FRANKIE FREAKO (2024)
Label: Shout Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated:
Duration: 82 Minutes 43 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.90:1)
Director: Steven Kostanski
Cast: Conor Sweeney, Kristy Wordsworth, Adam Brooks, Rob Schrab, Matthew Kennedy, Meredith Sweeney, Rich Evans, Mike Kostanski
After a decade absence from feature film making Astron-6 (The Editor) return with the tiny-terror horror-comedy Frankie Freako (2024) directed by Steven Kostanski (PG: Psycho Goreman) and starring Connor Sweenie (Father's Day) as an '80s lame-o yuppie named Conor, who despite being the ultimate square is married to the stunning
Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth, The Spy Who Never Does), a sculptor, who craves more adventure in the sack and for her square hubby to be a bit more edgy and interesting as a person, because he is seriously a milquetoast sort of guy, only in a movie emulating an 80's horror comedy can even come close to explaining why these two are together in the first place. Conor is just sort of seriously sheltered and clueless, so much so that at work his boss Mr. Buechler (Adam Brooks, The Editor) is trying to rope the naive Conor into shredding some docs that might get him in some sort of legal trouble, and it's pretty obvious he;s trying to cover-up a crime and hoping to to pin the blame on Conor by making sure he is caught on camera doing it. While his wife is away he is left alone at the house, and while looking through the telephone book (you see kids, back in the day tio find a phone number....) looking for pizza delivery he comes across a listing for a late-night party hotline that promises out-of-this-world fun with a red-skinned demonic character named Frankie Freako. He dials the number and sort of 976-EVIL style the pint-sized Frankie Freako and his demonic party minions Dottie Dunko (Meredith Sweeney, Manborg) and Crunch (Mike Kostanski, PG: Psycho Goreman) are summoned to his house, causing all sort of havoc for the square dude, but eventually the experience is transformative for Conor, resulting in him discovering his inner-freak, with the pint-sized party-monsters explaining their alien origins to him, escaping from the Planet Freaklor and the tyrannical Rich Evans as Freaklors President Munch (Rich Evans) and his evil laser-eyed minions. Of course Much tracks Frankie Freako down and arrives on Earth, transforming into the Uber Munch, after which even more freakiness transpires.
This slice of pint-sized comedy-horror is super-silly and fun, tapping into that post-Gremlin tiny-terror boom of the 80's, stuff that was pretty goofy like Munchies, Ghoulies, Hobgoblins and of course Puppet Master. The rubber-creations here look terrific, they are not super articulate in movement but I love the look of them, with Dottie Dunko having a definite Six-Shooter from Puppet Master vibes with her face partially obscured by a bandit-styled bandana. The blue-faced Crunch is a bit of a lunkhead, he has a monosyllabic response to everything, "Shabadoo" with various intonations to express how he feels about things. The real talker of the trio is the party goblin Frankie Freako, the red-skinned freakoid who is the most demonic looking of the bunch. I was getting a bit of Garbage Pail Kids The Movie vibe about it as well, which is just dementedly wonderful.
In true '80s fashion that are plot threads that are completely dropped, the special effects have a delightfully updated but retro look to them, and the jokes and puns are absurdly and wonderful. They really do capture that goody '80s vibe that is often elusive when trying to replicate this sort of stuff, which the Astron-6 production team seem quite adept at capturing. If you're a fan of tiny-terrors, goofy 80's horror that are heavy with special effects, or just of the Astron-6 affiliated brand of cinema like PG: Psycho Gorman or Manborg this is a must-watch.
Audio/Video: Frankie Freako (2024) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory looking terrific in 1080p HD framed in 1.90:1 widescreen. The digital shot film is free of blemish, colors sizzle, and the black levels are rock solid. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitle. The tracks are clean and robust, the surround offering subtle and not so subtle atmospherics with aplomb, dialogue from the actors and voice cast is always intelligible and nuanced, and the score Blitz//Berlin (Extraterrestrial) sounds terrific in the mix.
Extras include an Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Steven Kostanski, Actor Conor Sweeney and Cinematographer Pierce Derks; the 11-min Fasten Your Freakbelts - Behind The Scenes Of Frankie Freako which offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective of shooting the film, including plenty of puppeteering action; a fun 9-min
Conor & Frankie: A Conversation Between Actors with Sweeney interviewing Frankie Freako; the full 47-second
Frankie Freako’s Funtime Phone Commercial; the full 2-min Antique Connoisseurs Segments as seen in the film, and the 2-min Trailer. The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a 2-sided non-reversible wrap featuring the Graham Humphrey artwork, which is replicated on the first-pressing only Slipcover.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Steven Kostanski, Actor Conor Sweeney and Cinematographer Pierce Derks
- “Fasten Your Freakbelts” – Behind The Scenes Of Frankie Freako (10:25)
- “Conor & Frankie: A Conversation Between Actors” (8:54)
- Frankie Freako’s Funtime Phone Commercial (0:47)
- Antique Connoisseurs Segments (2:24).
- Trailer (2:22)
Buy it!
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