I hope you’ll forgive me for gleefully churning out so many reviews of vintage “horror trash” from my personal dvd collection. The fact of the matter is, I’m having so much fun that I just can’t stop. I have an extremely fun and eccentric gem that I’d like to talk about today and it only could have been made in the late 80’s. The movie is called “Frankenhooker” (actually came out in 1990) and it was directed by Frank Henenlotter. If you’re not familiar with the name, he’s the dude that directed “Brain Damage” as well as the three “Basket Case” films. It is a very silly horror comedy, loosely based on Frankenstein, about a mad scientist named Jeffrey. Poor Jeffrey loses his girlfriend in a bizarre and bloody lawnmower accident and decides that he can rebuild her… he just needs to get the right parts. Fortunately, New York is filled with ladies of the evening and thanks to the super crack that he invented, they’re all ripe for the picking. It’s hard to explain, but there is an over-the-top scene in this movie in which there are a large group of exploding hookers in a hotel room and it’s amazing and hilarious at the same time. That’s what’s so great about this movie. There are a lot of low-budget stinkers out there that bill themselves as horror-comedies but they’re usually not all that funny. “Frankenhooker” has the benefit of not only good writing, but having some very strong comedic actors on board. Patty Mullen, in particular, who plays “Frankenhooker” does some really great physical schtick once she is transformed into our lumbering lead monster. James Lorinz, who plays Jeffrey Franken, is sharp and funny as the troubled mad scientist, who occasionally has to use a household drill on himself to lobotomize part of his brain and prevent himself from empathizing with his victims and to feel justified for what he is doing. He also does this funny muttering-under-his-breath thing while he’s working and formulating his plans that I’m sure is just ad-libbed improvisation but it’s hilarious nonetheless. I remember when this movie first came out, it came in a VHS box with a button that you would press and it would say, “Wanna’ date?” What a great gimmick. I recently re-purchased this movie and watched it with a group of friends over the summer and we were all laughing out loud and enjoying it quite a bit. For such a violent-sounding premise it is very light on the gore and played strictly for the humor. Probably why Bill Murray himself once said, “If you see one movie this year, it should be
Frankenhooker
.” -Scotch
