Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Steven Kostanski
Starring: Conor Sweeney, Adam Brooks, Kristy Woodsworth
With his debut, PG: Psycho Goreman, writer/director Steven Kostanski hilariously
pastiched the 1980s sub-genre of "kid befriends alien" movies that
emerged in the wake of E.T. For his follow-up, Frankie Freako, Kostanski similarly evokes the many "little monster" movies spawned
by the success of Gremlins. If you perused the horror section of your local video store in the
second half of the '80s and the early '90s you would have been met with
scores of movies featuring tiny antagonists, from the miniature monsters
of Ghoulies, Critters, Munchies and Troll to the diminutive dolls of Child's Play, Dolly Dearest, Puppet Master and Dolls. Kostanski mashes up all these influences like a gremlin in a blender,
and the result is a sugary treat.
Kostanski also heavily evokes Mike Judge's Office Space with his central character, dull as ditchwater company
man Conor (Conor Sweeney) and his passive aggressive
boss Buechler (Adam Brooks). Conor's latest presentation is
critiqued by Buechler for being too bland, and he's ordered to "spice it
up". At home, Conor faces similar criticisms from his sex-starved wife
Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth), whom Conor ignores in favour of
watching antiques shows on TV. When Kristina suggests that maybe Conor
is a little "square," it hurts his feelings. Seeing a TV commercial for
a phone hotline that allows you to chat with Frankie Freako, a miniature
rubber party animal clad in the '80s symbol of rebellion, a leather
biker jacket, Conor decides to call the line when Kristina goes away for
the weekend. Via some very '80s lightning effects, Frankie and his stunted buddies -
Dottie, a pistol-packin' cowgirl, and Boink, a cyborg with a knack for
making weapons out of anything he can get his hands on - emerge in Conor's
home and begin to party like it's 1989.
What ensues as Conor attempts to remove these miniature menaces from
his home is a riotous mashup of Home Alone, Tex Avery cartoons and Gore Verbinski's Mouse Hunt. The little buggers turn Conor's home against him, creating traps from
household objects and filling his fridge with their own brand of beer
("FART"). Conor recruits Buechler for help in exchange for incriminating
himself by shredding evidence of his boss's "creative accounting" at the
office, and Brooks' deadpan reactions to the developing chaos generate
some of the film's biggest laughs. There are sight gags that are so
silly you just have to applaud them, my favourite involving a
conspicuously empty "bear trap" box that Buechler reacts to with a
"nothing odd about that" shrug. In the final act the movie takes us to
Frankie's home planet of Freakworld, which involves some gloriously
goofy stop-motion animation that recalls Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Kostanski is clearly a fan of Child's Play, borrowing the signature shot of a tiny terror scurrying in the
background, which always raises a smile.
Frankie Freako isn't quite as smart in its humour as Kostanski's previous love
letter to '80s straight to video fare, but there's an admirable
innocence here that makes the movie genuinely resemble something you
might have rented as a 13-year-old in 1987. It never winks at the
audience and Kostanski never gives us the sense that he feels like he's
above the sort of movies he's evoking. Frankie and his friends are
diminutive delights and their rubbery hellraising will warm the hearts
of any children of the '80s, who might even want to introduce
Kostanski's simple pleasures to their own little freakos. Frankie Freako is the cinematic equivalent of those discontinued '80s
neon-coloured candy bars that were 99% sugar; what it lacks in
nutritional value it makes up for by giving you a rush for 80
minutes.
Frankie Freako is in US
cinemas from October 4th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be
announced.
