Avaliações de usuários

"Freaky Tales" is one of those anthology films that feels like it's almost onto something - but never quite gets there. It's visually engaging and has a certain nostalgic flair, and I did find myself enjoying a few segments, but overall, most of the stories rely heavily on well-worn tropes without offering much that feels fresh.

The third tale, featuring Pedro Pascal, stands out as the one with the most potential. There's some emotional weight and intriguing character dynamics, but just as it starts to build momentum, it's over - underdeveloped and leaving more questions than satisfaction.

While "Freaky Tales" has energy and style, the majority of the narratives feel like sketches rather than fully realized stories. They're loud, flashy, sometimes fun, but ultimately forgettable. It's not a bad watch, but it's also not particularly memorable. A 6/10 feels fair: some fun to be had, but not enough depth to leave a lasting impression.

I can see why the reviews on this movie are mixed. It is a bit disjointed and has some gaps in the story. As an East Bay native who got into the punk scene around when the first chapter is set, I know this is based on real life events. The punk rockers running the nazi skinheads away from their club/community space, 100% happened. Creepy cops harassing young POC women, that happened (undoubtedly still does). I got a cassette tape of Too $hort's 'Freaky Tales' when I was 12 years old, and when my mom heard half a verse in that song she destroyed that cassette. This is a fictional version of Bay Area realness. Nothing but love for the Bay.

Only first heard about the film a day or two before it opened in Toronto. Didn't have very high expectations, but honestly of everything playing right now, this was the only film that interested me. I couldn't have been more surprised.

"Freaky Tales" is part "Pulp Fiction" (1994), part "Heavy Metal" (1981), and at times reminiscent of another 80s-inspired film, "Mandy" (2018). Four wacky (freaky) tales set in Oakland California, weaving together a diverse and fun cast of characters.

Aspect ratio's are changed between segments, animated characters burst onto screen, blood is spilt, punk music blares through the speakers - there's just a lot of fun being had on screen, and I felt it. I can only imagine feeling the response from a large audience during certain moments of the film; unfortunately there were less than 10 people at my screening.

Without giving anything else away, if you want to have a fun time at the theatre go support this movie. It's rare to see a movie like this get a theatrical release anymore, but it was the best theatrical experience I've had so far this year.

If the threads connecting their segments are strong & inter-woven enough, anthologies CAN work... like "Freaky Tales" whose four segments (based in 1987's Oakland, California) see: punks Ji-young Woo & Jack Champion fight Dan Marotte's nazis; rappers Dominique Thorne & Normani catch a break (in an unnecessary segment); reluctant tough guy Pedro Pascal reaching his end (crossing a delightful Tom Hanks cameo and corrupt cop Ben Mendelsohn (terrific)); and baskeball star Jay Ellis going "Kill Bill". With its deliberately dated, cartoonish style co-writers / co-directors Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden's fun tribute to popular '80s cinema is a treat. Props to them & it.

It's probably one of those 'you're either gonna like/love it or hate it' situations. It's definitely not a movie to be taken seriously but i think that's pretty obvious before you're even ten minutes into it.

What I'M wondering is how they got some of the people in it to BE in it...i know one of them grew up in Piedmont(Oakland), but still...he's one of THE most popular actors from the last 45 or so years...i think he did it as a favor. A salute to, 'cool that you're doing a movie in Oakland'.

As far as story elements go, the movie is all over the place...but, overall, it was FUN. Of course, having lived in Berkeley for 20+ years helped me to enjoy it. And i liked seeing Angus Cloud again.

There is a ton of 80's nostalgia in horror and film overall these days, some might even say to a point of over-saturation. That's fair, I mean it is a trend and I'm chill about it because I enjoy the aesthetic a lot, but there's a difference between cheaply aping an 80's vibe just for likes and actually earning it through authenticity, innovation and genuine enthusiasm. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck actually *earn* that 80's flavour with Freaky Tales, an absolute blast of deftly written anthology that carefully straddles the line between action with just a touch of horror. It's 1987 in Oakland, a time and place that obviously means a great deal to these filmmakers as they tell several initially disparate tales that, in true anthology fashion, inevitably weave together like a mosaic in the final vignette. A gaggle of punk music friends battle some nasty Neo-Nazi skinheads who keep crashing their parties, a mob enforcer (Pedro Pascal) learns some moral lessons the hard way and a scummy, corrupt vice detective (Ben Mendelsohnn) runs afoul of a vengeful NBA player (Jay Ellis). These stories are interwoven pretty ingeniously and supported by some raucous soundtrack choices, super gory violence, hectic stylistics and great performances, especially from the lovably diabolical Mendelsohnn, who is chewing scenery like Smaug the Dragon here. Oh! There's also a cameo from Tom Hanks, of all people, who is only in it for about five minutes playing the motor mouthed owner of a boutique video store, but his reference heavy, snappy dialogue is the best work he's done in like a decade, or at least since Cloud Atlas. Great film.

