Frankenhooker

It is a frightening as well as ironical movie with violent, offbeat , unpleasant events, including lots of blood and gore and resulting to be disappointing at times , but entertaining as well. A contemporary and tongue-in-cheek Frankenstein version, inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel. Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) is a nice guy, he didn't mean to mow his fiancee (Patty Mullen) down on the front lawn. Jeffrey lives with her mother (Louis Lasser) while makes experiments. Jeffrey, nerdy would-be Frankenstein, as a laboratory guinea pig explodes after inhaling fumes from his patented Super-Crack. But sometimes bad things just happen to good people and an accident gos wrong. After the brutal and sudden killing of his girlfriend, he embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life, though the results aren't entirely successful. Then he creates Frankenhooker, the girlfriend with more than a heart. Luckily Jeff thought to save her head and decides to pair it up with the body of sexy streetwalkers. Revived by the obligatory bolt of lightning, Elizabeth is not quite old self, even her clients find her too hot to handle. A series of circumstances have led her to become a mad scientist capable of resurrecting bodies and making them a monstrous extension of all the rage and frustration that he has had to live and is having to live. A terriffying tale of prostitutes and bolts !. Death can be cured!

Typical Frankenstein plot adding a lot of comical set pieces, lurid images, much nudism and gory scenes: when his bride-to-be is turned into a tossed salad by a runaway lawnmower, Jeffrey salvages her head and reconstructs her with breasts, torsos and limbs gleaned from hookers he has tricked into cracking up in similar fashion . Director Frank Henenlotter indulges his penchant for sleaze to the max, throwing in a few bad-taste puns and a little therapeutic head-drilling for laughs. The resulting fragmented mess will no doubt keep some in stitches, but it is definitely less than the sum of its body parts. A contemporary Frankenstein that examines, through terror and humor, the brutalities, vices, horrors, corruption and sleaziness in New York in the nineties. Prostitution

The film is somewhat reminiscent of the much better ¨Deadly Friend¨ (1986) by Wes Craven also with a teenager from a simple suburban neighborhood who creates a kind of Frankenstein for his own purposes and the recent ¨The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster¨(2023) by Bomani J. Story . Although perhaps this ¨Frankenhooker¨ has more to do with Stuart Gordon's ¨Reanimator¨ and ¨The bride of Re-Animator¨

The motion picture was mediocrely written/directed by Frank Henenlotter. Rescued low budget pictures and put them out on his Frank Henenlotter's Sexy Shockers From The Underground label for Something Weird Video. Regarding his labeling as a horror film director, Frank said the following: ¨I never felt that I made "horror films." I always felt that I made exploitation films. Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything else -- an attitude that you don't find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They're a little ruder, a little raunchier, they deal with material people don't usually touch on, whether it's sex or drugs or rock and roll¨. Frank Henenlotter is known for Basket Case I, II and III, Bad Biology (2008), Brain Damage (1988) , Chasing Banksy (2015) and Frankenhooker (1990). Frank also made documentaries, such as: That's Sexploitation! (2013) Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010). Frankenhooker (1990) rating: 5/10. Only for gore with drops of humor enthusiasts.

This movie is a cautionary tale about the dangers of pushing the boundaries of science too far. Hands down, it's the best movie ever made that features exploding crack whores. It also reminds us of the importance of lawn mower safety, and offers some exciting new possibilities for owners of power tools. Throw in its sensitive handling of foreign relations ("What are ya! Some kind of Swede?") and "Frankenhooker" is a classic. It's an amazing cinematic experience that is weird enough to be both deeply disturbing and hilarious at the same time. The people who made this movie are sick, God love 'em.

Zorro is a beefed up super pimp, who goes around kicking ass and taking names. Zorro, and Jefferey's invention of "Supercrack" are the two things that make this movie hilarious. "No,no,no,no the question is who are you, and from what I've been hearing, your ass is mine and I'm taking possesion right now" " My girls are the best, the best to look at, the best for fun. You want the best, you gotta pay." " No no no no, they didn't leave, they didn't go nowhere, they just blew up. F***ing exploded, one minute they my bitches, and the next minute, pieces all over" These are all quotes from the man Zorro.

If you're a tiny bit familiar with the more light-headed and grotesque 80's horror cheese, the name Frank Hennenlotter won't sound new to you. "Basket Case" and "Brain Damage" are classics that prove creativity and dynamic motivation are actually all that is needed in order to make a fresh-looking horror film. Another triumph of ingeniousness in Hennenlotter's career is this "Frankenhooker". His most comic and personal film to date. It looks like slapstick, yet with a fair amount of gore, but it never at one point becomes entirely ridiculous or dumb. It's actually hysterical and imaginative (unless you're one of the humorless critics like so many on this review-list). A young electrician/brain surgeon (funny combination, isn't it?) loses his girl in a nasty lawnmower accident. Now, that thing alone actually made me chuckle! He wants to resurrect her, but since most of her body got hacked up, he has to collect new "parts". And where better to find those but in the red-light district of New Jersey. Naturally, both the preparations as the operation itself go horribly wrong and the 'hero' has to face absurd consequences. Like few other directors can manage, Frank Hennenlotter inserts his trademarks and typical styles. Frankenhooker is silly, but also very imaginative (exploding whores, anyone?) and it doesn't feature one dull moment. Hennenlotter surely was one of the most talented and self-educated directors in the horror industry. If he would have slightly more movies, I'm sure he would now enjoy a more justified status. I keep on hearing he will return in 2005 with a project called "Sick in the Head". Well I, for one, really hope it's true.

Frankenhooker is without a doubt one of the most stupid, ridiculous, moronic, pointless, fun and brilliant films that I have seen. From the film's opening; which sees our would-be hero working on a strange brain with an eye in it, with some ridiculously out of place, relaxed suburbia music playing in the background; I knew that I was in for a comic treat. This movie features several moments of delicious comic brilliance; such as the out of control lawnmower sequence that sees the central character's girlfriend get tragically murdered, to the rather tactless news report detailing said tragedy, to the exploding whores and all the way down to the weather report which details a storm that is coming, "for all you mad scientists out there"; there's plenty to make you laugh in Frankenhooker.

The film takes obvious influence from the classic Frankenstein story, and it should appeal to anyone that is a fan of cheesy 80's gorefests. Of course, this was released in 1990, but that's incidental. As mentioned, the main character's girlfriend is killed in a lawnmower accident. The accident itself is a comic masterpiece; it's so absurdly silly! Anyway, this accident leads our hero to the brink of madness (to which his mother responds to by asking him if he would like a sandwich), and he decides to make his girlfriend a new body from the parts of various prostitutes that he picks up. Of course, it doesn't quite go to plan, which leads him into all manner of weird troubles. James Lorinz takes the lead role of Jeffrey Franken (and his girlfriend's surname is Shelly...can you spot the tribute?). Lorinz is great as the hero for the movie, he spends a lot of it acting on his own and he more than holds the audience's interest with his speeches and great accent. A film like this needs an offbeat star; and it has one in Lorinz.

Overall, this terrifying tale of sluts and bolts is sheer comic brilliance, and if you're a fan of weird and wonderful cult films, and even if you're not; you won't want to miss Frankenhooker.