Rent Frankenhooker (1990)

Spoilers follow ... - Frankenhooker review by NP

With 'Frankenhooker', chances are you get what you expect. ‘Trash’ and ‘screwball’ describe the knockabout humour on display here as Jeffrey (James Lorinz) brings back to life his decapitated fiancée by ‘building her a new body of Manhatten street prostitutes’.

A lot of the first part of the film relies on Lorinz, who is required to carry scenes by himself. He is somewhat expressionless but enters into the spirit of the proceedings with little inhibition. The second part is indebted to Patty Mullen as Elizabeth, parading under patchwork prosthetics, being seduced by a selection of horrendous macho 1990’s muscle men. Her jerky wide-eyed movements recall a certain sense of Elsa Lanchester from the original ‘Bride of Frankenstein (1935)’.

There’s plenty of flesh, lots of rubber limbs and some fairly graphic titillation on offer. Only when Elizabeth regains her memories does the grotesque humour make way for actual emotion, but that’s fine. “There wasn’t enough left of you to fry an egg with,” explains Jeffrey in one of his final pronouncements.

An acquired taste, especially now its garish, coarse visuals have a very dated quality, this is what it is. Deliberately goofy, wobbly, sleazy, popcorn nonsense worth a giggle.