User Reviews

In New Jersey, Jeffrey (James Lorinz) is a talented inventor in love with his bride-to-be Elizabeth (Patty Mullen). During a barbecue to celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth´s father, she activates a remote controlled lawnmower that Jeffrey built for his father-in-law. However she stays in front of the device and her body is cut into pieces. Jeffrey studies how to bring Elizabeth back to life and realizes that he will need body parts. He drives to New York to get the necessary parts from prostitutes but his experiment loses control and he blows-up several women with an exploding crack he had developed. Now he has the necessary parts to build his fiancée back, but when Elizabeth flees from his laboratory, Jeffrey has problems with the pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez) that lost his girls.

The cult "Frankenhooker" is one of the best black-comedies ever made. The plot is a grotesque joke with "Frankenstein", but the result is hilarious. James Lorinz and Patty Mullen steal the film with cynical and lovely performances. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Frankenhooker - Que Pedaço De Mulher" ("Frankenhooker - What a Piece of Woman")

Frankenhooker is without a doubt one of the most stupid, ridiculous, moronic, pointless, fun and brilliant films that I have seen. From the film's opening; which sees our would-be hero working on a strange brain with an eye in it, with some ridiculously out of place, relaxed suburbia music playing in the background; I knew that I was in for a comic treat. This movie features several moments of delicious comic brilliance; such as the out of control lawnmower sequence that sees the central character's girlfriend get tragically murdered, to the rather tactless news report detailing said tragedy, to the exploding whores and all the way down to the weather report which details a storm that is coming, "for all you mad scientists out there"; there's plenty to make you laugh in Frankenhooker.

The film takes obvious influence from the classic Frankenstein story, and it should appeal to anyone that is a fan of cheesy 80's gorefests. Of course, this was released in 1990, but that's incidental. As mentioned, the main character's girlfriend is killed in a lawnmower accident. The accident itself is a comic masterpiece; it's so absurdly silly! Anyway, this accident leads our hero to the brink of madness (to which his mother responds to by asking him if he would like a sandwich), and he decides to make his girlfriend a new body from the parts of various prostitutes that he picks up. Of course, it doesn't quite go to plan, which leads him into all manner of weird troubles. James Lorinz takes the lead role of Jeffrey Franken (and his girlfriend's surname is Shelly...can you spot the tribute?). Lorinz is great as the hero for the movie, he spends a lot of it acting on his own and he more than holds the audience's interest with his speeches and great accent. A film like this needs an offbeat star; and it has one in Lorinz.

Overall, this terrifying tale of sluts and bolts is sheer comic brilliance, and if you're a fan of weird and wonderful cult films, and even if you're not; you won't want to miss Frankenhooker.

Normally I run away screaming at anything labeled "horror comedy" but 'Frankenhooker' joins 'Motel Hell' as one of the few exceptions. This is an amusing take on Frankenstein with James Lorinz reveling in the role of a mad scientist obsessed with bringing back his girlfriend who died in a freak lawn mowing accident(!). Using the body parts of some local working girls and some "super crack" he ends up with a lot more than he bargained for! Frankenhooker! Played by the lovely Patty Mullen who is sexy and displays plenty of comic timing. Writer/director Frank Henenlotter had previously made the trash classics 'Basket Case' and 'Brain Damage', both of which are brilliant, and 'Frankenhooker' is just as good. Three movies as original and entertaining as those are three more than most film makers ever come up with, so it is a crying shame that Henenlotter has been strangely quiet for the last decade. Hopefully he will resurface one day with something new. In the meantime, watch 'Frankenhooker' for some serious fun. It's an absolute hoot!

If they could use Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" for "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975), among other bizarre iterations, then I don't see why not have a mad scientist re-animate his girlfriend with the leftover parts of prostitutes who exploded from lethal doses of crack cocaine. Moreover, after seeing fellow Frankenstein exploitation flick "Flesh for Frankenstein" (1975), it's difficult to be shocked by such a premise as that of "Frankenhooker."

