After calling a late-night party hotline that promises out-of-this-world fun, uptight yuppie Conor Sweeney must battle the pint-sized forces of evil unleashed through his phone line, led by the maniacal rock n’ roll goblin FRANKIE FREAKO.
Фрэнки Фрико, 怪咖腐烂哥, 怪咖腐爛哥
Canada Fantasia International Film Festival 
USA Fantastic Fest 
Australia Monster Fest Australia SXSW Sydney 
Poland Splat!FilmFest International Fantastic Film Festival 
Belgium16 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival USA USA Australia Belgium Canada Poland USA
Beautifully, transcendently dumb.
I have a tiny part in this as "FK #1" (Freako killer), alongside my pals Elliott (FK #2) and Stuart (Major FK), and it is no exaggeration to say that having a couple of small lines as a silly little puppet creature in a comedy-horror(ish) movie is basically my lifelong dream. Thank you, writer/director/friend Steve Kostanski for making it happen.
(Also, I would have loved this movie even if all that other stuff wasn't true. It's a silly, ultra-specific riff on stuff like Ghoulies and Full Moon Pictures and inexplicable VHS nonsense of yore, that hits all those pleasure centers without only being mere nostalgia. Seek it out! It deserves an audience.)
I do love me some cool animatronics & practical effects
this one’s for all the freaks
"Shabadoo" has officially become a permanent part of our vocabulary.
I should log this twice, as I've seen it last night and once again today, 'cause after my first watch, I realized this would be an awesome film to watch with my daughter, Selina, as this is Steven Kostanski's first true PG-13ish movie after "Psycho Goreman (2020)", which felt like a kids' movie but was too gory, violent and had too much swearing" (which was the joke).
"Frankie Freako" tones down the swearing to a very mild "shit" now and then, and the violence is within acceptable bounds without becoming too bloody. Think "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)", but even less scary, yet spades of fun!
It's a live-action Saturday morning cartoon…
Pleasantly surprised to see the Red Letter Media gang in the credits! I kinda loved how authentic this felt, similar to Maxxxine.
is anyone gonna match his freako
FANTASIA #11
*World Premiere*
Introduced by director Steven Kostanski
Another edition of... WILL YOU LIKE...?
Will You Like... FRANKIE FREAKO?
To find out, answer the following quiz questions, allot the question’s worth (in brackets) and tally your score at the end...
Do you like...
Gremlins (+2)
House (1985) (+2)
Office Space (+2)
Leprechaun (+1)
Street Trash (+1)
Puppet Master (+1)
Little Monsters (+1)
Revenge of the Nerds (+1)
Home Alone (+1)
Falling Down (+1)
Labyrinth (+1)
Krull (+1)
Gay Jabba the Hut (+1)
From Beyond (+1)
Phantasm (+1)
Garbage Pail Kids (+1)
McDonald's Mac Tonight commercials (+1)
And if you don't like, deduct:
Absence of a good emotional core, even in horror or comedy (-2)
Puppetry (-2)
Untidy OCD nightmares…
frankie is a little freak
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
"Time to get freako!"
If you like Gremlins, Leprechaun, Munchies, Ghoulies, Chucky... well you're in for a freako fun treat! Also made me think of Sonic for some reason. This movie feels like it was made in the 80's and somehow not released until now. The one-liners, the vibe, the look, the music... it all screams 80's. Frankie Freako, Boink Bardo and Dottie Dunko are so fun and entertaining they're the kind of characters that spawn a franchise.
So refreshing seeing puppets/animatronics being used and I was surprised to see so many in the movie, dig all the designs. Saw some miniature sets and lots of cool practical effects. Not really any kills which is weird for a horror movie.…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
What more can I say? Fasten your freakbelts.
Is it possible to recreate a retro genre film so perfectly that it damages its relevance to current audiences?
An homage to the “mischievous / dangerous” small-creature genre the likes of Gremlins, Ghoulies, and Puppet Master and set sometime in the mid-late 1980s, the story follows a boring corporate guy who makes the mistake of calling a service called “Frankie Freako” to spice up his life.
Like many of the movies of its kind, the small creatures begin as harmless party animals until their true nature is revealed (which in this case is not very long). It’s sometimes funny in a slapstick way as the “freakos”, as well as the freakos’ natural enemies and our protagonist act recklessly to establish…
Steven Kostanski returns with another ultra-niche home-run via Frankie Freako. An inside joke stretched out like neon taffy that manages to blast out of the bong-ridden basement thanks to a ton of ambition, authenticity, and attitude. Shabadoo!
Conor Sweeney plays Conor, an unrelentingly square businessman who just can't seem to spice up his personality. His artist wife is getting sick of his tame lifestyle and his boss has had it with his bland output. He's been left alone for the weekend though, so what does he decide to do? Call up a 1-900 number for Frankie Freako to rescue him from the doldrums of his own flat identity. Partying puppets ensue!
If it sounds like a very limited concept, you…
the legacy of WEEDJIES: HALLOWEED NIGHT endures.....fun movie, some mild laffs & unforgettable scenes so maybe im "too close" but frankie never lands the joke of chaos or novelty-as-familiarity, just skeletal boglin fossils and shards of moonbeams & demonic toys bobbing in a cauldron of gumbo drained off a gnome named gnorm--which should be enough but despite the leap from manborg's unbearable robot chicken "what if cenobites did HR" gags still disasatisfyingly packed with first-draft "good enough" freak puns & peepee/poopoo jokes like "fart cola"--only FATHERS DAY pushes the joke to actual shock but gen x yearns for safe cult objects to ively revisit body-discovery in creepy crawler toons of their toy-gorged tv childhoods, catalogued & contained mayhem, guessable grossouts & subversion without stakes (gingerdead…
