Frankie Freako takes an Oscar-worthy approach to the goofy terror of gremlins

Making a great film is quite a challenge. But making a great “bad” movie is more of a challenge. Steven Kostanski has made the big bad movie his calling card: no one turns trash into treasure like the Canadian FX makeup artist turned director whose ability to transcend pastiche and stretch independent budgets into full-blown spectacle in films like Manborg AND PG: Psycho Goreman should put him in a league with the likes of Licorice Pizza director Paul Thomas Anderson. But this will never happen – the masses have no respect for cheese!!

And that’s okay. But for those who understand: Kostanski’s latest film, Frankie Freakis another twisted odyssey of goofball, full of puppets, slime and FREEEEAAAKO-OUT, MAN. 2024 isn’t necessarily the perfect time for a mashup Ghoulies AND Garbage can children with a touch of ’80s party gone wrong comedy, but in his retro-style horror comedy, Kostanski suggests that maybe it’s Always the right time for something like this. If Beetlejuice manages to return in 2024, there will be a place in the hearts of moviegoers for Frankie Freako, a mischievous gremlin in a leather jacket who loves to dance and crush cans of Fart soda.

Frankie Freak Kostanski regular Conor Sweeney stars as Conor, a classic ’80s yuppie whose office life is so depressing that he is unable to meet the sexual needs of his sculptor wife, Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth). When Kristina goes out of town for a weekend job, the wayward schlub quietly decides to stay home and dust off the CD rack. These plans are interrupted by a mesmerizing advertisement for the services of a certain Frankie Freako. Knowing deep down that he needed a jolt from the self-proclaimed “party king,” Conor calls Frankie with a simple 1-900 call and immediately regrets his decision. Along with two other weirdos, cowgirl Dottie Dunko and Boink Bardo, who says nothing but “Sha-ba-doo!”, Frankie wreaks havoc on Conor’s house in a prolonged rampage that Kostanski stages like a live-action movie Whac-a-Mole.

For Kostański, riffing was enough Animals and the joys of bad horror dialogue Frankie Freak. Sweeney beats every shitty actor that’s ever been teased with his rhythm Mysterious Science Theater 3000and Kostanski’s script surprises him with groan-worthy one-liners that bring laughter from seasoned audiences. The setting of the rampaging freaks is both familiar and unusual: as Conor’s house is destroyed, each bit of vulgar profanity painted in graffiti or defaced wall art seems perfectly placed and has its own character. While Wes Anderson’s attention to detail is easier to see, Frankie Freak The production design team is equally committed to dazzling viewers with every frame.

But Kostanski is not satisfied with a one-note, 90-minute joke. After a while of chasing freaks with a gun, Conor learns an important lesson about what makes freaks so damn weird – and he’s soon transported to Freakworld to face Freaklord Munch and his battalion of mechanical freaks. With a mix of lo-fi CG and grotesque latex creations, Kostanski sends Conor through Freakworld, a cartoonish nightmare that feels like a Ralph Bakshi animation come to life. The backgrounds seem dirty and vivid, in a way that movies with a budget 10-20 times larger (talking about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice…) never do this.

This craftsmanship combined with wailing guitar and a bit of world building elevates the experience Frankie Freak from pure parody into a hybrid subgenre with real values ​​that basically belong to Kostanski. In a time when horror can seem like a dumping ground for cheap work for a studio executive, and trying to bend genres can make less business sense, it’s exciting to see a director like Konstanski go bankrupt on a ridiculous level and take execution as seriously as Ridley Scott does in a historical epic.

In a way, it’s the Frankie Freako way: no half-measures. Only strange means.

Frankie Freak debuts in theaters on October 4.