''Frankenhooker'' is a 1990 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

directed by

Frank Henenlotter Frank Henenlotter (born August 29, 1950) is an American film director, screenwriter and film historian. He is known primarily for directing horror comedies, especially '' Basket Case'' (1982), ''Brain Damage'' (1988), and '' Frankenhooker'' (199 ...

. Very loosely inspired by

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

's 1818 novel ''

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific exp ...

'', the film stars James Lorinz as medical school drop-out Jeffrey Franken and former ''Penthouse'' Pet

Patty Mullen Patty Mullen is an American actress and model known for her starring role in the 1990 film ''Frankenhooker'', as well as for her dual role in the 1987 film '' Doom Asylum''. Mullen has been featured in the magazine '' Penthouse'', and was awarded ...

as the title character.

Plot

Jeffrey Franken, a young man who lives in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, is a worker at a power plant and a scientist who specializes in bioelectricity. He is about to get married to his

fiancée An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

Elizabeth. At the birthday party of Elizabeth's father, Jeffrey presents him with an automatic lawnmower as a gift, but when Elizabeth tries to demonstrate it, she's caught in its path and gruesomely killed. Jeffrey, in his grief, begins plotting to use his knowledge of circuits to rebuild Elizabeth and bring her back to life. His grief drives him to have mock dinner dates with the few pieces of Elizabeth he could salvage, as well as performing self-

trepanation Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from Medieval Latin from Greek , literally "borer, auger"), is a surgical intervention in which a hole is dri ...

s with a power drill to help him calm down. He decides to make the perfect new body for Elizabeth by harvesting the body of a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

prostitute. After meeting several girls and their abusive

pimp Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

Zorro, a muscle-bound temperamental crack dealer, Jeffrey tricks Zorro into letting him rent every one of the girls for a single night to find the one with the perfect body for Elizabeth. Inspired by a news report about crack cocaine causing the deaths of many New York prostitutes, he then develops a "super-crack" which he finds causes living beings to explode. Deciding he's doing nothing wrong as crack will probably kill the prostitutes anyway, Jeffrey lures them all into a hotel room under the guise of a "medical examination" and marks the girls with the body parts he wants for Elizabeth. However, as he begins to have second thoughts, the prostitutes all find the bag of super-crack and all smoke it despite Jeffrey's pleas, causing them all to explode into pieces. Zorro hears the commotion and rushes to the room only to be knocked out by one of the flying heads of his girls. Jeffrey hurriedly puts the body parts into trash bags, promising to restore the girls once he brings Elizabeth back. After picking the perfect body parts and sewing them and Elizabeth's head together into a single body, Jeffrey uses the lightning from a nearby storm to shock Elizabeth's new body to life again. However, her body and face move awkwardly, and she can only repeat what the previous girls said before they died. The "Frankenhooker" escapes the basement and begins looking for customers, who end up exploding from electricity when they try getting intimate with her. Jeffrey goes looking for Elizabeth and finds her at a bar. Unfortunately, Zorro is there too, and upon hearing her mention his name and recognizing her body parts, he angrily strikes her so hard that her head mostly detaches from her body. Jeffrey evades Zorro and takes Elizabeth home to repair her neck and revive her again. After bolting her head more securely to her new body, Jeffrey wakes Elizabeth up, finding her memory restored. At first, Elizabeth is impressed that Jeffrey brought her back, but becomes furious when she realizes what her body is now made of and how Jeffrey obtained the parts. Jeffrey tries to explain himself, but he is attacked and decapitated by Zorro, who's followed him home. Zorro then attempts to drag Elizabeth away with him, justifying himself by claiming that most of her new body belongs to him. However, the spare hooker parts have also been reanimated by the storm and merged into multiple grotesque limbed monsters, which overwhelm Zorro and drag him away into their storage cooler to his presumable death, along with his drugs. Elizabeth decides to revive Jeffrey via the same procedure he used on her, but since the process only works on female bodies, Elizabeth is forced to put Jeffrey's head on a body made of the hookers' body parts to bring him back. As Jeffrey awakens, Elizabeth happily says they'll be together forever as Jeffrey moans in horror at his new female body.

Cast

* James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken *

as Elizabeth Shelley/Frankenhooker * Joanne Ritchie as Mrs. Shelley * Paul-Felix Montez as Goldie * Joseph Gonzalez as Zorro the Pimp * J.J. Clark as Mr. Shelley * Gregory Martin as Rufus McClure * Carissa Channing as Dolores * Shirl Bernheim as Elizabeth's Grandmother * Hannah York as Mary Jane * Helmar Augustus Cooper as Detective Anderson *

Heather Hunter Heather Keisha Hunter (born October 1, 1969), nicknamed Double H, is an American rapper, painter, author, and pornographic actress. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Early life Hunter was born in The Bronx, New York, to a fune ...

as Chartreuse *

Louise Lasser Louise Marie Lasser (born April 11, 1939) is an American actress, television writer, and performing arts teacher and director. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera satire '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.'' She was ...

