Frankenhooker (1990)
(8/10):After the underground success of both Basket Case and Brain Damage,Frank Henenlotter strikes again with Frankenhooker,a bit of a lustrous tale but with all his trademark sleaze.
It's the tale of Jeffrey Franken who is engaged to Elizabeth,but when a tragic accident befell his soon to be wife he is in shambles but being the alternative scientist he is he comes up with a brilliant plan to bring her back to life.
These methods involve the accidental deaths of many prostitutes and then reconstructing her body with their body parts,as her old body was off the table.
After the resurrection she adopts the personality of one of the hookers who died and then breaks loose to go back to doing her job.
This is a sleazy but silly and darkly entertaining good time.
Let me get this out of the way, Patty Mullen, the woman who plays Elizabeth is the star of this film, she nails her performance of acting as though she is has been reconstructed using random body parts.
Her movements are very stilted,jolted and robotic as well as somewhat wooden, but not wooden in a bad way. The facial expressions she makes as well are silly and make it look as though she's malfunctioning.
I find it's a shame she didn't get any other work after this movie.
The score is a nice street based piano piece that makes you feel like you're on the bad side of town and it fits quite nicely.
The effects are crude sometimes but pretty solid in some other parts and really hold up how well the film looks today, same can be said about the costumes.
Finally,if this flick got the attention of Comedy Legend Bill Murray,who actively promoted it upon its release,you know it's worth checking out.
It didn't age too well with the times, but as I look back at Henenlotter's career he doesn't seem like he really cared about being politically correct, and sometimes that's okay, we all need that juvenile entertainment every once and a while.
I recommend it, plus I also would be interested in seeing Henenlotter make some kind of comeback.
(8/10):After the underground success of both Basket Case and Brain Damage,Frank Henenlotter strikes again with Frankenhooker,a bit of a lustrous tale but with all his trademark sleaze.
It's the tale of Jeffrey Franken who is engaged to Elizabeth,but when a tragic accident befell his soon to be wife he is in shambles but being the alternative scientist he is he comes up with a brilliant plan to bring her back to life.
These methods involve the accidental deaths of many prostitutes and then reconstructing her body with their body parts,as her old body was off the table.
After the resurrection she adopts the personality of one of the hookers who died and then breaks loose to go back to doing her job.
This is a sleazy but silly and darkly entertaining good time.
Let me get this out of the way, Patty Mullen, the woman who plays Elizabeth is the star of this film, she nails her performance of acting as though she is has been reconstructed using random body parts.
Her movements are very stilted,jolted and robotic as well as somewhat wooden, but not wooden in a bad way. The facial expressions she makes as well are silly and make it look as though she's malfunctioning.
I find it's a shame she didn't get any other work after this movie.
The score is a nice street based piano piece that makes you feel like you're on the bad side of town and it fits quite nicely.
The effects are crude sometimes but pretty solid in some other parts and really hold up how well the film looks today, same can be said about the costumes.
Finally,if this flick got the attention of Comedy Legend Bill Murray,who actively promoted it upon its release,you know it's worth checking out.
It didn't age too well with the times, but as I look back at Henenlotter's career he doesn't seem like he really cared about being politically correct, and sometimes that's okay, we all need that juvenile entertainment every once and a while.
I recommend it, plus I also would be interested in seeing Henenlotter make some kind of comeback.