These are the tales of four strangers whose lives were unknowingly intertwined and changed on a freaky night in Oakland in 1987 when NBA history was made.

This movie is hard to describe or even summarize without spoiling it. The story is told through four chapters, each from the perspective of one of the four individuals. The movie has violence, drama, cameos, and a smidge of history. The story becomes clearer over the one-hour and forty-six-minute runtime, but it is a wild ride throughout. It is an interesting and unique watch, especially when going blind. Stream it when available, if you are intrigued.

The opening episodes are tired clichés that nearly put me to sleep. The background becomes the main source of narrative, while the flashy, hyperactive style induces genuine yawns. The only interesting segment features Pedro Pascal - everything else is bland, tedious chaos. The film can't focus on anything, trying to be everything for everyone and ending up as nothing. It's a hollow citation of 1980s cinema - all pop, no substance. Good luck falling for this "love letter" to the era. If you want actual storytelling, look elsewhere.

First 40 minutes? Chewed-up tropes: punks vs neo-Nazis, rappers vs the system, blah-blah-blah... The neon aesthetic and soundtrack are just crutches for narrative lameness. Only Pascal's revenge storyline breaks through - mercifully free of postmodern smirk.

No depth. No originality. Just soulless set dressing - style as empty calories. Every episode is vapid posturing without compelling characters or drama. Essentially - a kaleidoscope of colorful shards with zero meaning. Pascal's classical vengeance arc works precisely because it's not another "experiment". This isn't homage - it's nostalgia plagiarism without vision. At festivals it might pass as "bold"; at home it's reheated leftovers. Without Pascal, this mess would vanish among a thousand forgettable flicks. Visual fast food - strip away the 80s neon and synthwave, and you're left with... nothing.

Now you might argue: "Don't all genre films rely on clichés?" "Isn't 80s nostalgia the whole point?" "What if chaos IS the intention?" "Maybe you're obsessing over Pascal?"

Sure! And you're right! But for real 80s kicks, I'll rewatch:

• RoboCop ('87)
• Die Hard ('88)
• Pulp Fiction ('94)
• The Terminator ('84)

...while this one's already fading from memory.

Freaky Tales is like neon wall art: bright but disposable. Hang it up to flex your taste, but stare too long and you'll spot the emptiness.

The filmmakers couldn't decide between parody, drama, or straight action - so we get a lukewarm reference salad. Pascal's the only frame-worthy element. The rest? Pulp fiction in every bad sense.

I'll be very honest - I only saw it for Pedro Pascal, and the fact that I live near Oakland and remember the year 1987 so fondly. I don't know the directors' previous works, and I not a huge rap fan. All of that but I was so pleasantly surprised to discover that the film was a total banger from start to finish, including long before Pedro Pascal's character Clint's chapter started halfway through the film. Freaky Tales is weird and quirky and cartoonishly bloody and super funny, and generally speaking it's very different from most mainstream films I've seen lately. However, in the end, it was honestly some of the most fun I've had at the movies in ages! Hell, I barely go to the theater anymore. Why go if you can stream it? But again, Pedro...had to see it at a local film festival sneak preview, and I'm glad I did. Seeing it in the bay with a huge bay audience and with some of the extras present was a blast! Will it win any awards? No. But I guarantee you that at year end, it will still end up in my personal top 10 for 2025! So go see it!

Presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, this film in its presentation emulates an old videotape. Cut-off titles and all. Clearly shot on digital video, I still appreciated the Betamax (not VHS) artifacts. But it finds Inspiration from many direct to VHS (mostly horror) films from the 80's. The "tales" (as in Tales from the Crypt, etc.) in the title promises multiple story segments and this promise is kept. But rarely did period pieces overlap so perfectly with their segments. Worst case: 3 or more short films added together by a narrator. Not here however.

At the same time, it's impossible to view this and not see this as being inspired by the Grindhouse format from Quintin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Both in "retro pulp" and violence terms.

Any criticism? Yep. For non-Americans the second segment is not that interesting. We found ourselves "sitting it out" this part on the strength of the first (imperfect) segment. Only to be rewarded by the third segment. International audiences will be unlikely to make it to the third segment. Thus my "Hizzle for Zhizzle" in the title of this comment. We are Dutch, so associate this subject matter at best with "Do The Right Thing" (and at worst with "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air".

