Things go slightly awry in Frank Henenlotter’s cult classic FRANKENHOOKER
FRANKENHOOKER (Frank Henenlotter, 1990)
Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.
August 30-31, 12:20 am
718-384-3980
www.nitehawkcinema.com
www.synapse-films.com
The Bride of Frankenstein meets Scanners, Weird Science, and Re-Animator in Frank Henenlotter’s over-the-top horror comedy Frankenhooker. When Elizabeth Shelley (August 1986 Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen) is done in by a runaway lawn mower during a family gathering, her geeky engineer fiancé, Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz channeling 1980s star Andrew McCarthy, who is now one of the directors of the Netflix hit Orange Is the New Black), decides that he has to put her back together again. But since much of her body has been torn to shreds, Jeffrey has to go out looking for compatible parts — and just might find them at a prostitution party with some rather explosive crack on hand. As Jeffrey works tirelessly trying to rebuild and perfect his fiancée, Zorro the Pimp (Joseph Gonzalez) is hot on his trail, wanting to know what has become of his ladies of the evening. Shot in New York by native citizen Henenlotter (Basket Case, Brain Damage), Frankenhooker is silly fun, even when it gets overly ridiculous, as it regularly does. But those bodies blowing up are a hoot, and the film features some rather strange cameos, including Shirley Stoler (Seven Beauties, The Honeymoon Killers) as Spike the bartender, Louise Lasser as Jeffrey’s mother, and Zacherle as the creepy weatherman. Ted Hope, who went on to form the production company Good Machine with James Schamus, presenting films by Ang Lee, Todd Solondz, Nicole Holofcener, Hal Hartley, and others, served as first assistant director, while the script was cowritten with former Fangoria editor Robert Martin. One of those films you hate yourself for watching but you just can’t look away from, Frankenhooker is screening August 30 & 31 at 12:20 am as part of Nitehawk Cinema’s midnight series “I Heart New York Horror.”