Frankenhooker

Probably, "Frankenhooker" is one of the best trash comedies Tromas has never released..! It´s a brilliant parody on Stuart Gordon´s "Re-Animator", Bill Murray is a huge fan of it and the fans of flicks like "The Toxic Avenger" will surely love this film: the humor is silly but entertaining, the F/X are pretty cheap and there are a lot of naked chicks running over the screen. The finest surprise arises when you don´t expect it: watch out for the 3 second cameo appearance of Rutger Hauer!!!

If they could use Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" for "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975), among other bizarre iterations, then I don't see why not have a mad scientist re-animate his girlfriend with the leftover parts of prostitutes who exploded from lethal doses of crack cocaine. Moreover, after seeing fellow Frankenstein exploitation flick "Flesh for Frankenstein" (1975), it's difficult to be shocked by such a premise as that of "Frankenhooker."

The mad scientist here is a young man named Jeffrey Franker who lives with his parents and creates his hooker monster in their garage. He has a brain with an eyeball in it that he experiments with in the house, and he uses an electric drill to literally prod his brain to come up with good ideas. It's no wonder he didn't finish med school. His garage laboratory is essentially what one would expect from generations of Frankenstein films following in the footsteps of the original design of the 1931 version, full of gizmos, beakers and the spark of life from a lightning bolt. To this, Jeffrey adds his estrogen-based blood serum, which keeps the body parts fresh. Jeffrey's girlfriend, whose name Elizabeth Shelley is a combination of the names of Dr. Frankenstein's wife from the novel and of the author of that novel, is torn to pieces by a runaway lawn mower. Jeffrey preserves what he can of her in his serum and seeks to remake the rest of her out of the body parts of prostitutes. He kills these women with an especially lethal crack formula of his own design, which causes them to explode.

It may seem pointless to analyze a film such as this, which was clearly intended to be goofy and trashy fun not to be taken seriously. But, its overriding joke regarding the objectification of women is asking for it. From the start, Elizabeth is shamed for her supposed excess weight. Jeffrey plays doctor with the prostitutes to find the best bits for her re-animated corpse--grading the women on their arms, legs and breasts and writing a check mark on his preferred buttocks. The prostitutes are stereotyped as only wanting money and drugs. I'm sure film theorists of the Freudian-Feminist, Laura Mulvey persuasion could and probably already have had a field day with this one. To top it off, the film's conclusion, as poetic justice, is a literal realization of castration anxiety. I'd like to sit in on a film theory class that screened "Frankenhooker," as opposed to old chestnuts such as the male gaze of "Rear Window" (1954). Freudian film theory, after all, already always has me rolling my eyes and chuckling--something "Frankhooker" does just as well.

It is a frightening as well as ironical movie with violent, offbeat , unpleasant events, including lots of blood and gore and resulting to be disappointing at times , but entertaining as well. A contemporary and tongue-in-cheek Frankenstein version, inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel. Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) is a nice guy, he didn't mean to mow his fiancee (Patty Mullen) down on the front lawn. Jeffrey lives with her mother (Louis Lasser) while makes experiments. Jeffrey, nerdy would-be Frankenstein, as a laboratory guinea pig explodes after inhaling fumes from his patented Super-Crack. But sometimes bad things just happen to good people and an accident gos wrong. After the brutal and sudden killing of his girlfriend, he embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life, though the results aren't entirely successful. Then he creates Frankenhooker, the girlfriend with more than a heart. Luckily Jeff thought to save her head and decides to pair it up with the body of sexy streetwalkers. Revived by the obligatory bolt of lightning, Elizabeth is not quite old self, even her clients find her too hot to handle. A series of circumstances have led her to become a mad scientist capable of resurrecting bodies and making them a monstrous extension of all the rage and frustration that he has had to live and is having to live. A terriffying tale of prostitutes and bolts !. Death can be cured!

Typical Frankenstein plot adding a lot of comical set pieces, lurid images, much nudism and gory scenes: when his bride-to-be is turned into a tossed salad by a runaway lawnmower, Jeffrey salvages her head and reconstructs her with breasts, torsos and limbs gleaned from hookers he has tricked into cracking up in similar fashion . Director Frank Henenlotter indulges his penchant for sleaze to the max, throwing in a few bad-taste puns and a little therapeutic head-drilling for laughs. The resulting fragmented mess will no doubt keep some in stitches, but it is definitely less than the sum of its body parts. A contemporary Frankenstein that examines, through terror and humor, the brutalities, vices, horrors, corruption and sleaziness in New York in the nineties. Prostitution

The film is somewhat reminiscent of the much better ¨Deadly Friend¨ (1986) by Wes Craven also with a teenager from a simple suburban neighborhood who creates a kind of Frankenstein for his own purposes and the recent ¨The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster¨(2023) by Bomani J. Story . Although perhaps this ¨Frankenhooker¨ has more to do with Stuart Gordon's ¨Reanimator¨ and ¨The bride of Re-Animator¨

The motion picture was mediocrely written/directed by Frank Henenlotter. Rescued low budget pictures and put them out on his Frank Henenlotter's Sexy Shockers From The Underground label for Something Weird Video. Regarding his labeling as a horror film director, Frank said the following: ¨I never felt that I made "horror films." I always felt that I made exploitation films. Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything else -- an attitude that you don't find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They're a little ruder, a little raunchier, they deal with material people don't usually touch on, whether it's sex or drugs or rock and roll¨. Frank Henenlotter is known for Basket Case I, II and III, Bad Biology (2008), Brain Damage (1988) , Chasing Banksy (2015) and Frankenhooker (1990). Frank also made documentaries, such as: That's Sexploitation! (2013) Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010). Frankenhooker (1990) rating: 5/10. Only for gore with drops of humor enthusiasts.

In New Jersey, Jeffrey (James Lorinz) is a talented inventor in love with his bride-to-be Elizabeth (Patty Mullen). During a barbecue to celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth´s father, she activates a remote controlled lawnmower that Jeffrey built for his father-in-law. However she stays in front of the device and her body is cut into pieces. Jeffrey studies how to bring Elizabeth back to life and realizes that he will need body parts. He drives to New York to get the necessary parts from prostitutes but his experiment loses control and he blows-up several women with an exploding crack he had developed. Now he has the necessary parts to build his fiancée back, but when Elizabeth flees from his laboratory, Jeffrey has problems with the pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) that lost his girls.

The cult "Frankenhooker" is one of the best black-comedies ever made. The plot is a grotesque joke with "Frankenstein", but the result is hilarious. James Lorinz and Patty Mullen steal the film with cynical and lovely performances. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Frankenhooker - Que Pedaço De Mulher" ("Frankenhooker - What a Piece of Woman")

Normally I run away screaming at anything labeled "horror comedy" but 'Frankenhooker' joins 'Motel Hell' as one of the few exceptions. This is an amusing take on Frankenstein with James Lorinz reveling in the role of a mad scientist obsessed with bringing back his girlfriend who died in a freak lawn mowing accident(!). Using the body parts of some local working girls and some "super crack" he ends up with a lot more than he bargained for! Frankenhooker! Played by the lovely Patty Mullen who is sexy and displays plenty of comic timing. Writer/director Frank Henenlotter had previously made the trash classics 'Basket Case' and 'Brain Damage', both of which are brilliant, and 'Frankenhooker' is just as good. Three movies as original and entertaining as those are three more than most film makers ever come up with, so it is a crying shame that Henenlotter has been strangely quiet for the last decade. Hopefully he will resurface one day with something new. In the meantime, watch 'Frankenhooker' for some serious fun. It's an absolute hoot!