The mad scientist here is a young man named Jeffrey Franker who lives with his parents and creates his hooker monster in their garage. He has a brain with an eyeball in it that he experiments with in the house, and he uses an electric drill to literally prod his brain to come up with good ideas. It's no wonder he didn't finish med school. His garage laboratory is essentially what one would expect from generations of Frankenstein films following in the footsteps of the original design of the 1931 version, full of gizmos, beakers and the spark of life from a lightning bolt. To this, Jeffrey adds his estrogen-based blood serum, which keeps the body parts fresh. Jeffrey's girlfriend, whose name Elizabeth Shelley is a combination of the names of Dr. Frankenstein's wife from the novel and of the author of that novel, is torn to pieces by a runaway lawn mower. Jeffrey preserves what he can of her in his serum and seeks to remake the rest of her out of the body parts of prostitutes. He kills these women with an especially lethal crack formula of his own design, which causes them to explode.

It may seem pointless to analyze a film such as this, which was clearly intended to be goofy and trashy fun not to be taken seriously. But, its overriding joke regarding the objectification of women is asking for it. From the start, Elizabeth is shamed for her supposed excess weight. Jeffrey plays doctor with the prostitutes to find the best bits for her re-animated corpse--grading the women on their arms, legs and breasts and writing a check mark on his preferred buttocks. The prostitutes are stereotyped as only wanting money and drugs. I'm sure film theorists of the Freudian-Feminist, Laura Mulvey persuasion could and probably already have had a field day with this one. To top it off, the film's conclusion, as poetic justice, is a literal realization of castration anxiety. I'd like to sit in on a film theory class that screened "Frankenhooker," as opposed to old chestnuts such as the male gaze of "Rear Window" (1954). Freudian film theory, after all, already always has me rolling my eyes and chuckling--something "Frankhooker" does just as well.

Cult director Frank Henenlotter's particularly offensive sense of humour is given free reign in Frankenhooker, his extremely loose adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel. Any hints of misogyny during the bulk of the film's build-up can be forgiven thanks to an enjoyably daft climax, during which a female creature made up of various prostitutes body parts and the head of its mad creators wife runs rampant around New York taking vengeance on the various scum- bags encountered earlier in the film and any sleazy perverts who fancy a bit of the stitched-together would-be centrefold model (she is played by Penthouse model Patty Mullen).

Medical school drop-out and whiny-voiced genius Jeffrey (James Lorinz) is about to marry the woman he loves, Elizabeth, when she is accidentally killed by a lawnmower he built. The grisly incident leaves he scattered around the garden, but Jeffrey manages to steal a few body parts and preserve them in a solution of his own making before the authorities arrive to clean up the mess. Distraught at losing his fiancée, he plans to re-build her using the body of a beautiful prostitute, gifting the plump Elizabeth the body she always desired. However, executing his plan proves harder than he realised thanks to a psychopathic pimp named Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez), and so develops a dangerously potent form of crack to lure his potential victims.

Despite being a loathsome and extremely disturbed central character, Jeffrey remains oddly likable thanks to a lively performance by Lorinz, who delivers monologues to himself in a thick New Jersey twang and maintains an infectiously high energy level throughout. Jeffrey's acts represent the darkest of male fantasies, and the film may have come off as repugnant had Henenlotter not soaked every scene with a knowing absurdity. The scene in which a group of prostitutes explode into pieces one-by-one after smoking Jeffrey's powerful crack particularly treads a fine line between offensive and hilarious. Despite the few laughs to be had, Frankenhooker is still poorly acted (Lorinz aside) and some special effects, which mainly consist of stiff mannequin limbs, leave a lot to be desired. Depending on your exploitation experience, it may go too far or not far enough, but there's plenty of giddy fun to be had along the way.

Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker (1990) is a funny horror comedy starring James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken, a young man who is extremely interested in medical studies and becoming a doctor. He makes his weird experiments in his house while his parents are little concerned as they think their son is little weird, understandably. Soon a horrible but incredibly comical accident happens to his girlfriend Elizabeth so Jeffrey takes all the body parts he can in order to re-build his girl. But he needs various body parts in order to complete his love and he develops a drug which makes its users explode. He goes to the streets searching for prostitutes and you know what he wants from them. He gets the parts, but will the new Elizabeth, Frankenhooker, be the same as she used to be?

This film is a must for lovers of B cinema and films which mix horror, gore and comedy. Franken's character is very mad as he talks alone all the time and inserts a power drill into his head everytime he is about to have some nervous problems under pressure. Usually when characters talk all the time without reasons in films it just shows how bad the script is, but in this case, the talking (especially for himself) is normal for this kind of crazy doctor and thus it doesn't feel irritating and bad choice.

