Frankenhooker (1990) review

16. Frankenhooker (1990)

Directed by: Frank Henenlotter

Produced by: James Glickenhaus

Screenplay by: Robert “Bob” Martin, Frank Henenlotter

Starring: James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, Louise Lasser

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie quite like “Frankenhooker.” As is tradition by this point, I had to do some kind of “Frankenstein” adaptation, but I’ve already done a lot of them. Maybe if Universal had gone ahead with their Dark Universe remake of “Bride of Frankenstein,” I could’ve reviewed that to fit this month’s theme of campy trash; and no, I’m not reviewing “The Mummy,” not this month anyway. Directed by Frank Henenlotter, the self-proclaimed exploitation filmmaker who came out with “Basket Case,” this is an audacious, utterly bonkers parody of the Mary Shelley novel. It deliberately leans into being a ridiculous exercise in bad taste, and is actually pretty damn good at it. The plot is basically what the title sounds like; a young scientist named Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) brings his dead fiancée Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) back to life with the dismembered limbs of deceased prostitutes. Too vague for you? Let’s go into detail.

The movie opens with Elizabeth being killed at a birthday party by a remote-control lawnmower—which is already absurd, she easily could’ve gotten out of the way instead of just put her arms up and scream. Jeffrey saves her decapitated head and, in his grief, plots a way of reviving her by bioelectric means, specifically connecting the head to a hooker’s body. He tests out several different New York City prostitutes, planning to use a “super-crack” drug he’s developed on the best candidate; don’t worry, his logic is they’re killing themselves with crack anyway, so he’s just speeding up the process. But they accidentally find his bag and all smoke the super-crack, so they all die; specifically, they explode into pieces. Undeterred, Jeffrey takes their body parts home and sews different pieces together into a single body; Elizabeth is successfully resurrected, but not as the woman he knew and loved, while the hookers’ abusive pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) aggressively tracks him down.

Okay, so this is a pretty insane concept, one that Henenlotter apparently improvised at a pitch meeting, and then wrote the script after getting the green light. Thankfully, the tone and vibe are consistent with the ludicrousness, never going too sincere or broody; the news report of Elizabeth’s death immediately establishes that, with the reporter (Judy Grafe) using words like “girthful” and “tossed human salad.” One of the co-writers, Robert “Bob” Martin, was the original editor of the Fangoria horror film fan magazine, so he’s clearly got a knack for the dry, crass humor the movie is going for. The death scenes are the same way, all completely absurd and over-the-top; the scene with the exploding hookers—a phrase I never thought I’d use—is just as wacky as it sounds, with the women all looking like mannequins as they burst into a shower of sparks and smoke. It’s here where the movie goes from darkly comedic sleaze to the realm of “What the hell am I watching?” And it continues the rest of the way, with some of the visual meshing of body parts really standing out; I’ll say no more.

The performances are all slightly hammy, maybe because Henenlotter hired real strippers, since he had a difficult time finding SAG actors who would do nudity. But there are some memorable line reads from Louise Lasser—yes, Mary Hartman herself—as Jeffrey’s mother, Charlotte Kemp as ringleader Honey, and David Lipman as one of Frankenhooker’s victims. James Lorinz has this weird, slightly wormy quirkiness as Jeffrey; where else can you find a movie where a guy helps himself focus by using a power drill on his own head? Okay, I don’t really get that whole deal, and some of his dialogue gets annoying after a while, but you can appreciate his motivation.

As for Elizabeth—or Frankenhooker, specifically—the design is wildly creative and funny, with a gnarly discoloration and these odd facial twitches. Because she’s made from sex worker body parts, she speaks entirely in prostitute phrases like “Want a date?” “Looking for some action?” and “Got any money?” I also like that unlike “Bride of Re-Animator,” we actually get a good deal of focus on the monster; it isn’t just build-up to a weak payoff. In fact, the way it wraps up is really unexpected and bizarre, if somewhat lazily set up. Aside from the writing, performances and make-up, there’s something commendable about how the film utilizes its frugality. It was Henenlotter’s most expensive project yet, but nearly all of it went to pyrotechnics for the explosion scene, so he called in a favor to do “unlicensed pyrotechnics” for the laboratory set; the guy called his work “maybe safe.” But the overall mise-en-scène for the lab is enjoyably dirty and cheap, like something the average Joe would cobble together in his garage.

You know who this movie got an endorsement from? Bill Murray, of all people. I guess while editing his film “Quick Change,” he hung out with the crew of “Frankenhooker” and expressed interest in the movie. Like many horror films of the time, it had trouble with the MPAA, with one representative telling the production company secretary, “You’re the first film rated S. S for shit.” It’s funny, because this isn’t what I’d call gory; the stunts and kills are clearly meant to be a joke, that’s how exaggerated they are. Obviously, it’s a grungy film with numerous ugly and even uncomfortable aspects, but the way it lampoons them has such a gleefully irreverent zest, I have a strange, inexplicable draw to it. Just go in with the mindset that it’s meant to be trash, and you might find its odor worth exploring.

My rating: 7/10