Friday, October 31, 2014

October 30th: Frankenhooker, dir. Frank Henenlotter, 1990. (Canada) 3.5/5 pumpkins


Nothing in this film makes a lick of sense and I wouldn't have it any other way. Why would our "hero" take body parts from numerous hookers to revive his dead fiance? Why would he design deadly crack that causes the smoker to explode if he needed an intact body to steal? If he only needed it for one hooker, why did he make so much of it? Why is nobody in his fiance's family upset by the eyeball-sporting brain he's playing with in the beginning of the film? Has he already killed before? Seeing as how this film is really an exploration of one man's intense mental illness (Street Trash scene-stealer James Lorinz does a casual, deadpan descent into madness hilariously), it would not surprise me. It's hard to craft a film where you are actively rooting against the protagonist every step of the way, but Henenlotter succeeds. It helps that he gives it a very Tales From the Crypt morality play-ish wicked ending. Nobody does seedy New York City better than Henenlotter either (well, maybe Larry Cohen in Q - The Winged Serpent) and this one is especially seedy and sleazy. Worth it for the wildly ecstatic reaction the hookers have to the giant bag of crack and the scene where the muscle-bound pimp is, um, dealt with.

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