Shout! Factory
80s office worker Conor Sweeney, is so much of a square, he borders on cube-dom and makes The Simpsons’ Ned Flanders look like Keanu Reeves.
Obsessed with TV antiques shows, the most excitement he has with his long-suffering and insanely attractive wife Kristina (Kristy Woodworth) is holding hands; when Conor, (played by, erm, Conor Sweeney!), is left alone for the weekend, he learns the true meaning of the word “freak.”
Fortunately for him, there are no hideous deformities or sexual shenanigans in store.
Unfortunately, there is the titular Frankie Freako, “a little gremlin guy who likes to party”, who looks set to bring all manner of chaos into his life and what remains of his picture-perfect house.
After jeopardising his promotion prospects with a disastrous work presentation, (proving you can be mind-numbingly boring and disturbing at the same time!), Conor decides to ring a pay-by-the-minute phone line promising wild partying and the ultimate “freaky” experience.
In a darker movie, this may have entailed undead hookers or the like, but this is much milder fare, meaning that one innocent call invites the titular Frankie Freako into his life.
Frankie and his two buddies, psychotic cowgirl Dottie Dunko and cyborg tech wizard Boink Bardo, are deliciously retro monsters reminiscent of Boglins toys or straight-to-video monster flicks like Spookies or Critters, chaotic, farting pint-sized avatars of mischievousness who can seemingly appear and disappear at will.
As Conor struggles and fails to stop the trio from destroying his home, negotiating some gleefully inventive booby traps, dodging bullets (well, most of them), and managing to stay alive, the situation escalates even further out of control. His creepy pony-tailed boss tricks the guileless Conor into shredding incriminating documents from a work-related scam, but although he falls for it, the creatures manage to save him… only to reveal they ate fugitives from another dimension.
The evil overlord Boss Munch (sadly not played by the late great Richard Belzer), sends a squad of robot killers after them and Conor and his new pals are taken back through a space portal to their home world as prisoners. The situation seems hopeless. Munch finds Conor irresistible in his space-girl style attire, can being shamelessly and hilariously sexually objectified help him to save both worlds?
Can a criminally tedious presentation on sector subdivisions could save the world? Even if things do get sorted out, how does Conor explain things when Kristina comes home?
To paraphrase Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science, what do these little monsters want to do next…?
The only previous movie I have seen by director Steven Kostanski was Psycho Goreman, best summarised as a Power Rangers style villain thwarted by a bunch of kids – very The Gate and extremely enjoyable. Kostanski is an acclaimed FX makeup artist who has worked on a multitude of high profile projects including Pacific Rim but his chosen metier is clearly quirky indie storytelling which is a far cry from CGI-heavy blockbusters.
Extras include commentary, featurettes, and trailer.
There are some lovely practical effects work on display here, from the endearingly gross main characters, (not you, Conor!), and the intricate model dystopian city of Frankie’s home dimension and the trolley chase through it, Wes Anderson meets Sin City! (The hilarious house cleaning montage spoofing Stallone style training sequences did make me laugh…)
There’s no gore, nudity and a single solitary “shit.” Frankie Freako shares its slapstick madcap humour, preferring a surreal tone rather than slumming it by going for cheap laughs. If you are a fan of 80s creature flicks, Three Stooges or a milder variant of Sam Raimi or early Peter Jackson, this is definitely for you.
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