Frankenhooker (1990)

 

Director: Frank Henenlotter

Screenplay: Frank Henenlotter and Robert Martin

Cast: James Lorinz as Jeffrey; Patty Mullen as Elizabeth; Joseph Gonzalez as Zorro

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies)

 

My enjoyment of Frankenhooker means more knowing this was not a fun film for its director Frank Henenlotter to make, knowing its origins was a hastily improvised pitch at the desk of producer James Glickenhaus, director of exploitation film The Exterminator (1980) who also produced genre films. The premise Henenlotter wanted to pitch was James Glickenhaus, a bizarre insect related piece that was too weird to produce, and not wanting to lose his chance, Henenlotter instead improvised both sequels to Basket Case (1982), the cult film which made his name, and Frankenhooker itself.

Frankenhooker and Basket Cast 2 (1990) were made back to back, and even the film's special effects artist Gabriel Bartalos even admitted that this could have been a terrible and tasteless film if they did it badly¹. Neither helping is that they had to acquire a second director of photography mid-shot - with Robert A. Burns of The Exterminator - which lead to arguments between him and Henenlotter¹. It is a title, instantly standing out, that thankfully did not turn into a mess under this context, tasteless and absurd but, unlike other films, thankfully living up to the premise. The tone is set up with just the introduction of our lead Jeffrey (James Lorinz), our Dr. Frankenstein stand-in who, with his medical and electrician's knowledge, is working on a brain with an eyeball on the kitchen table at the barbecue birthday of his girlfriend's father. An unfortunate lawnmower accident which the flame of his life, Elizabeth Shelley (Patty Mullen), making her into "tossed salad", leaves him grief stricken and wishing to rebuild her.

It is, for a low budget title which Henenlotter was struggling through, still an achievement for a lurid premise which, in another's hand, would have been a cop-out and lack personality, just a catchy premise and a poster, something seen far too much in genre cinema. Frank Henenlotter unlike others, for example, in all his films has premises which go with their ridiculous ideas to their fullest, how into their absurdity they run with idiosyncratic streaks and how you are interested in these characters in these stories even if their stories are insane, or there are quirks like Jeffrey giving himself trepanning with a drill to help his mental faculties. And with credit to him and co-screen writer Robert Martin, Jeffrey is a balancing act in how to make a character who is likable in a very naive way but also with his own folly in his desires, helped considerably by James Lorinz playing him. James Lorinz is an actor who could have had a bigger filmography in terms of roles with a lot of time onscreen, including a small (but memorable) role in Street Trash (1987), making this one of his biggest position in terms of this.  

The joke becomes as much that Jeffrey is a man who thinks he can rebuild his girlfriend into the "perfect" one, not just to resurrect Elizabeth. It does become about commodification even if the film is openly playing to it in a crass way right down to the title, where Jeffrey despite being sympathetic is so because of how much a lovable doofus he is, someone who in vast contrast is yet the butt of the joke for objectifying the sex workers he will need to use as literal body parts, not different from the pump Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) who deals crack and brands his women with "Z" on their shoulders. It is a sleazy film in idea, reflecting how on the cusp of New York City soon changing into the nineties, Henenlotter was clearly inspired (filming the likes of Basket Cast there) on how many sex workers he said to have seen filming in New York on the streets at night, where also the "Super Crack" idea came from, a subplot reflecting the crack epidemic of the same period¹. It is however poignant, for a film from a proud exploitation film fan who does not skim the luridness, that this even as a horror comedy makes the joke most of the time a guy's terrible desire to turn his girlfriend into his ideal, which will bite him in the butt to comedic and perverse effect as this goes. Considering scenes within the film, like Jeffery measuring women for the perfect parts, and how he is not the dominant person, the sex workers the stronger voices, and by the time Elizabeth becomes the titular figure, and Patty Mullen gets to stretch herself with her gurning and her vocal calls, and it is established that he is the fool in the story, even if a lovable one, rightly to be damned in the eye catching final scene. [Major Spoilers] Henenlotter always ends his films with eye-catching final scenes, and with Jeffrey in a woman's body due to circumstances, and with the dialogue repeated from another's mouth, it becomes a deliciously macabre morality tale for a funny finale [Spoilers End].

With NYC footage stolen without permits, Frankenhooker is a labour of love in spite of its rushed origins and Henenlotter's stresses about the production thankfully led to a good film. It fires with all cylinders in whit and imaginative perversity even before Mullen starts stealing the film in her purple hair piece and giant Karloff boots, even before you get to one of the more ridiculous scenes involving the aforementioned Super Crack. A mere McGuffin to get around Jeffrey being too evil in carving women up, it however leads to one of those real out-there scenes in horror cinema especially as it is set up with a literal guinea pig being blown up first. It would be horrible to see in real life, but the scene of exploding sex workers, with no gore whatsoever and the right side of tastelessness rather than offensive, even with a lot of female nudity, is insane, ridiculous and took months to even create. Consisting of exploding the mannequins made from the actresses involved, from the adult film industry and centrefold models, and a lot of sparklers, it is a one-off scene for any film to have and will stay with you.

Gabriel Bartalos himself deserve his credit for this film, from the rich era of great practical effects designers who put their own voices on the films with their directors and writers. Here Bartalos is able to bring in over-the-top images to life, like Elizabeth's character in her full rebuild appearance, still absurd but looking like she was built from human remains regardless of similarity, or the creations accidentally made from the spare body parts, an estrogen based fluid Jeffrey uses to preserve them and lighting, coming from the storage fridge as hybrids beyond human form. It is an underappreciated art, Bartalos someone, with those who work with him, who has spanned high art and genre work without discrimination. He worked with artist Matthew Barney as a practical effects designer on multiple films like Cremaster 3 (2002) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2009). If Drawing Restraint 9  led Bartalos to work directly from musician Björk, then Barney's wife, than he could on the opposite side of the coin work with the Insane Clown Posse, which shows how diverse and interesting a career of a practical effects artist can be, deserved as figures like him honed their crafts with the likes of Frank Henenlotter.

Even without a cover quote from Bill Murray of all people, the result of technical production on this film being done in the same studio as Murray's Quick Change (1990) was, and Murray being intrigued by the rushes he was seeing¹, Frankenhooker comes with numerous virtues as a mad, inventive and sincerely made genre film. In his sadly small but strong filmography, Frank Henenlotter may have been inspired by exploitation cinema, but he thankfully avoiding the part about conning viewers out of their money with just the sizzle of the promotion, something Frankenhooker is an attachment to.

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1) Taken from Your Date's on a Plate: The Making of Frankenhooker (2012), a production directed by Calum Waddell from High Rising Productions.