Pedro Pascal "did some acting" and the other well known actor... from Forrest Gump... Tom Hanks... they are in this. Pascal did a descent job. A good one in fact.

This is a film you should see if you remember 1987. And like violence and stuff. Or if you enjoy well made pulp-films.

This is a wannabe movie. It wants to be like this (Repo Man, Scanners), it wants to be like that (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill); what it is, is a not-even-half-baked movie devoid of originality... and most of all a story worth watching-and there's four!

First story tells the tale of 1987 "Punks" who all act like they're from GenZ and are playing dress-up. There's random Scott Pilgrim "whams" and "bams" that come out of nowhere and never return. And... a movie trying to pay homage to the 80s using obvious CGI blood-spurts in its action sequences? Is that what Marvel taught these brilliant filmmakers?

The second story is worth leaving to go to the bathroom during. It's the story clearly least believed in. Two "rappers" get invited to a "battle" and if you're into cinematic rap battles you're better off watching Scary Movie 3.

Third story gets warmer. But the best thing about it is so brief that it's easy to forget it even happened until the credits. It's the one part this head-scratchingly dull movie actually sort of shines.

Fourth story is what it is. Skinheads are bad, who knew? What's meant to be a cathartic homage to Kill Bill just comes off as too little too late. And I never once cared about the green lightning which is trying desperately to be the shining suitcase from Pulp Fiction.

This movie clearly has no idea as to what it is or what it wants to be. I can tell you what it is: an uninspired mess.

Overall: 1.3/5 .

Freaky Tales (2025) is an action comedy anthology movie and it was very good to say the least.

Positives for Freaky Tales (2025): The cast of the movie is the thing that kept me invested with Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo and Angus Cloud. There is a lot of intrigue in the ideas of an action comedy anthology movie. The movie has a good pace to it. There is some good use of humor and action sequences throughout these different segments. And finally, the movie works better as background noise.

Negatives for Freaky Tales (2025): None of the short stories were all that interesting or compelling. None of the characters get any development despite being played by great actors. And finally, the movie isn't nearly as funny as I syyt

Overall, Freaky Tales (2025) is a good action movie that could've been so much better, but I can see myself rewatching it later on in the future.

This movie is basically what you would get if you asked an A. I. social media algorithm to make a movie about 1987.

Nothing makes sense. There's no plot, obviously no research was done into any of the content, character development is non existent, its initial vehicle seems to be racial rage bait disguised as some elementary form of political commentary that comes off like a teenager being interviewed at a pot rally.

But seriously though, how old were the people who came up with this nonsense? It's pretty apparent they were never around in 1987, never mind California.

This could have been a 20 second Tik Tok video.

This movie is definitely going to blow up in a couple years when people discover it. I know a lot of people looked at it and they immediately thought why would I watch this if Too Short has something to do with it? He's not a movie maker, well you aren't, till you are. The underline theme of the movie is that the underdog can win. Too Short definitely gets to win here. Like the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood it gave me heavy feelings of nostalgia, but this time with a better outcome. This movie is star-studded with small cameos that turn out to be more important in the end. I really enjoyed this movie. I wonder why it didn't get the same attention as the movie Sinners.

This is really bad. Really really bad. The acting is terrible, the direction is poor; the writing as stale. Everything feels like trying too hard to capture a time and place- albeit inaccurately. Not to mention the god awful digital blood / cgi effects. Minimal bonus star for the under-used ben mendelshon, but he can't save this amateurish mess. I'm not sure how or why this came about after the filmmakers big break in the marvel universe, maybe they were attempting to get back to some roots? Unsure of what those roots may be. This is troma / student level nonsense- not tongue in cheek enough to be fun, not competent enough to be interesting.

I have decided this is what was going on in Oakland while Otto and his fellow repo men were dealing with their problems in Los Angeles. Loads of fun, good acting, and, unlike in the real world, people get their comeuppance. I am old enough to enjoy this film's pedigree and wish the effects were practical rather than CGI, but I am obviously spitting into the wind on that one. Every section is solid although their connections are a little tenuous like a lot of 90's indie films. I couldn't really decide if this was another homage or just the same problem those earlier films had but, in the end, I just didn't care.

Decent weekend movie but tries to be like Pulp Fiction. I watch a ton of movies, about 15 per month so I can give a pretty good point of view. Also, I grew up in in the 80's so I had a good idea of what life was like back then.

