Review of Frankenhooker (1990) by Craig J — 06 Jul 2007

Is it me but do a lot of people die in bizarre gardening accidents. I know of one true story that happened to a teacher at school but even though I can be a sick bastard I won't divulge details here (that's what my email address is for, folks!). However, director Frank Henenlotter must have heard of similar stories as a gardening accident is what starts the ball (or should that be head) rolling in his perverse take on Frankenstein, Frankenhooker.

Jeffrey Franken tragically loses his fiancé, Elizabeth Shelley when she demonstrates to her father how to use the new remote controlled lawn mower she has bought him for his birthday. Stupidly, Elizabeth stands directly in front of the lawn mower and not hearing Jeffrey's shouts to not stand in front of it, she is run over by the machine where her body is ripped to shreds.

Jeffrey being a medical school dropout has spent most of his energy experimenting on a brain that has a rather large eyeball embedded in the pink matter. Now he has a new project to work on. Absconding from the party with Elizabeth's head he plans a way of reconstructing his dead fiancé from other body parts. Jeffrey realises he can give Elizabeth the body she had always dreamed of, so off he goes to Times Square where he takes advantage of his Christmas Club account.

Jeffrey gets a roomful of hookers so he can analyse every part of their bodies. Exposing the hookers to deadly form of 'super-crack' that he has devised, the hookers explode with body parts flying everywhere.

Taking the body parts back to his garage, he picks out the best parts and begins to reconstruct Elizabeth. With a storm coming, the expected lightning does the trick and brings Elizabeth back to life. The only problem is that Jeffrey's previously good natured fiancé has come back to life with the mind of the hookers that her body is made of. Knocking Jeffrey unconscious she heads back to Times Square looking for some action with disastrous results.

Frankenhooker takes a while to get going but once it does, you're in for a treat. The funniest scenes are when Jeffrey is with the hookers looking at their bodies. Fans of nudity will be in heaven, as a bevy of willing ladies disrobe for the camera, two even enjoy a lesbian clinch. When Jeffrey's creation is unleashed and heads to Times Square the film picks up gear. It may just be me but there seems to be a lot of perverts in New York City who find a woman with stitches, scars and discoloured skin attractive but that adds to the general wackiness of the film and if it wasn't for these strange perverts we wouldn't have such a freaky film.

Usually, Frank Henenlotter has a lot of gore in his films but for Frankenhooker he decided on a change in direction. The scene where the hookers explode from the 'super-crack' could have been a mess of blood and guts but even though it doesn't have either it still has to be seen to be believed. Although the special effects team used mannequins filled with explosives, it still has the desired effect and the scene comes off as intended. Fans of Basket Case and Brain Damage will be disappointed by the lack of gore in Frankenhooker. While there may be a lot of body parts in the film, there is no overabundance of the red stuff. This doesn't matter as there is plenty more on offer than blood and guts. Henenlotter fills Frankenhooker with his trademark touches of sleazy characters, situations and locations. The ending is a gem and is probably the best/funniest part of the film because you can't see it coming and when all is revealed you can't help but laugh and be a little repulsed at the idea.

Frankenhooker, obviously from the title is a spoof of Frankenstein. Henenlotter fills the film with lots of subtle references to Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Listen to the soundtrack, as Elizabeth's new body is revealed, the sound of bells reminiscent to the soundtrack of Bride of Frankenstein, when The Bride is revealed can be heard. Elizabeth's shoe wear are large black boots, which Boris Karloff wore and even the dialogue ("Pretzels, good") gets a nod. There are more but I'll let you spot them.

Frankenhooker may not be Henenlotter's best film but Frank Henenlotter not at his best is still better than most directors out there. The acting is as poor as Henenlotter's other films, the special effects are over the top, the sleaze is degrading and the nudity isn't Playboy material but it makes me feel warm inside that there is some one as demented as Henenlotter out there making the films he wants to make for our sick pleasure.