Frankie Freako

Ever since Steven Kostanski released The Void, which I absolutely adored, he has definitely been on my radar. Since then, I have watched other movies of his like Manborg, Leprechaun: Returns, and Psycho Goreman, all of which were unique and great in their own way. It's no different with Frankie Freako. It's absurd, funny, and totally bonkers. The movie tells the story of Conor, a workaholic who finds himself alone at home when his wife is away for the weekend. He stumbles upon an ad for a party hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin named Frankie Freako, and soon after, the carnage begins.

The movie is strange, and it honestly took me a while to get into the right mindset to understand its humor and general premise. I wasn't fully convinced at first, but as the movie progresses, it becomes more absurd and fun. Once you settle into the story and its crazy characters, the movie becomes quite entertaining and enjoyable to watch. Similar to movies like Manborg or Psycho Goreman, the comedy doesn't always hit the mark. It's obviously absurd and childish, with some smart jokes mixed in, but I understand it's not for everyone, and at times, it didn't quite connect with me either. However, I still prefer these absurd and fun movies over another stereotypical haunted house movie from Blumhouse. Also, the practical effects in this movie were once again awesome, but I didn't expect anything less from Kostanski and his team. Especially the third act has a nice surprise that could come straight out of an 80s creature feature. If you've enjoyed Kostanski's previous work, you'll likely have a great time with Frankie Freako and his buddies, but I can understand that the absurd humor and narrative might turn some people off. [5.7/10]

Steven Kostanski is one of the biggest horror prodigies of the 21st Century thus far. All the films he directed, either solo or together with his Astron-6 pals, are greatly entertaining. The list is already quite impressive. "Father's Day", "Manborg", and "The Void" are my absolute favorites, but also "The Editor", "Psycho Goreman", and his belated sequel "Leprechaun Returns" are very adequate and ingenious horror flicks.

Because of all these aforementioned titles, I went blindly into "Frankie Freako" and fully trusted it was going to be another dementedly fun and gooey trash/horror comedy. What a massive disappointment! It is demented and trashy, alright, but sadly in the most infantile and unfunny way imaginable. The film is a sort of crossbreed between "Critters" and the "Puppet Master" series, but with the dumb humor of failed monster-comedies of that same era; - like "Munchies" and "Hobgoblins". I can't imagine there's any target audience for a dud like this. The story revolves around Conor who's the most boring and predictably structured guy in the world. To prove to himself and to his wife that he can be wild as well, he calls a party-hotline and end up with a trio of psychotic goblins in his apartment. I don't even want to bother summarizing the rest of the nonsense. If you're a fan of the previous work of Kostanski and his pals, skip it. If you're a fan of campy B-horror and 80s homages, skip it. In fact, just skip it altogether.

Just got back from the toronto screening of frankie freako. Steve Konstanski, and fellow Astron 6 members Connor Sweeney, Mathew Kennedy (FF), and Adam Brooks are a canadian gem. This movie was a blast. Despite its low budget, You can tell this (pretty much all Kostanski projects) have a key ingriedient to it's fun madness. And that my good friend is heart. This film just like PsychoGoreman, Manborg, the editor, fathers day all have heart. Story is very simple, acting is very good from Connor showing his versatility despite only working with puppets throughout the movie. The SFX/VFX blended so well together creating a world thats beyond what you expect from watching the trailer. This deseves all the praise it gets. I would love to see more movies from this type of universe. If you get a chance, please go and see this movie.

Summary: the Savage Steve Holland-style joke illustrations that accompany the end credits are the best thing about this heavily templated '80s homage. They're a lot of fun. The rest doesn't really get there. It's like a Canva version of Ghoulies Go To College.

I love this creative team's previous work. The Void, Chowboys, Psycho Gorman, yes yes yes. I enjoy the films they're homaging here, from Gremlins to Child's Play to Puppet Master to the barrel-bottom-scraping likes of Hobgoblins and Garbage Pail Kids. I love trash movies in general. I genuinely loved Thankskilling 3. I only sort of regret sitting through Ouija Shark.

So I see the vision here, but it doesn't work. To pull off a pastiche of '80s puppet comedy-horror in 2024, Frankie Freako needs to surprise and build on itself at every turn like Psycho Goreman. But it lacks both the strong central gag of PG (that the little girl was more of a psycho than the title character) and the out-of-nowhere absurdity that popped up in PG's every scene.

This sticks to the '80s kid-friendly lite-horror template so slavishly that there's no room for surprises. Will the uptight yuppie learn to loosen up after a relentless assault of puppet violence and grossouts? I wonder! Will it be zany fun? Not really. The best comic creation here is Conor's incredibly awkward and shady boss, and the film makes the mistake of sidelining him so the other characters can briefly visit another, even cheaper-looking set. Not a good trade-off.

I honestly feel that Thankskilling 3 succeeded much more at doing what this flick tried to do, and believe me, that's not a sentence I ever thought I'd say. If you do watch Frankie Freako, stick around for the comic illustrations that run alongside the end credits. Those were fun and surprising. Wish I'd gotten that from the rest of the movie.

I honestly wasn't expecting much, but this movie reminds me of some of the crazy little monster movies thar I watched back in the 80's as a kid. It's a relatively clean movie too, so I think it would be fun for the whole family. Yeah, the humor is pure cheese and it's got puppets, but that's what makes it kinda cool. Instead of relying completely on CGI like most new movies, they use a lot of practical effects. And the music is spot-on, helping with the party vibe. I loved some of the marketing that they did for this movie with the number you could call or text and get a message from Frankie himself. I hope to see more movies like this from writer-director Steven Kostanski. Awesome job, dude! Makes me want to party and get my freak on!