Frankenhooker...Step right up to see the exploding hooker
Added 11/9/2009
Frankenhooker: 8 out of 10: Any movie featuring both super crack and exploding hookers will have to work pretty hard to disappoint me.
Throw in the fact that the director is none other than Basket Case auteur Frank Henenlotter (Where has he been the last ten years?) and the lead is Street Trash scene stealer James Lorinz (Only found in small screen bit parts of late) and I was expecting to be blown away like, well, like an exploding hooker.
Frankenhooker alas isn't necessarily all that good. The female lead (Penthouse model Joanne Ritchie) clearly is a good sport but not an actual actress per se and the movie really loses some steam in the third act when the titular character becomes the focus. Also exploding hookers sound better on the page than Henenlotter manages to present it on screen.
What does work however, works very well indeed. Lorinz is at his quirky schizophrenic best and nobody does Dinkins' era New York sleaze like Henenlotter. The movie overall certainly is entertaining enough.
What surprisingly brings the most fun to the party are the scenes of depravity and drug use that we usually associate with a too serious by half urban drama rather than a straight forward horror - comedy. (It's like an Abel Ferrara movie done for laughs.) The plenteous collection of native crazies Henenlotter puts together make for a dynamic viewing experience. The movie is also genuinely funny at times and the humor never feels forced.
If the thought of exploding hookers and super crack fills you with an irrelevant glee then I highly recommend this film. If you feel that these are serious social issues that should not be mocked then stay very far away.
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long live frankenhooker!
Added 2/16/2009
Jeffery works for the electric company by day and as a mad scientist of sorts by night.
After a gift for dear ol' dad runs over his fiancé leaving her is pieces, Jeffery finds himself unable to move on with his life. This could be do, in part, to the fact that he successfully bogarted his fiance's head, which he keeps in an estrogen based goo in his mom's basement.
Hell bent on recreating his fiance, he scours the red light district for the perfect female figure (but not before a scene in which he has a romantic dinner with the head that left me in stitches.) After a meeting with Zoro: a very buff, extremely greasy pimp, Jeffery arranges a date with several of Zoro's best ladies. What follows is a whirlwind of boobs, bad acting, poorly designed exploding stunt hookers (which apprear to have been filled with firecrackers and sparklers) and crack. lots and lots of crack.
The film then follows a heavily R-rated Bride of Frankenstein route. Enter: Frankenhooker. She has the head of his fiance and a body constructed of bits and pieces from nearly all the prostitutes he had partied with earlier. She somehow obtained the urge to prostitute herself... and dispose of anyone that is unlucky enough to have a go at her. While Frankenhooker actually doesn't make her appearance until the last 1/4 of the movie, her time on screen is quite hilarious.
As a horror flick, this movie is terrible. As a gross-out comedy, it's pretty fantastic. Definitely a must-own in my book.
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Even as pure schlock, not very compelling...
Added 2/3/2009
Yeah, I watched a movie called "Frankenhooker". Frank Henenlotter, the man behind low budget gore fests such as Basketcase and Brain Damage, puts a new spin on the old Frankenstein story with Frankenhooker. Anyone who has seen any of the forementioned titles would agree that the movies Henenlotter makes are great adventures in schlock horror that are packed with imaginative characters and storylines with a very small hint of underlying message to them. Frankenhooker, however, is a horror comedy that comes up empty in just about every category.
Three time medical school reject turned power plant employee Jeffrey Franken carries out his controversial experiments in his mom's garage. The trouble begins when his latest invention (a remote control lawnmower) goes haywire and chops his fiance to bits. Convinced that he'll never find love again, Jeffrey hatches a plan to resurrect his girl. Taking a drive down to the scummiest streets of Times Square, Jeffrey picks out women of questionable virtue, eventually to harvest their parts to make the perfect body with his fiance's head as the centerpiece. Taking note of the ladies' fondness of crack, Jeffrey invents "super crack" to lure them into his murderous trap. However when his scheme comes to fruition and his Frankenhooker is brought to life, she goes on a sleazy rampage that leaves her clients in pieces. Jeffrey struggles to put an end to the madness before it's too late.
