Main Cast: James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, Charlotte Helmkamp, Shirley Stoler, Louise Lasser
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Adventurous viewers not repelled by the title of this horror exploitation-comedy from Frank Henenlotter (director of the splatter cult classic Basket Case) will find a fair share of laughs on display, thanks to Henenlotter's typically energetic devil-may-care brand of gruesome humor. James Lorinz tears up acres of scenery as Jeffrey Franken, a neurotic electrician and aspiring mad scientist, who goes completely 'round the bend after his slightly pudgy girlfriend (former Penthouse pet, Patty Mullen) is shredded by his latest invention, a remote-control lawn mower. Preserving her head in his mom's freezer, he sets out to acquire shapely female parts to rebuild the rest of her, focusing his search on the city's red-light district. After watching a news feature on crack addiction among local prostitutes, Franken hits on the solution and invents a formula for "supercrack," which triggers the spontaneous detonation of anyone who smokes it. After blowing apart a hotel roomful of unfortunate ladies, he spirits their scattered limbs home to his garage laboratory, where his patchwork creation is eventually brought to life in a hilarious lift from The Bride of Frankenstein. Apparently, her brain spent too much time bobbing in the same preservative bath used for the hooker-parts, since she is instantly compelled to peddle her assets on every street corner in town, resulting in the high-voltage deaths of several johns (who are not entirely dissatisfied with their choice of demise). Her exploits reach the attention of sadistic pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez), who, obsessed with finding the person responsible for blowing up his women, tracks her back to Franken's lab for the inevitable (and quite disgusting) confrontation. Basically a collection of crude but hilarious sight gags (Franken's predilection for plunging a power drill into his own skull; the pimp knocked senseless by flying severed limbs) and goofy throwaway dialogue, this may offer guilty pleasures for fans of Henenlotter's comic theater of the absurd. Frankenhooker is available on video in R and unrated versions, some featuring a suitably tacky slipcase, which, when pressed, screeches the words "Wanna date?" ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Mixing the gum-snapping kitsch of Valley Girl with the blood-and-breasts formula of countless slasher flicks, this horror-comedy follows Bride of Re-Animator in the quest to update James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein for the MTV generation. Whereas Bride of Re-Animator grappled, however melodramatically, with the same philosophical questions as the original Frankenstein films, Frankenhooker aims for something a little less weighty. Full of non-sequiter sight gags, inventively low-budget set pieces, broad stereotypes, and copious T & A, the film basically re-imagines The Brain That Wouldn't Die as a quickie softcore sex comedy. James Lorinz is terrific as mama's boy Jeffrey Franken, the head-drilling med-school dropout whose fantastical inventions get his girlfriend killed and then resurrected. Former centerfold Patty Mullen displays something approaching comic acuity as the titular undead nymphomaniac. Thanks to the underclothed supporting cast, she's only one of the gloriously ludicrous female stereotypes who totter around on stiletto heels and provide fuel for the carnage. Ultimately, though, it's director Frank Henenlotter's imaginative juxtaposition of gags and gore that provides Frankenhooker with its sense of fun. Henenlotter fills the film with the same colorful deadbeats who populated his even lower-budget debut, Basket Case. And although he doesn't quite surpass that film's eerily endearing sensibility, Frankenhooker remains an enjoyably rough-edged antidote the diminishing returns of straightforward slasher fare. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Joseph Gonzalez - Zorro; Lia Chang - Crystal; Jennifer Delora - Angel; Vicki Darnell - Sugar; Kimberly Taylor - Amber; Heather Hunter - Charteuse; Sandy Colisimo - Monkey; Stephanie Ryan - Anise; Paul-Felix Montez - Goldie; Beverly Bonner - Casey; Carissa Channing - Dolores; Sonia Hensley - Corner Hooker #2; Dominic Marcus - Pimp; Jan Saint - Street Preacher; John Zacherle - Weatherman; David Lipman - Frankenhookers trick; Gregory Gilbert - Times Square Victim #2; Ari M. Roussimoff - Zorro's Customer
Credit
Frank Henenlotter - Director, Kevin Tent - Editor, Joe Renzetti - Composer (Music Score), Robert M. Baldwin, Jr. - Cinematographer, James Glickenhaus - Producer, Edgar Ievins - Producer, Gabe Bartalos - Special Effects, Frank Henenlotter - Screenwriter, Robert Martin - Screenwriter
When his gorgeous fiancée "goes to pieces" in a freak lawnmower accident, aspiring mad scientist Jeffrey Franken is determined to put her back together again. With the aid of an explosive superdrug, he sets about reassembling his girlfriend, selecting the choicest bits from a bevy of raunchy New York prostitutes. But his bizarre plan soon goes awry. His reanimated girlfriend no longer craves his body... she craves everybody! And, for money, she'll love anyone... to death! [1]
Frankenhooker was released on home video in both rated and unrated versions, as the unrated version has a considerably greater amount of nudity than the cut version that has played on TV over the years.
Frankenhooker was well known for its unique interactive VHS cover box; when the subway lamp post was pressed by the customer, the box spoke back the line, "Wanna date?" from the film.
In 1998, the movie was released on DVD by Simitar, but the DVD was the R-Rated version.
On October 17, 2006, the film was digitally remastered and released on DVD by Unearthed Films in its original, uncut and complete form. Featured on the bottom right of the cover is actor Bill Murray's famous quote, "if you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker."
