Making a great movie is difficult. But making a great “bad” movie is much more difficult. Steven Kostanski has made great bad movies his calling card. Nobody elevates trash into treasure like the Canadian FX makeup guru turned director. 10,000 Vogue and PG: Psycho Goreman We need to put him in the same league. Licorice Pizza Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. But that will never happen. The public has no respect for cheese!!
And that’s okay. But for those who understand, Kostanski’s latest film, Frankie Fricodolls, slime, and It’s free.. 2024 isn’t necessarily the ideal moment for a mashup. Ghouli and trash can children The 1980s party-wrecking comedies stand out, but with his retro horror comedies, Kostansky suggests that just might be the case. always It’s a fitting moment for something in this context. If Beetlejuice can make a comeback in 2024, Frankie Freako, a mischievous leather-jacketed gremlin man with a penchant for boogies and farting soda cans, could earn a place in the hearts of moviegoers.
Frankie Frico Kostanski regular Conor Sweeney stars as Conor, a classic ’80s yuppie who is too exhausted from office life to satisfy the sexual needs of his sculptor wife Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth). When Kristina leaves town for a work weekend, the wayward Schlub quietly stays home and goes out to dust the CD shelves. These plans are interrupted by a seductive advertisement for Frankie Freako’s services. Conor knows deep down that his self-proclaimed “party king” needs a jolt, so he summons Frankie with a simple 1-900 call and immediately regrets the decision. Accompanied by two fellow nerds, cowgirl Dottie Dunko and Boink Bardot, who only says “Shabadoo!”, Frankie wreaks havoc at Connor’s house, and Kostanski stages it in a live-action manner. whack a mole.
Kostanski could have been satisfied with just cursing. animal The Joy of Bad Horror Movie Dialogue Frankie Frico. Sweeney nails the accents of all the schlock actors he’s been criticized for. Mystery Science Theater 3000And Kostanski’s script provokes him with groan-worthy one-liners for laughter from audiences who know him. The set pieces of crazy freaks running amok are both familiar and special. As Conor’s house is destroyed, every single piece of profanity or discarded wall art containing vulgar graffiti appears to be perfectly placed and featured. Wes Anderson’s attention to detail is more easily recognizable, but Frankie Frico The production design team is dedicated to dazzling viewers in every frame.
But Kostanski isn’t satisfied with 90 minutes of monotonous jokes. After chasing some nerds with a pistol, Conor learns an important lesson about why nerds are so nerdy. And he soon travels to Freakworld to face Freaklord Munch and his battalion of mechanical monster killers. Using a mix of lo-fi CG and grotesque latex creations, Kostanski brings Freakworld, a cartoonish nightmare landscape like Ralph Bakshi’s animation, to life for Conor. The backgrounds feel grungy and vibrant, like in a movie 10 to 20 times its budget. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice… ) Never do this.
The skill combines howling guitars and every ounce of world-building. Frankie Frico It’s a shift from pure parody to a hybrid subgenre with real merit that Kostanski fundamentally possesses. In an age when horror can feel like studio executives dumping cheap work and trying to change the genre can make less business sense, it’s great to see a director like Kostanski breaking ground on the absurd and taking execution seriously. It’s a thrill to watch. Just like Ridley Scott wrote a historical epic.
In a way, it’s the Frankie Freako way. Half of it can’t be measured. There are only strange measures.
Frankie Frico Released in theaters on October 4th.
