Review: Once again I am here to review another one of Frank Henenlotter's films that is the 2nd to last one he did before taking a break from directing for quite awhile. Like his other films Frankenhooker definitely has that Henenlotter look and feel that we have all grown to love and cherish. Like you would expect this film does take on it's own twisted version of the Frankenstein tale about a man by the name of Jeffrey Frank who wanting the love of his life back after she is chopped up by a lawn mower and in order to do so he decides to make "super crack" which he uses to make a group of hookers which makes them explode. After he is able to make his bride from the parts she runs away and goes on her own crusade of killing and sex which leads to a conflict between the former hookers pimp Zorro and Jeffrey!
With a plot like that you know you getting into something demented, twisted, and a hell of a good time and that is exactly what you get. Henenlotter takes on the Frankenstein tale with new life that we haven't seen in such twisted display since the Bride of Re-Animator. Like Bride of re-Animator this film does have a love story that is about a man that will do anything to get his loved one back but in the end they will pay the price for their ways of doing so. Frankenhooker takes it's story in a more over the top direction filled with sex, death, and exploding hookers and johns.
One of the main parts of this film that I was attracted to besides the crazy plot was the actor James Lorinz (The Sweet Life) who plays Jeffrey, he first caught my attention with his smaller role in Street Trash which I loved his New York way of speaking and smart ass attitude and you get a little of that in this film. For the most part he plays himself a little more serious when needed. Another stand out thing in this film for me was the way the deaths were done, you don't get a bunch of hacking and blood splatter instead you get people exploding but not in a gory way more like if they were a mannequin exploding with sparks flying which is something I had never seen done before. It adds to the over the top feel.
Like Henenlotter's other films I can't say that all genre and horror fans will like this one because it is very out there and goes by it's own rules a definitely strays from the path. To me that is a very good thing because I like to go down that demented path more often than not. One thing I can't do is try and compare it to his other films because each one has it's own unique personality and he really hasn't done a bad film, even Bad Biology was a decent entry into his catalog of films. Easiest way to put it is that if you are a fan of his other films than you will dig this film and if you are just being introduced to Henenlotter I say start with Basketcase and if you like that then watch Frankenhooker!
The only thing that surprised me about this Blu-ray release is that Synapse Films released it instead of Unearthed Films which released it on DVD back in 2006. None the less you still do get almost all of the special features from the Unearthed release minus the production photos feature which isn't that big of a loss. The picture is definitely an upgrade in which they did a 2K restoration on it which looks awesome, like expected the grain is still intact and not destroyed like some studios would of done. Synapse really has done an amazing job with this release and you can see how much care they took into making this film look great for this release like that have done with their previous releases. I highly recommend this upgrade to those who own the older DVD release or to those who have yet to own Frankenhooker!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Genre: Horror
Blu-Ray Release Year: 2011
Theatrical Release Year:1990
Time Length: 85 mins.
Company: Synapse Films
Website:
www.synapse-films.com
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