Frankenhooker

In New Jersey, Jeffrey (James Lorinz) is a talented inventor in love with his bride-to-be Elizabeth (Patty Mullen). During a barbecue to celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth´s father, she activates a remote controlled lawnmower that Jeffrey built for his father-in-law. However she stays in front of the device and her body is cut into pieces. Jeffrey studies how to bring Elizabeth back to life and realizes that he will need body parts. He drives to New York to get the necessary parts from prostitutes but his experiment loses control and he blows-up several women with an exploding crack he had developed. Now he has the necessary parts to build his fiancée back, but when Elizabeth flees from his laboratory, Jeffrey has problems with the pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) that lost his girls.

The cult "Frankenhooker" is one of the best black-comedies ever made. The plot is a grotesque joke with "Frankenstein", but the result is hilarious. James Lorinz and Patty Mullen steal the film with cynical and lovely performances. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Frankenhooker - Que Pedaço De Mulher" ("Frankenhooker - What a Piece of Woman")

Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker (1990) is a funny horror comedy starring James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken, a young man who is extremely interested in medical studies and becoming a doctor. He makes his weird experiments in his house while his parents are little concerned as they think their son is little weird, understandably. Soon a horrible but incredibly comical accident happens to his girlfriend Elizabeth so Jeffrey takes all the body parts he can in order to re-build his girl. But he needs various body parts in order to complete his love and he develops a drug which makes its users explode. He goes to the streets searching for prostitutes and you know what he wants from them. He gets the parts, but will the new Elizabeth, Frankenhooker, be the same as she used to be?

This film is a must for lovers of B cinema and films which mix horror, gore and comedy. Franken's character is very mad as he talks alone all the time and inserts a power drill into his head everytime he is about to have some nervous problems under pressure. Usually when characters talk all the time without reasons in films it just shows how bad the script is, but in this case, the talking (especially for himself) is normal for this kind of crazy doctor and thus it doesn't feel irritating and bad choice.

Henenlotter's other films like Brain Damage (1988) and Basket Case (1982) are so fantastic as they mix humor and horror so uniquely. They are creepy and very funny (and clever especially in Brain Damage's case) at the very same film. Frankenhooker isn't an exception and the first lawnmower scene convinces the viewer what will the film be like. There are many severed limbs and body parts, but they don't seem repellent as the tone of the film is so tongue in cheek and not wicked. The scene in which some ten hookers EXPLODE is as funny as possible, but not gory at all, since the film had to get an R rating. It is even funnier now as crimson doesn't fly all the time, they just explode!

The mutants and attached body parts at the end are really creepy and almost nightmarish, and reminded me of Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator which has similar monsters. The effects work in Frankenhooker is fantastic all the way, and it all is now perfect, and wouldn't work anymore if done with computers or CGI. The pace is fast all the time and the viewer doesn't get bored. The Frankenhooker herself is also pretty outrageous and very deadly a hooker! The lady who plays her part is very talented with all her face expressions and movements. I like Basket Case and Brain Damage even more, but still Frankenhooker is a little classic by this talented and mad film maker genius. I give Frankenhooker at least 8/10 now after the first viewing.

Normally I run away screaming at anything labeled "horror comedy" but 'Frankenhooker' joins 'Motel Hell' as one of the few exceptions. This is an amusing take on Frankenstein with James Lorinz reveling in the role of a mad scientist obsessed with bringing back his girlfriend who died in a freak lawn mowing accident(!). Using the body parts of some local working girls and some "super crack" he ends up with a lot more than he bargained for! Frankenhooker! Played by the lovely Patty Mullen who is sexy and displays plenty of comic timing. Writer/director Frank Henenlotter had previously made the trash classics 'Basket Case' and 'Brain Damage', both of which are brilliant, and 'Frankenhooker' is just as good. Three movies as original and entertaining as those are three more than most film makers ever come up with, so it is a crying shame that Henenlotter has been strangely quiet for the last decade. Hopefully he will resurface one day with something new. In the meantime, watch 'Frankenhooker' for some serious fun. It's an absolute hoot!

Probably, "Frankenhooker" is one of the best trash comedies Tromas has never released..! It´s a brilliant parody on Stuart Gordon´s "Re-Animator", Bill Murray is a huge fan of it and the fans of flicks like "The Toxic Avenger" will surely love this film: the humor is silly but entertaining, the F/X are pretty cheap and there are a lot of naked chicks running over the screen. The finest surprise arises when you don´t expect it: watch out for the 3 second cameo appearance of Rutger Hauer!!!

I very much enjoyed this twisted spoof; it's inspired. The tone is perfect, but I give a lot of credit to James Lorinz and his amusing patter. I think most B-movie guys (you know who you are) will like this. It gave me a BIG smile!

The "special" effects are deliberately bad, but match the tongue-in-cheek story. I may even track down the unrated version, which is two minutes longer.

How Director Frank Henenlotter kept everyone on the same page here is a mystery. No one stood out for (inappropriately) bad acting. The weird set pieces and oddball props work great. There is a nice progression from bizarre low-key humor to complete absurdity. It's really well constructed.

I happily give this six (6) stars.

PS Patty Mullen is a poster child for a blonde who IMHO looks better with black hair.