From the director that brought you "Brain Damage" and "Basket Case" comes another classic piece of comedy horror. Low budget, comedy horror, gore, over acting, imaginative, stupid, fun and brilliant. When Jeffrey's fiancé is killed in a tragic lawnmower accident his grief pushes him further into his scientific research to try and come up with a way to cheat her death. Experiments with "Supercrack" have mixed results, results however that he can still utilize in order to re-animate his girlfriend, as a Frankenhooker. Think you know the Frankenstein story? Watch this film and be prepared to re-imagine what you knew. If you like other 80/90's tongue in cheek OTT horror films you really won't be disappointing!!

In the early '90s it was rare for a film to possess much in the way of originality, which is why Frank Henenlotter's campy spoof of the Frankenstein theme stands out from the crowd. Sure, the film is full of the awful rubbery special effects so popular in late '80s cinema, but for once it possesses some imagination, some ideas which make it a great deal more entertaining than half a dozen of your low budget no-hopers.The camp tone of the film is set out from the start when our hero's girlfriend is killed by a lawnmower, of all things (although this cut-away scene is no match for the infamous classic finale of BRAINDEAD). Yes, the film does depend almost solely on goofy jokes for entertainment purposes, but there's no harm in this. Okay, so perhaps a little more wit would have improved things all round, but you can't have everything.The acting consists of either mugging at the camera (especially in the case of the title character, who performs some ridiculous gurning), or being just plain bad. James Lorinz himself isn't too bad, and there is something endearing about his teenage scientist who sticks a drill in his brain to stimulate himself. In fact, Lorinz is part of the reason to watch this film. He's not a particularly gifted actor, but there's just something about him which makes him fit this role like a glove. For the most part, we are bombarded by bad computer effects, some cheap and tacky gore, lots of gratuitous nudity, pseudo-science and, in the film's most remembered scene, prostitutes literally exploding all over the place. Although this scene is patently unrealistic, at least you won't find it anywhere else.As for the horror content, there is little. An effective ending has the principle villain being eaten by a hideous 'something' in a slimy freezer, but that's about it as the rest of the film is played strictly for laughs. Henenlotter certainly makes the most of his low budget, and many of the special effects are ambitious, if not totally realistic. They all fit into the spirit of the thing, in any case. For fans of cheesy horror flicks, FRANKENHOOKER is definitely one of a kind.

I use this deliciously grotesque film as a sort of Rorschach test on friends to gauge their level of worthiness. Only those who relish Frankenhooker's deeply depraved lunacy, its sublimely sociopathic silliness are permitted entry into my exclusive inner circle. It's a cold, scary world out there and you gotta know who your real friends are - who's got your back, who you can count on when the sh*t goes down, who is just as delightfully demented as you are - and this maniacally warped chuckle machine is a fine instrument by which to measure someone's capacity for enlightened idiocy. That's a quality that is sorely lacking today, the ability and willingness of people to find amusement and even joy in the incorrectness of our natural selves; people foolishly refrain from laughing at the seemingly darker, foreboding, threatening aspects of reality. But not me.Sure, horror films are embraced by society for their ability to shock us out of our routine emotions, to startle us momentarily into an alternate experience of our otherwise mundane lives. But horror films are rarely if ever appreciated for their unique power to reveal the utter absurdity of so many of our culturally propagated habits. We all caress and coddle and fetishize our own personal fears, guarding and nurturing them like tender, vulnerable infants, vigilant to keep them concealed, away from the critical and denigrating gaze of others. Most people do not like to belittle or mock or taunt their deepest fears, but this film so blithely, so candidly, so radiantly rejoices in burlesquing terrors that we ordinarily conceal, deny, and rebuke. It's a luxury and a privilege to be allowed to wallow in the sordid, sour swamp of Frankenhooker's campy indifference to our petty, tedious concerns. This magically mental movie is a festive rejection of all of our ancient, tired, worn out notions of civility and decency and normalcy. Only a stark raving bore could not madly love Frankenhooker.

I follow the blu rays coming out on the Arrow Video label, they are so well done. Naturally by following that line sometimes they deliver classics and sometimes the flick isn't really your stuff. I was a bit afraid of this one. Frank Henenlotter isn't my thing, I didn't like Basket Case and I surely didn't like Brain Damage. Frankenhooker did have a nice script, just looking at the title says enough. And doesn't we all remember Weird Science (1985)? It starts of rather good and I enjoyed it, I even laughed a bit with the lawnmower scene. But once Elisabeth is being killed by the lawnmower it becomes a typical Henenlotter flick. There's so much talking and nothing really is scary or whatsoever. The performances are okay, James Lorinz came out of Street Trash (1987) to take the lead as Jeffrey Franken. He went further to act in rather B flicks, the most famous one he was in was Robocop 3 (1993) but even there it was a small part. But most people were looking out for Patty Mullen, a Pet of the Month in the August, 1986 issue of "Penthouse.". The pictures taken were steaming hot and she even became pet of the year in 1987 and revisited her nude pictures in 1988. Her acting career was rather short, she only appeared in 2 horrors, this flick and Doom Asylum (1987). For doing a lot of nudity she only showed her nude ass and a small glimpse of her tits in Frankenhooker although it has a lot of juggs being shown from the hookers, the most famous ones are those tattooed ones from Jennifer Delora playing Angel. It was her first 'major' production. She was in a lot of exploitations and low budgets before playing hookers, the most famous being the Electric Blue series. On the effects part they worked rather good, still, it's low budget and it shows like the drilling machine not working in a close-up but still is drilling into a head, or the body parts were you can easily see that they are fake. But it's maybe the best of all Henenlotter's flicks, but it's so recognisable. Just look at the creators at the end, doesn't they look like the Basket Case creature? Still not my thing but I can understand that it will have his following now that it is out on Blu Ray. Gore 0/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 1/5