as Mrs. Franken * Charlotte Kemp (credited as Charlotte Helmkamp) as Honey *

Lia Chang Lia Chang (born September 29, 1963) is an American actress, journalist, and photographer.
''Jade Magazine'', March–April 2 ...

as Crystal * Kimberly Taylor as Amber *

Shirley Stoler Shirley Stoler (March 30, 1929 – February 17, 1999) was an American actress best known for her roles in ''The Honeymoon Killers'' and Lina Wertmüller's ''Seven Beauties''. Early years The eldest of four children born to Russian Jewish im ...

as Spike the Bartender *

Jennifer DeLora Jennifer DeLora (born March 2, 1962) is an American model (person), model, actress, and educator. She began her career as a beauty queen, and was crowned Miss Ulster County, New York, Ulster County in her youth. She later established herself as a ...

as Angel

Release

''Frankenhookers initial release was delayed because of difficulty obtaining an R rating from the MPAA; the director recalls that one representative of the ratings body actually said, in a phone call to the production company's secretary, "Congratulations, you're the first film rated ''S''." And she said, "''S''? For sex?" And they said, "No, ''S'' for ''shit''." To his dismay, Henenlotter's conservative parents insisted on attending the film's premiere in New York City; Henenlotter expressed surprise that they were not offended by the exploitative elements.

Reception

The film has a 57% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 5.09/10. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "''Frankenhooker'' is a grisly, grotesque horror comedy recommended only for the stout of heart and strong of stomach."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "there is a legitimate sense of the absurd lurking within Frank Henenlotter's ''Frankenhooker''," but it is "overshadowed by special effects" and elements that recall soft-core pornography. Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' called it a "hilarious, totally outrageous grin-and-gore comedy." ''Frankenhooker'' was named "Killer B Film of the Year for 1990" by

E! Entertainment Television E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUnivers ...

's Attack of the Killer B's segment.

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

was quoted as saying "If you see one movie this year, it should be ''Frankenhooker''." Henenlotter said that Murray had been editing his film '' Quick Change'' and hung out with the ''Frankenhooker'' crew. After Murray expressed interest in their film, the distributor attempted to get an endorsement from him. Embarrassed that they would abuse Murray's friendliness, Henenlotter attempted to avoid Murray. When they eventually ran into each other, Henenlotter apologized and explained that he was not responsible. Satisfied with the explanation, Murray volunteered a quotation.

Home media

''Frankenhooker'' was released on VHS in 1990, by

Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment was a company formed at the height of the home video industry in 1982 by producer Leonard Shapiro and director James Glickenhaus to produce and distribute low-budget horror and action films. History The company k ...

, and had an interactive box which had the titular character exclaim "wanna date?!" when you pressed a button on the box. On November 8, 2011,

Synapse Films Synapse Films is an American DVD and Blu-ray label, founded in 1997 and specializing in cult horror, science fiction and exploitation films. History Synapse Films was owned and operated by Don May, Jr. and his business partners Jerry Chandler ...

released ''Frankenhooker'' on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

. This edition has reversible cover art, with the original theatrical poster on one side and newly commissioned artwork on the reverse side. The disc contains a 2K high definition transfer of the film and a digitally remastered 5.1 audio mix, as well as an audio commentary track from writer/director Frank Henenlotter and make-up effects designer Gabe Bartalos, three featurettes and the original theatrical trailer. The special features from this release were also available on the DVD version of the film, released on September 10, 2013. On January 2, 2012,

Arrow Films Arrow Films is a British independent film distributor and restorer specialising in world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films. It sells Ultra HD Blu-rays, Blu-rays and DVDs online, and also operates its own subscription video on-d ...

released a special edition Blu-ray of ''Frankenhooker''. Like the Synapse release before it, this edition also has reversible cover art, featuring both the original theatrical poster art and newly commissioned art (different from the Synapse version). This edition includes many UK exclusives, including an audio commentary from Henenlotter and star James Lorinz, a documentary titled "Your Date's on a Place" and a tour of Gabe Bartalos' effects lab in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. It also includes all three featurettes from the Synapse release, as well as trailers for the films '' Basket Case'', ''

Basket Case 2 ''Basket Case 2'' is a 1990 American comedy horror film written and directed by Frank Henenlotter, and the sequel to the 1982 film '' Basket Case''. It stars Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley, who moves with his deformed, formerly conjoined tw ...

'' and ''

Brain Damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

'', all of which were also directed by Henenlotter.

References

External links

* * {{Frankenstein 1990 films 1990 horror films 1990s black comedy films 1990s comedy horror films 1990 independent films 1990s monster movies 1990s science fiction horror films American black comedy films American body horror films American comedy horror films American independent films American monster movies American science fiction horror films American splatter films 1990s English-language films Films about cocaine Films about couples Films about murderers Films about prostitution in the United States Films directed by Frank Henenlotter Films set in New Jersey Films set in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Frankenstein films Films scored by Joe Renzetti Resurrection in film American exploitation films 1990 comedy films 1990s American films