s other films
such as the ‘Basket Case’ series and Brain Damage’. These guys don’t just look like they had fun making the film; they even look like it was fun
making the documentary!
‘Turning Tricks: Jennifer Delora remembers Frankenhooker’ is a discussion with Jennifer Delora, who played the hooker named ‘Angel’, about her B
movie career and her reflections on Frankenhooker. This is another amusing look back at one of the smaller cast members, and what she had to
go through for her small, albeit pivotal role.
‘Jennifer Delora’s Frankenhooker Photo Scrapbook’ is a slideshow of pictures from the Frankenhooker, with a commentary by Delora. This is a real
personal look behind the scenes, that is interesting, but probably MORE interesting to those who were actually their to appreciate the ‘you had to
be there’ stories.
‘Production Photos’ is a slideshow of behind the scenes photos.
The are many trailers on this disc, including Frankenhooker, Nails, Bone Sickness, Visions of Suffering, Das Komabrutale Duell, Lethal Force
and the movie that zer0hal0 can't praise enough City of Rott.
This is one of my favorite films from the golden age of gore, and is filled with more disembodied tits and gore soaked bits that you can shake a
power drill at. This film is a must for any splatstick collection!
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