Frankenhooker (1990) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 1990
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Cast: James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, Charlotte J. Helmkamp, Joseph Gonzalez, Louise Lasser
Rating: R
Release Date: 1 June 1990
Running Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

The Movie Review

Frankenhooker film still 1


FRANKENHOOKER
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

For B-movie enthusiasts, probably Frankenhooker is one of the most catchiest Titles you ever come across. The title alone is crazy enough to warrant a rent! It's very cheesy and tacky and it's a definite sign of frankenstein and hooker hybrid. Basically Frankenhooker is a movie that tries to combine horror and comedy in one place. And probably in order to get it more colourful, the filmmakers cast 2 nude models of respectively Penthouse (Patty Mullen) and Playboy (Charlotte J. Helmkamp) magazine to star in this splatter fest. And now in 2010, would it still worth your time and money?

The story centers on Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz), a regular guy with a regular job but he is a genius in Biomechanical Engineering. On the birthday party of his future father-in-law, a grueseome accident befalls on Jeffrey's fiancée, Elizabeth Shelley (Patty Mullen). Elizabeth was chopped to pieces but in the aftermath of the incident, her head and some body parts are missing that even the police can not locate them.

Jeffrey plunges into deep sorrow because he loves Elizabeth so dearly and even his room is still decorated with Elizabeth pictures. But the weird thing is that it's not only Elizabeth's pictures that he keeps in his house, it turns out that Jeffrey is the one who 'snatched' Elizabeth decapitated head and some of her body parts, which he preserve them in purple liquid. Jeffrey has this idea to reanimate his fiancée. He's already got the skill and the tools, so what else does he needs? Well of course, he needs the missing body parts! And Jeffrey will obtain them from living hookers! Jeffrey soon drives to the dark alleys and got hooked up with an energetic hooker named Honey (Charlotte J. Helmkamp). But in order to get all the body parts Jeffrey needs, Honey alone is not enough. And so Jeffrey meets the toughest and meanest pimp, Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez), to 'hire' all the girls he needs. How exactly Jeffrey will do the operation? What will happen to Elizabeth afterwards?

You have got to be kidding me if you're complaining about sleaziness it contains. Seasoned horror movie buffs must've realized that Frankenhooker is a movie to be seen in dark places with raincoat! But even so, I've gotta say that this movie is actually disappointing. I watched it with fairly low expectation! And I was still bored and wished that it'd be over soon so I could move on to another film.

The horror is all about splatter fest and the comedy is all about sex. Now these two elements of movies are not to be judged in the same class as Titanic (1997) or Slumdog Millionaire (2008), since Frankenhooker is all about exploitation! But as I always believe, either exploitation, low-budget, or B-movie material does not directly mean BAD. Because there is so-bad-it's-good movie and then there is also simply-bad movie. And I have to be honest to the unsuspecting exploitation cinema collectors, that Frankenhooker is simply bad.

-- Start of Spoiler Possibility Alert --

It has the script that only 12 year-old would like, it's too crowded and too saturated on a single subject... Nudity. I mean the scene with 7 topless hookers is supposed to be something titillating I guess, but I found it rather off-putting. Besides, no one can act except for Charlotte J. Helmkamp. The scene is boring *yawn* and they're shot in a very cheaply-like and too wannabe. But fortunately, this scene ends with a bang! And I mean lotsa of bangs (literally). It's not everyday sight that you see 7 hookers exploding! And the punch line is when the Zorro is knocked out by a flying head of one the hookers. I'm not sure whether it's the camerawork or the timing, but even the punch line only got me chuckle a bit, and not laughed out loud.

The other good thing about this low-budget film is the great use of pyrotechnic and freakish puppets near the end. Those scary looking puppets are just awesome, they seem to be the definite family of Spawn horrible action figure characters.

-- End of Spoiler Possibility Alert --

The acting of Patty Mullen is very amusing, she could make funny faces and is fun to see. This Penthouse Pet also got to do topless scene but I don't know whether it's a good thing or not since she looks purple all around! But probably the worst part of it all is on the lead character, Jeffrey Franken. He is such a boring dude! For most of the time all we hear is him mumbling his thoughts and plans about reanimating Elizabeth. And it's not some kind of cool narration, but a drop dead mumbles, I just wished I could yell at him "Shut up man! And give us some action!" It's a sad thing, because the premise of Frankenhooker is Whow, and had it been handled correctly, it would've been awesome, but that's not the case. So I suggest that you skip this title entirely or at most just rent it online for cheap price.

> Another Patty Mullen in Doom Asylum (1987) and Charlotte J. Helmkamp in a very very rare Slasher, Posed for Murders (1989).

> Another Playboy Playmates Playings: Tiffany Bolling in The Candy Snatchers (1973) and Claudia Jennings in 'Gator Bait (1974).