Henenlotter's other films like Brain Damage (1988) and Basket Case (1982) are so fantastic as they mix humor and horror so uniquely. They are creepy and very funny (and clever especially in Brain Damage's case) at the very same film. Frankenhooker isn't an exception and the first lawnmower scene convinces the viewer what will the film be like. There are many severed limbs and body parts, but they don't seem repellent as the tone of the film is so tongue in cheek and not wicked. The scene in which some ten hookers EXPLODE is as funny as possible, but not gory at all, since the film had to get an R rating. It is even funnier now as crimson doesn't fly all the time, they just explode!

The mutants and attached body parts at the end are really creepy and almost nightmarish, and reminded me of Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator which has similar monsters. The effects work in Frankenhooker is fantastic all the way, and it all is now perfect, and wouldn't work anymore if done with computers or CGI. The pace is fast all the time and the viewer doesn't get bored. The Frankenhooker herself is also pretty outrageous and very deadly a hooker! The lady who plays her part is very talented with all her face expressions and movements. I like Basket Case and Brain Damage even more, but still Frankenhooker is a little classic by this talented and mad film maker genius. I give Frankenhooker at least 8/10 now after the first viewing.

This is the first effort I have checked out from cult figure Henenlotter (though I owned another 2) and, on the strength of which, I acquired a couple more; for the record, I opted to watch it now as part of a belated mini-Frankenstein marathon to complement my recent James Whale retrospective. The film's disarming marriage of black humor and gory effects is comparable to the style of Stuart Gordon (of whose work I am familiar with seven movies) – although, to be fair to him, Henenlotter came first. It is obviously an updated version of the 'man-made monster' myth (though the director says, in the accompanying Audio Commentary, that he was actually inspired by the minor cult THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE [1962]), infused with a quirky touch and a good deal of naïve charm (particularly the two lead performances).

The plot concerns a young man with a penchant for science whose girlfriend dies horribly mangled in a freak garden accident (during a birthday party no less). A very funny bit here has his mother – played by Louise Lasser, the ex-Mrs. Woody Allen – cluelessly offering help by asking if he wants a sandwich right as he has finished spouting off a diatribe of existentialist angst! Thereafter, he contrives to revive the girl...only he requires a fresh body; to this end, he scours the city streets by night (also landing in a bar presided over by burly Shirley Stoler of THE HONEYMOON KILLERS [1969] and SEVEN BEAUTIES [1975] fame) in search of a prostitute or, rather, prostitutes since he now intends giving his girl the perfect figure. Organizing a party in order to choose the specimens (which he nonchalantly ticks with a permanent marker as they parade by him half-undressed!), the girls overdose on his specially-prepared "Supercrack" narcotic – which causes them to explode and mess the place up (hilariously, when their macho pimp smells a rat and goes up to the hero's room, he is knocked out by the flying head of one of the hookers on opening the door)!

Interestingly, this is the first Frankenstein movie I have come across where the probability of diverse complexions within the monster's body is addressed – so that parts of it are pale-white and others are dark-toned, or even black! However, one thing that baffled me was why, if he kept the original girl's head (and, one assumes, brain), did the creature then revert to exclusively adopting the prostitutes' lingo! That said, the scenes where she goes to look for clients herself, lumbering around in her over-sized boots and twitching her face (I assume, to show that she was still getting used to it but, again, this is the one the girl always had!) and then have them literally combust under her are quite amusing. The climax has the pimp beheading the hero for having destroyed his fount of income, after which he is himself killed by the remaining body parts of his own girls – which are suddenly freed from storage and rise again grotesquely misshapen as if something out of John Carpenter's THE THING (1982)! The coda, then, sees the heroine (somewhat predictably but none the worse for that) re-animate her boyfriend/creator by following his own meticulous experiment notes!

P.S. Given that BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) is my all-time favorite horror film and that I would soon follow this viewing with that of Alain Jessua's FRANKENSTEIN 90 (1984), it was quite amusing for me to hear the creation sequence here underscored by music highly redolent of Franz Waxman's celebrated one for the former and that Henenlotter had initially intended calling his own concoction – shot, we are told, back-to-back with BASKET CASE 2! – like the latter (of which, presumably, he was unaware)!

Patty Mullen is exceptional in this movie; she plays her character perfectly, and she is quite attractive at the same time. Her character is wacky, and she is so much fun to watch!

The actor James Lorinz was born in New York City. His accent sounds like a mix between Jimmy Stewart and Jimmy Durante, and it gets annoying quickly. And I like Jimmy Durante.