Frankenhooker probably looked good on paper, but the resulting movie is just bland and generic-feeling. The comedy doesn't work, not a drop of horror to be spoken of, and even the gore is rather scarce. The story really doesn't go anywhere until well after the movie is half over, and when it does get rolling almost everything that occurs completely transcends logic. At a mere 80 minutes long, it seems the ending credits begin rolling before it even has much of a chance.
On a positive note James Lorinz is quite funny as Jeffrey, although that can be attributed to his appearance and mannerisms more than it can to the actual content of the movie. The footage of Times Square is great and succeeds wildly in capturing that sleazy feel that they were most likely going for. With a few decent death scenes to speak of, Frankenhooker is okay. Not the stuff dreams are made of, but worth a viewing if you're into cheesy horror comedies, and even then you can do better.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Some assembly may be required.
Added 2/2/2009
What more can anyone really say? With a title that always brings a schoolboy smirk to my face and some of the most ridiculous scenes in a modern horror film that I can recall - ''Frankenhooker'' is the perfect midnight movie for fans of subversive and rather silly cinema.
Director Frank Henenlotter (recently only returning from MIA with the eagerly awaited BAD BIOLOGY) has always made movies that walk the line of absurdity. From his ''Basket Case'' trilogy to his drug addiction metaphor splatter epic ''Brain Damage'', Henenlotter's movies have always been horror comedies with an undercurrent of an actual idea behind them. Not just 'face value' horror pap - actually, something going on behind all the rubber and blood. Frankenhooker, although not as clever as something like 'Brain Damage' - does work on many levels, but also does what it says on the tin. It has a woman reanimated as a hooker. Which for me, is what makes this director very special.
The story has Jeffrey Franken (played to perfection by James Lorinz) overcome by the death of his fiance (Patty Mullen) in a freak lawn mower accident. Distraught to the fact that his love no longer has a body (and only a severed head!), he decides to re-animate her by collecting body parts of various prostitutes in the vain hope that he can somehow recreate his diseased partner. Along the way, Jeffrey gets involved in 'super crack', a pimp named zorro and many, many ladies of the night. It's all played for laughs and is easily the work of a guy who loves 50s nudie movies and gross out gore and comedy. Its low budget actually helps keep the movie on the seedy side and the cast are pitch perfect in their over the top delivery. Henenlotters' direction is sharp and his screenplay is both funny, playful and ridiculous.
Synapse Films' disc is well produced with a decent transfer and a host of (though short) documentaries and featurettes - one featuring Patty Mullen recollecting the movie and the other with Gabe Bartolas talking about the various effects. The commentary by Henenlotter and Bartolas is both funny and involving. All in all, not the most thought provoking film out there - but, if you are on the lookout for great fun, cheep gore and exploding hookers - this movie is for you. All three of you.
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LOVE IT!
Added 11/26/2008
I love this movie! It is cheesy and inappropriate in the best of ways. Total B movie. Nudity, drug use, exploding mannequins, pimp stereotypes and lots of [...]. But if you can handle that, and would like to see a mad scientist-esque character piecing together a new body out of hookers for his recently deceased fiance then this movie is well worth watching!!! The ending is fabulous as well as fabulously unexpected! I love this movie and I love my friend for introducing me to it. :)
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Frankenhooker...Step right up to see the exploding hooker
Added 11/9/2009
Frankenhooker: 8 out of 10: Any movie featuring both super crack and exploding hookers will have to work pretty hard to disappoint me.
Throw in the fact that the director is none other than Basket Case auteur Frank Henenlotter (Where has he been the last ten years?) and the lead is Street Trash scene stealer James Lorinz (Only found in small screen bit parts of late) and I was expecting to be blown away like, well, like an exploding hooker.
Frankenhooker alas isn't necessarily all that good. The female lead (Penthouse model Joanne Ritchie) clearly is a good sport but not an actual actress per se and the movie really loses some steam in the third act when the titular character becomes the focus. Also exploding hookers sound better on the page than Henenlotter manages to present it on screen.
