Frankie Freako Movie Review: Kostanski Does It Again

Steven Kostanski perfectly recreates the joy of 1980s camp with his incredibly fun and crowd-pleasing Frankie Freako.

Kostanski also knows how to nail the aesthetic of a film distributed by New World Pictures with a quality that’s indescribable on paper but immediately recognizable when you lay your eyes on it. Its off-kilter dialogues and stilted acting are part of the charm of a film made under the supervision of Roger and Gene Corman, which Frankie Freako quickly parodies as soon as it opens. Introducing us to our protagonist, Conor (Conor Sweeney, of PG: Psycho Goreman), Kostanski recreates a charm that hasn’t been found in ages in movies, not as plagiarism, but as a tribute that films used to have a particular feel that has since been lost with the advent of digital.

He rapidly posits Conor as an insecure, “square” office worker who can’t seem to loosen up the way his wife, Kristina (a wonderful Kristy Wordsworth, of Blaze), would like to or how his boss, Mr. Buechler (Adam Brooks, of Dark Harvest), wants to set a new standard in his office. Mr. Buechler is also a crook who takes a liking for Conor just so he can frame him shredding documents proving his culpability for fraud. Because he’s too rigid, Conor thinks his boss is serious about a promotion and is willing to do anything to attain it, even if it means shredding documents without knowing the repercussions of this act.

However, before he has any chance of doing so, Conor becomes tantalized by an advert promising non-stop fun on the phone if he calls a 1-900 number that will direct him to a puppet-like creature named Frankie Freako (Matthew Kennedy, of The Void) who just wants to party! Encouraged to loosen up, Conor thinks calling Frankie is the perfect opportunity for him to try and become less squared. But he doesn’t realize that the phone number is actually a gateway for Frankie and his gang of Freakos, Boink (also voiced by Adam Brooks), and Dottie (Meredith Sweeney, of Father’s Day) to enter Conor’s house and wreak havoc. He attempts to get rid of them, but to no avail, until he receives a call from President Munch (Rich Evans, of RedLetterMedia) that transports him into the world of the Freakos. 

A wild adventure awaits, albeit one that isn’t afraid to be far less family-friendly than its conceit makes it out to be. To be honest, the Freakos are incredibly lovable and remind you of some characteristics from the Mogwais in Gremlins until a darker, more sickening side to them reveals itself when they do not listen to Conor’s demands and completely transform his house for the worse. When Conor eventually tells Mr. Buechler about his problem, his boss accompanies him to his house to see if he is telling the truth. Not only is he, but it leads to a scene filled with perverse violence that tortures its protagonists in not-so-family-friendly ways. 

That’s part of the fun of Frankie Freako. It not only effectively blends genres and forms of filmmaking (with plenty of split diopters worthy of Brian De Palma) but also tonalities vastly different from one scene to the next. One scene posits the movie as a fun, crowd-pleasing romp, while the other flips what it had set up on its head and delivers violence so sick and twisted it almost feels too cruel. But you can’t help but laugh at how Frankie throws Conor face-straight into a television, or when Mr. Buechler has his entire body glued on the floor after ripping his leg from a bear trap. It works because Sweeney and Brooks always play their characters with a somewhat caustic tone and delayed line deliveries that serve the aesthetic it attempts to celebrate. 

But how they react to the Freakos inflicting absolute terror on them also works in the movie’s favor. It puts us in a position where we’re more inclined to enjoy the depraved pleasures Kostanski offers in his film than reject them. The movie wants to take itself seriously and actively tries to develop the world of its characters through an ingenious VHS short film narrated by Mike Stoklasa, another RedLetterMedia veteran.

However, it also isn’t interested in giving us more than a shell of how it introduces the Freakos’ dystopian planet and quickly rushes towards its ending. That feels distinctly direct-to-VHS, in which the promise of something significant is shown to us, only for it to rush everything spectacular about the production due to a lack of a substantial budget. Evans’ vocal turn as the main antagonist is honestly distinct from his usual RedLetterMedia anticis, but it absolutely warranted more meat around the bone, particularly in its mile-a-minute climax that’s admittedly kinetic and hilarious without much impact. 

Kostanski knows a movie like this shouldn’t overstay its welcome. He knows how Frankie Freako should run at a tight 78-minute runtime without credits, never adding fluff into the mix and always focusing on the lean-and-mean plot of evolving Conor from a ‘square’ to a fully rounded party animal until he realizes that his personality is what makes him the unique person he is. It’s an often violent and gross-out horror comedy that wears the generic influences it appropriates on its sleeves and tips the hat to some of the biggest pioneers of 1980s direct-to-video horror. However, it also offers a poignant reminder of our individuality that feels welcomed today. There’s no denying this film will be as well-received as Kostanski’s last individual efforts and cements the director as one of our most cherished modern genre artists working today. Shabadoo!

Frankie Freako will be released in select US theaters on October 4, 2024.