Joseph Gonzalez is pretty awesome in this movie as Zorro. His acting is funny!

The story is silly, and I think it may be a required viewing for fans of horror and horror-comedy movies. It's not that great, but most people should see it at least once.

A Hennelotter classic!

This was one of Bill Murray's favorite movies (I remember reading a Fangoria article with Hennelotter telling Bill Murray constantly catching screenings of this movie)

And who could hate a video box that had a button to press to hear "Wanna Date?"

10/10 a pure classic

Let's not beat around the bush ... this is the worst film I have ever seen. The "acting" is abominable as is the "plot". In fact, everything about this so-called movie is disgraceful. From the opening scene of an electrician fiddling around with a brain, it went from terrible to atrocious to stick-your-head-into-rotting-roadkill-to-avoid-seeing-the-video bad.

I watched this movie because my room-mate was looking for a fun film and when a guy at the video store highly recommended Frankenhooker my room-mate's mind was made. The only things I'm grateful for are that I didn't pay for this film and that I got to catch up with friends while watching. If this movie were food, it would be scarab beetle soup made with elephant pee and donkey vomit and garnished with toenail clipping from a long dead soldier from the WW1.

This movie is a cautionary tale about the dangers of pushing the boundaries of science too far. Hands down, it's the best movie ever made that features exploding crack whores. It also reminds us of the importance of lawn mower safety, and offers some exciting new possibilities for owners of power tools. Throw in its sensitive handling of foreign relations ("What are ya! Some kind of Swede?") and "Frankenhooker" is a classic. It's an amazing cinematic experience that is weird enough to be both deeply disturbing and hilarious at the same time. The people who made this movie are sick, God love 'em.

With a tired idea like reanimating dead bodies, suddenly out of nowhere comes a fresh twist. Why not use the body parts of New York hookers to put back together, and bring back to life, your dead girlfriend? Dark comedy is unleashed at a rapid-fire rate, especially in the second half of "Frankenhooker". Cameo's by Louise Lasser, Shirley Stoler, and John Zacherle add to the fun. The effects are over the top, and the Times Square locations are used to great advantage. Sure it's campy and dated, but as pure entertainment, this outrageous comedy succeeds. Never underestimate the power of a hooker who hasn't been paid. She could literally take your head off. Recommended. - MERK

A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiancée by building her a new body made of Manhattan street prostitutes.

Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case/Brain Damage) brings us this trashy - but fun - blend of the Frankenstein legend with Re-Animator's comedic spice. Naturally this isn't one for the taste conscious highbrow peeps, for this is a purposely bloody tongue in cheek black comedy horror farce. It's awash with exploding body parts, chaotic everyday Americana scenarios and plenty of gloopy schlock. Cast are in on the joke and deliver perfectly low-key perfs, with the gorgeous Patty Mullen deliciously riffing on "Bride of Frankenstein's" classic worth.

From jigsaw death by lawnmower to a superb twist in the tale at pic's end, this is a riot for the so inclined towards low-brow horror comic bookery. 6/10

Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker is an enjoyable comedy horror B film. It is silly and funny with lots of nudity and a plot that is just plain absurd.

Bland James Lorinz is Jeffrey Franken, a highly strung young man interested in medical studies and doing strange experiments with body parts in his house. When he gets stressed he kind of peps himself up by drilling his head. In short he is a little bit loopy.

When his girlfriend Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) dies in a bizarre lawn- mowing incident Jeffrey hits the streets and the hookers looking for body parts so he can rebuild Elizabeth. After a crack cocaine incident where all the hookers blow up he has all the body parts he needs with a few more to spare.

When he rebuilds Elizabeth, she becomes Frankenhooker with the short term memories of all the prostitutes and she hits the streets with her platforms looking for victims.

It is cheap looking with some frankly bad acting yet somehow it works. I would not be surprised if this is a sleazy, cult, camp B movie horror classic. The ending seems to have some kind of existential post modernist feminist message!

Unfortunately this lacks the charm and pathos of Frank Henenlotter's earlier films like BASKET CASE or BRAIN DAMAGE or even the sheer fun of Stuart Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR which deals with the same theme of bringing dead people back to life.

James Lorenz plays a nerdy idiot named Jeffery Franken (Get it? Franken?) who's girlfriend Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) is killed by a runaway self-propelled lawnmower during a birthday party. He can't bear the loss so he takes her head and preserves it in a freezer so he can eventually bring her back to life.