What does work however, works very well indeed. Lorinz is at his quirky schizophrenic best and nobody does Dinkins' era New York sleaze like Henenlotter. The movie overall certainly is entertaining enough.
What surprisingly brings the most fun to the party are the scenes of depravity and drug use that we usually associate with a too serious by half urban drama rather than a straight forward horror - comedy. (It's like an Abel Ferrara movie done for laughs.) The plenteous collection of native crazies Henenlotter puts together make for a dynamic viewing experience. The movie is also genuinely funny at times and the humor never feels forced.
If the thought of exploding hookers and super crack fills you with an irrelevant glee then I highly recommend this film. If you feel that these are serious social issues that should not be mocked then stay very far away.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
long live frankenhooker!
Added 2/16/2009
Jeffery works for the electric company by day and as a mad scientist of sorts by night.
After a gift for dear ol' dad runs over his fiancé leaving her is pieces, Jeffery finds himself unable to move on with his life. This could be do, in part, to the fact that he successfully bogarted his fiance's head, which he keeps in an estrogen based goo in his mom's basement.
Hell bent on recreating his fiance, he scours the red light district for the perfect female figure (but not before a scene in which he has a romantic dinner with the head that left me in stitches.) After a meeting with Zoro: a very buff, extremely greasy pimp, Jeffery arranges a date with several of Zoro's best ladies. What follows is a whirlwind of boobs, bad acting, poorly designed exploding stunt hookers (which apprear to have been filled with firecrackers and sparklers) and crack. lots and lots of crack.
The film then follows a heavily R-rated Bride of Frankenstein route. Enter: Frankenhooker. She has the head of his fiance and a body constructed of bits and pieces from nearly all the prostitutes he had partied with earlier. She somehow obtained the urge to prostitute herself... and dispose of anyone that is unlucky enough to have a go at her. While Frankenhooker actually doesn't make her appearance until the last 1/4 of the movie, her time on screen is quite hilarious.
As a horror flick, this movie is terrible. As a gross-out comedy, it's pretty fantastic. Definitely a must-own in my book.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Even as pure schlock, not very compelling...
Added 2/3/2009
Yeah, I watched a movie called "Frankenhooker". Frank Henenlotter, the man behind low budget gore fests such as Basketcase and Brain Damage, puts a new spin on the old Frankenstein story with Frankenhooker. Anyone who has seen any of the forementioned titles would agree that the movies Henenlotter makes are great adventures in schlock horror that are packed with imaginative characters and storylines with a very small hint of underlying message to them. Frankenhooker, however, is a horror comedy that comes up empty in just about every category.
Three time medical school reject turned power plant employee Jeffrey Franken carries out his controversial experiments in his mom's garage. The trouble begins when his latest invention (a remote control lawnmower) goes haywire and chops his fiance to bits. Convinced that he'll never find love again, Jeffrey hatches a plan to resurrect his girl. Taking a drive down to the scummiest streets of Times Square, Jeffrey picks out women of questionable virtue, eventually to harvest their parts to make the perfect body with his fiance's head as the centerpiece. Taking note of the ladies' fondness of crack, Jeffrey invents "super crack" to lure them into his murderous trap. However when his scheme comes to fruition and his Frankenhooker is brought to life, she goes on a sleazy rampage that leaves her clients in pieces. Jeffrey struggles to put an end to the madness before it's too late.
Frankenhooker probably looked good on paper, but the resulting movie is just bland and generic-feeling. The comedy doesn't work, not a drop of horror to be spoken of, and even the gore is rather scarce. The story really doesn't go anywhere until well after the movie is half over, and when it does get rolling almost everything that occurs completely transcends logic. At a mere 80 minutes long, it seems the ending credits begin rolling before it even has much of a chance.
On a positive note James Lorinz is quite funny as Jeffrey, although that can be attributed to his appearance and mannerisms more than it can to the actual content of the movie. The footage of Times Square is great and succeeds wildly in capturing that sleazy feel that they were most likely going for. With a few decent death scenes to speak of, Frankenhooker is okay. Not the stuff dreams are made of, but worth a viewing if you're into cheesy horror comedies, and even then you can do better.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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