Vague Visages’ Frankie Freako review contains minor spoilers. Steven Kostanski’s 2024 movie features Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy and Conor Sweeney. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews.

For a certain subset of horror fans, Steven Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman (2020) was a major moment inspiring merch, memes and endless discussions about hunky boys. And the question of a worthy follow-up clearly didn’t daunt the Canadian filmmaker too much, as his solution was to deliver something even more outrageous and silly. Frankie Freako centers on a soft, bespectacled loser named Conor (Conor Sweeney) with a dead-end job and a horny wife who’s desperate to do something besides hold hands with her husband at night. When the protagonist first appears in Frankie Freako, his life is so humdrum that he might as well not even bother getting out of bed in the morning. But luckily, along comes the titular character — a dancing goblin — and his posse of party pals to shake things up before it’s too late. 

Frankie Freako is the kind of deliriously dumb movie that one is either going to find incredibly endearing or intensely irritating. The soft-focus shooting style, along with the anachronistic wardrobe choices and overall production design, suggests a 1980s setting, but it might just be some far-flung corner of Canada. Early on, Frankie Freako’s sense of humor is laid bare when Conor, with the utmost sincerity, proudly informs his boss that “some of the text is in red” when asked how he’s spruced up an otherwise dull presentation. Likewise, Sweeney’s protagonist enjoys hearing that he looks like a movie star, at least until he’s informed that the actor he most resembles is Gary Busey. 

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If the aforementioned humor made you chuckle, then Frankie Freako will be a total delight. The real joke, however, is that Sweeney legitimately carries the lead role. He’s incredibly watchable and charismatic; an entertaining and schlubby lead who crucially never strays into incel or MRA territory. Sweeney’s performance has a touch of Brad Majors from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) to it (all wide smiles and can-do attitude), and much like Barry Bostwick’s iconically doomed hero, Frankie Freako’s protagonist is led astray by some enticing ne’er-do-wells. In this case, rather than sexy aliens, it’s a group of grungy trans-dimensional beings with bad attitudes and even worse haircuts that lure poor Conor over to the dark side.

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In what’s essentially the bar scene from Gremlins (1984) stretched to movie length, Frankie and his friends lay waste to Conor’s house, destroying everything in sight — including his wife’s beloved sculptures, which are due at an art show just a few days later. But it’s worth noting that their version of carnage is decidedly PG. There’s no flashing, smoking, gambling or even drinking in Frankie Freako. Instead, the trio of creatures enthusiastically imbibes a soft drink called FART, which Conor is scandalized to learn has caffeine in it. The goblins paint words like “BUTT” and “VEGETABLES” on his walls and generally make a big mess, but these little guys aren’t as bad, and nowhere near as violent, as the gremlins. They just want to party or, in Frankie’s parlance, get freaky.

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The colorful puppets, crafted by the fantastically monikered Action Pants FX Inc., have that wonderful ricketiness to them that ensures every move they make is hilarious. Kostanski knows the value of lingering on a good shot too, frequently zooming in on the goblins’ little feet as they’re scampering away. The Freakos sort of resemble Boglins, with eyes that blink really weirdly and mouths that never line up properly with their dialogue. Much like Psycho Goreman, Kostanski emphasizes practical effects, regardless of how unconvincing they might be. The filmmaker also makes great use of miniatures to winningly paper over the cracks, while a stunt involving Conor falling down stairs utilizes another actor with an immediately obvious blonde wig to side-splitting effect. Evidently, Frankie Freako is a low-budget production, but it never holds the filmmakers back. If anything, Kostanski took a lack of money as a challenge to be even more inventive and creative. 

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Frankie Freako’s music, by Blitz/Berlin, who also scored the director’s previous efforts The Void (2016) and Psycho Goreman, brings the ideal chaotic energy to the proceedings, injecting each wacky sequence with enough noise to complement what’s happening onscreen without distracting too much from it. The purposely garish production design, meanwhile, ensures that the eye is increasingly drawn to the various sight gags and strange details the longer the camera remains static — this is definitely a film that was made to reward repeat viewings, much like its fan-favorite predecessor. Frankie Freako is deliriously silly and wholesomely entertaining, and so genuine in its profound lack of depth or meaning — it’s a refreshing antidote to all the dreaded “elevated horror” offerings. It makes one yearn for a simpler time when enterprising contraptions were built in garages and entire narrative structures were constructed around them just so we could all enjoy the spewing blood and guts together. Kostanski hearkens back to that time in a way that, to quote Frankie, will make you want to get freaky.  

Frankie Freako releases theatrically on October 4, 2024 via Shout! Studios.

Joey Keogh (@JoeyLDG) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs.

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