Conor (Conor Sweeney) takes his entire life too seriously. He works hard, but doesn’t know how to stand out apart from the information that’s given to him. He is boring to everyone around him including his wife Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth). All Kristina wants to do is be intimate with her husband, but he is under the impression that holding hands is the epitome of physical contact.
Conor never cusses, thinks ordering pizza with half cheese and the other half another type of cheese, dusting and vacuuming the living room, and being in bed by 8:30pm on a Friday night is living dangerously.
When Kristina goes away for the weekend on a business trip, Conor caves and calls the number he saw during a TV infomercial while watching a knockoff version of Antique Roadshow. Frankie Freako promises to liven up your life with a party that never stops. Naturally, Conor bites off way more than he can chew.
After Psycho Goreman, writer and director Steve Kostanski can do no wrong. Frankie Freako brings that same humor you’d find in Psycho Goreman along with the impressive makeup effects, crazy creature designs, and overall ridiculousness that you’ve come to enjoy from Kostanski’s work.
Some of the ongoing absurdity in the film includes Frankie’s drink of choice Fart Classic Now with Caffeine being a major plot device, sweating and screaming at the top of your lungs to liven up any work presentation, a record scratch on a cassette boombox, chalk outlines of guns, and Conor’s boss Mr. Buechler (Adam Brooks) being glued to the floor of his basement forever (probably).
Frankie Freako leans heavier into puppetry than Kostanski’s other films. Frankie brings two other Freakos with him: a cyborg and gadgets expert named Boink Bardo and a gunslinging female Freako named Dottie Dunko. Their sole purpose is to trash everything and have a good time.
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Like the issues Trey Parker and Matt Stone had while making Team America: World Police, the Freako puppets look like they were difficult to work with at times with limited mobility and a lack of facial expressions. But the film just rolls with it and something as simple as a puppet running stiffly down the hallway becomes more hilarious.
The film also toys with miniatures. There is a mine car chase that is a major homage to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The cool thing about the scenes in Freakworld (Frankie’s home world) is that the aesthetic looks like a handmade Blade Runner. This futuristic diorama of a dingy puppet world seemingly made by two parents overnight because their kid told them about a school project the day before it was due.
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The film has an entertaining balance with its VFX and makeup effects and outrageous humor, but the film’s story feels like it’s purposely trying to be cliché. At its core, Frankie Freako is about an uptight guy learning to loosen up some. Conor is basically Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
But the charm of the film is that it feels nostalgic while also feeling like something entirely new. Puppets like this haven’t been used regularly in movies since the 90s and these practical effects remind you of your favorite splatter-filled horror and fantasy films from yesteryear.
Frankie Freako takes a lot of cues from the likes of Orgazmo, Gremlins and Home Alone, but Steve Kostanksi’s Canadian, cult-like horror panache makes Frankie Freako a trashy and stupendously stupid adventure masterpiece. Its ludicrous face-melting gore and preposterous monsters only solidify Frankie Freako’s slot in the annals of great and gooey fantasy comedies.
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Frankie Freako (2024), Shout! Studios
PROS
- Incredible special effects
- All of the puppets are amazing
- Kostanski's ridiculous humor
CONS
- Story is purposely predictable