It should come as no surprise to anyone that a movie called Frankenhooker is utterly crass. That being said, it’s also hysterically
funny and so completely out there that it just begs to be watched with a group
of friends on a Friday night. Frank Henenlotter is not known for making subtle
and delicate films—he’s a schlockmeister of the highest order. His other
infamous film Basket Case (which
spawned two sequels), is a testament to jacked up situations, sexual perversion,
and gross-out humor. Henenlotter is fully aware of his station in life and was
quoted as saying: "I always felt that I made exploitation films.
Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything – an attitude that you
don’t find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They’re a little ruder, a
little raunchier, they deal with material people don’t usually touch on,
whether it’s sex or drugs or rock and roll."
So that brings us to Frankenhooker.
It’s based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein,
but it takes gigantic liberties with the story. James Lorinz plays Jeffrey
Franken, a half-assed mad scientist who tries to bring his fiancé Elizabeth
(Patty Mullen) back to life after an unfortunate accident. Lorinz’s performance
in this film is freaking hilarious and he carries the entire movie. He
constantly has running commentary on everything that is happening around him
and most of it sounds ad-libbed. Honestly, even though he is basically a sexist
pig in this movie, he’s just such a doofus that you can’t help but like the
guy. He has made the rounds in several video nasties, most notably the
exploitation classic Street Trash.
Patty Mullen, who was a Penthouse Pet at the time, is
excellent as Frankenhooker. She has wonderful comedic timing both with line
delivery and physical acting. While I’m sure they wanted to exploit the fact
that she was in Penthouse (and yes, they do show her boobs), she’s actually a
very likable in this role and did as much as someone can do with an undead
prostitute character. Her make-up work is great, and she really does look like
someone who has been cobbled together from numerous different body parts. She
also has purple nipples—gotta love that attention to detail.
The gore work in this film is awesome and one-hundred-percent
practical. Some of it is intentionally campy, but at other times they really
pull out the stops. I have two words for you guys: exploding hookers. That right there should be all the glowing
endorsement you need. Really though, some of the monster creations for this
film are downright disgusting and it’s a joy to see them brought to life with
such care and love.
Frankenhooker definitely puts the exploit in exploitation
with tons of nude scenes, dirty sex jokes, racial stereotypes, violence against
sex workers, and just general depravity. To be completely honest, I love films
like this because it serves as escapism from the rules of normal life. It’s not
meant to be taken seriously at all, and these terrible things are served with a
wink and a smirk. There are films that still do this today, but they have been
forced far underground—which may be for the better actually. It keeps them punk
rock and independent.
- Michelle Kisner