The Bride of Frank

I worked on The Bride of Frank and if memory serves, I was present during the shooting of every scene. Whether or not you like this movie obviously depends on your taste in movies - some love it, some hate it. But please don't expect it to be anything it's not. The people who deride BoF for its production values just don't get it.

The original idea for the project was that Steve Ballot, the writer/director, wanted to shoot a movie that combined the sickest things he could think of, and use the various characters in and around the Newark warehouse where he worked as his actors. The plot, as it was, merely stitched these scenes together. Most of it was shot on weekends. Steve usually sketched out the dialog and storyboarded the scenes on Friday night, then we shot them on Saturday.

We used the best equipment we could get at the time, high-end consumer and low-end professional analog video and audio gear of the early 1990s. It's easy to make a great-looking amateur movie now, with HD and digital editing available to everyone for next-to-nothing, but back then it was almost impossible. Steve spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to, for example, save one generation of tape in the editing process. That it looks as good as it does is a near-miracle.

Those who see this as some sort of sad exploitation of Frank are dead wrong. I can promise you that Frank had a fantastic time making BoF. He used to spend his weekends sitting alone in the warehouse watching TV (exactly as depicted in the movie). Shooting BoF got him out on the weekends, gave him a lot more social contact than he was used to, put a lot of great food in his stomach (Steve paid the actors mostly in good lunches), gave him the chance to touch women's breasts and asses, and gave him the chance to be revered and loved for exactly who he is.

Trash BoF all you want, but this cheap little movie was released in the U.S. and eight other countries. It played at festivals in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Italy, Switzerland, and England - and those are just the ones we know about. Frank came along for most of these, and after the movie screened people would go up to him and greet him like he was Clint Eastwood.

Sadly, many of the people involved in BoF have passed on, including the director. If I may speak for him, let me say to all his detractors ... well, nothing he would have to say to you would be printable. And it would all be correct.

"Bride of Frank" is totally bad taste.It's extremely low-budget,crude and stupid,but some scenes made me laugh hysterically.An old man who is playing Frank has one of the ugliest faces I have ever seen.She is searching for woman because he wants breasts!During his quest he kills many people in hilariously sickening ways.The acting is amateurish,the gore is cheesy and over-the-top and the dialogue is extremely vulgar!Anyway if you love John Waters classics or Troma's stuff,you'll laugh until it hurts with this one.8 out of 10-only for fans of bad taste cinema.

In 1972, John Waters made "Pink Flamingos". He was a child of rich parents embracing the lower class. In 1996, Mr. Ballot created "The Bride of Frank", a film I see as the "Pink Flamingos" actually made by the lower class. And I don't mean that in a bad way in the least. Mr. Ballot and his associates have created a shot-on-video film definitely worth a look. Frank is an elderly homeless man hired as a watchman and stock-boy by Mr. Ballot's trucking company. Frank grows tired of his lonely, mundane life and seeks a wife through an ad in the paper. Hilarity and mindless violence ensue. His momma taught him at an early age "It's all right [to kill people] if you warn them first!" And that's exactly what he does! One of the most notable scenes involves Frank warning "the Nerd": "I'll cut off your head and [poop] down your neck!" And you can guess what happened! Some scenes border on porno, but you learn in the behind-the-scenes footage it was all done with the help of prosthetics. Most notable stand-out in the cast is Chick Carter, who played 3 roles: "the Nerd", a transvestite, and "Bob". Bob is hideously deformed in a rather unconvincing makeup job, and is the master of over-acting. You get the feeling that all the people are really just playing themselves, which was part of the appeal of "Pink Flamingos". I'm not putting this on-par with "Pink Flamingos" but it will definitely cross your mind upon viewing. See it NOW!

Reading other more positive comments you could be forgiven for thinking this trash is comparable with John Waters movies, let me assure other Waters fans who may be persuaded to watch this...It's Not. The only comparison between this and Waters movies is that's its marginally twisted. Thats it. If that was all it took to make a good movie then everyone would be doing it, Waters has a visual style and a wicked sense of humour. The makers of Bride of Frank have no style whatsoever, they seem to have mistaken an old inarticulate person as a source of comedy. Guess what, Frank swears a lot, he's old thats pretty much the whole humour section of the movie. As for the "shocking" murders, I swear I nearly fell asleep, this is so ridiculously bad you can't even be shocked by such things, I'm guessing the blood squirting excessively from severed heads is supposed to be funny, it can be if done right, sadly nothing is done right in this film.

The silliest of movies, the horniest horrors. Terrible acting & lack of actors is what makes it really stand out, if this was full of Channing Tatums and Megan Foxes it would be horrible. But it's not.

It's a wonderful story involving a homeless person taking residence in a warehouse and all the scary and sexy shenanigans that ensue. If I could change anything about this movie I wouldn't. If I were to say anything more specific it would take away the amazing surprises lurking around every corner. You have to take the leap yourself and watch this passionate, artful, cinematic, classy movie. Tits.