But first he needs 'parts' so he lures a bunch of prostitutes to a downtown NY hotel with wads of cash and 'special' crack. He has second thoughts about killing them but the hookers take the crack and smoke it anyway.

This special form of crack causes their bodies start to explode like firecrackers, but not in a gory, SCANNERS-like way. It's too comical-looking, being played for laughs with the severed limbs looking like they were taken from some old mannequins. Really fake looking. He then takes the best body parts and reattaches them to Elizabeth's head.

The rest of it is just too dumb and stupid to comment on. It's a real step-down for Henenlotter who's earlier films had the imagination that this one lacks. Maybe he shouldn't have used Bram Stoker as a guide, huh?

I couldn't wait for it to end.

2 out of 10

If you're a tiny bit familiar with the more light-headed and grotesque 80's horror cheese, the name Frank Hennenlotter won't sound new to you. "Basket Case" and "Brain Damage" are classics that prove creativity and dynamic motivation are actually all that is needed in order to make a fresh-looking horror film. Another triumph of ingeniousness in Hennenlotter's career is this "Frankenhooker". His most comic and personal film to date. It looks like slapstick, yet with a fair amount of gore, but it never at one point becomes entirely ridiculous or dumb. It's actually hysterical and imaginative (unless you're one of the humorless critics like so many on this review-list). A young electrician/brain surgeon (funny combination, isn't it?) loses his girl in a nasty lawnmower accident. Now, that thing alone actually made me chuckle! He wants to resurrect her, but since most of her body got hacked up, he has to collect new "parts". And where better to find those but in the red-light district of New Jersey. Naturally, both the preparations as the operation itself go horribly wrong and the 'hero' has to face absurd consequences. Like few other directors can manage, Frank Hennenlotter inserts his trademarks and typical styles. Frankenhooker is silly, but also very imaginative (exploding whores, anyone?) and it doesn't feature one dull moment. Hennenlotter surely was one of the most talented and self-educated directors in the horror industry. If he would have slightly more movies, I'm sure he would now enjoy a more justified status. I keep on hearing he will return in 2005 with a project called "Sick in the Head". Well I, for one, really hope it's true.

This Henenlotter guy is really something special. Basket Case 1 & 2 are nuts, Brain Damage is completely insane and Basket Case 2 and Brain Damage contain two ultimately craziest sex scenes I have ever seen. But Frankenhooker exceeds all previous achievements. Combination of Jack the Ripper and Dr. Frankenstein with a silly twist at the end. It's categorized as horror/comedy, but to me, it isn't either funny or scary. But it's full of naked ladies to compensate. In my vocabulary, this kind of movie goes under "WTF I just watched" genre. Objectively, this is complete crap, but I have to recommend it and I will definitely watch it again sometime, because I'm thrilled with its level of greatardation. Its quality deserves one or maybe two out of ten, but it's retardaedal for ten out of ten, so whatta hell, I'll give it

6/10

P.S. Just in case it's less obvious than I thought: Retardaedal = retarded + daedal Greatardation = greatness + retardation

One Halloween eve my friend and I were at the video store looking for bad horror movies. The video clerk suggested this title, even gave it to us for free cause he knew how bad a movie it was. I wish i could describe just how bad this movie is. Making a women out of different hooker body parts?? Was the writter on acid when he came up with this idea? Id only suggest watching this movie if your prepared to laugh at the movie, not with it.

Patty Mullen is very, very funny in this movie, both as the deadpan Elizabeth explaining how she let her boyfriend staple her stomach and as the mugging, strident Frankenhooker.

Let's face it... any movie where the heroine snaps off her top and it goes BOING!!! can't be all bad.

This is a really bad movie. Not bad in a fun or campy way, just bad as in lazy.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy trashy fun horror comedy type movies. But this is so poorly written that it is unwatchable.

You know that Writing 101 lesson when they tell you "show, don't tell"? Watch this movie if you want to see why that's so important. Frankenhooker is all telling and no showing.

There are literally scenes where the main character talks to himself for five minutes trying to explain the plot of the movie. The plot is simple enough that these boring soliloquies are completely unnecessary.

And there are other scenes where, I guess, the writer was too lazy to write dialogue, so the characters just scream.

The Frankenhooker actress is funny and can contort her mouth at odd angles. I don't think she ever started in anything else, which is unfortunate. Her time on the screen is only thing even remotely entertaining about the movie.

Thankfully for the movie-going public, the rest of the cast and crew never did much else.