First off, casting was surprisingly decent for this flick. Ji-Young Yoo is not an outstanding actor but I'm glad she and so many other Asians are getting so many roles in Hollywood. This was a much different role from her last character role on the TV series Expats so it was kind of difficult to see her as an 80's punk rock kid. She's kinda like the up and coming Korean American female version of Steven Yeun, but she's not as good.

As we all know, Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, and Tom Hanks are Oscar/Emmy quality actors so having them in the movie helped tremendously. I am actually surprised that Tom Hanks agreed to do such a miniscule role... Everyone else including Jay Ellis were just fillers, and I think they could have found a Too Short impersonator that sounded more like him. Normani and the other girl actually rapped a lot better than the guy acting as Too Short.

The movie format was just like a Tarantino film, multiple different chapters and then all the characters tie into the story at the end. The first 25 mins of the movie is shown in old school 4:3 aspect ratio like TV used to be, but then after that it goes back to normal widescreen.

Overall, the movie was kind of boring up until the last chapter about Sleepy Floyd. And come on, could it be any more like Kill Bill?

If you are looking for a movie to pass the time and were an 80's kid like me, you might be entertained. Just don't expect huge 80's budget sets like Stranger Things(which did the 80's super accurate).

Well this one pleasantly surprised much more than expected.

Each separate story is really entertaining, the writing is great and the cast are brilliant.

It's also great how each one intersects with the other.

What really solidifies the film is the soundtrack. It is absolutely sublime and perfectly helps set the scene throught the film.

So many amazing songs for multiple genres that couldn't have been selected any better.

I found myself genuinely disappointed came to an end, I wanted more.

If 80s retro, killer tunes and ultra violence tick your boxes then you'll not be disappointed.

Thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

The first forty minutes was kind of rough. For starters, the "Freaky" in the title seems kind of a misnomer. The first two tales were wish-fulfillment fantasies with a sprinkling of surreal atmospheric touches. The stories themselves were far too simple and left me thinking: "That's it?"

All I came away with was that young punk rock fans actually can defeat a NAZI gang in ultraviolent combat and two budding young rappers can overcome misogyny to win a rap battle. I'm sure that some will find these tales entertaining, but I found myself disconnected from them emotionally.

Then the third tale hit, and let's just say the first two tales felt like filler designed to get this anthology to feature length because "Born to Mack" is where the real juice is. The third tale gave me low-key Pulp Fiction vibes with Pedro Pascal really bringing the charisma and depth with his performance that the first two tales had been sorely lacking. There's a surprise cameo in this tale that really hit the spot for me personally, Roger Ebert misquote aside. This story was also the first to be laced with darkness, tragedy, and moral reckoning. Pascal's grappling with his past misdeeds was riveting as were the scenes where he burns all his bridges because he feels he has nothing left to lose.

The last tale "The Legend of Sleepy Floyd" hit more like the first stories to me. There wasn't really significant character development. It had the strongest style of the bunch, which were all exercises in style, and had some creative kills and gore. But Sleepy Floyd was not significantly developed as a character. So, the episode really amounted to a bunch of mindless violence being perpetuated on racist bikers and Ben Mendelsohn's corrupt cop by a fictionalized version of a real-life NBA player. I'm sure fans of Floyd might find this awesome, but it wasn't exactly storytelling dynamite.

Ultimately, I felt like all we were left with was stylized action, satire, and a dash of surrealism and grindhouse atmosphere.

"Born to Mack" was the only story that had the emotional resonance and character introspection I personally value. It stands out to me as the only tale to tell a compelling story.

Still, I imagine that most people will find Freaky Tales to be a heartfelt tribute to Oakland's vibrant culture with directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, both with ties to the Bay Area, infusing the narrative with a sense of authenticity, blending real-life figures and events with fantastical elements.

It just "missed it by that much" for me personally.

The production designer and the costume designer clearly didn't live through the 80's. They have absolutely every aspect of it wrong. Lip rings? Nope. Wasn't a thing in 87, that didn't hit mainstream till the mid to late 90's. Everything about this film looks completely modern. It's just a complete mess. Was no research done? The fashion looks assumed rather then being an accurate depiction of the time, at the very earliest this is 1995. Why did they just charge on regardless, when they surely knew they had it completely wrong? They may as well have said this was set in the 60's for the difference it makes. One film ruined by two crew members being clearly clueless. Wow.

A simple film in form, but bold in structure. It breaks the story into separate parts, then carefully brings them together into a full picture - a strong artistic move. With touches of visual fantasy, it turns everyday scenes into something myth-like without losing flow. The style is vivid and creative, but sometimes too much - **there's a lot of blood**, and the graphic violence weighs down some moments. A daring narrative collage with inventive direction.