{"id":991355,"date":"2026-01-08T00:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=460974"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:17:24","slug":"frankie-freako-takes-an-oscar-worthy-approach-to-goofball-gremlin-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/frankie-freako-takes-an-oscar-worthy-approach-to-goofball-gremlin-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"Frankie Freako takes an Oscar-worthy approach to goofball gremlin terror"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Orange-skinned,
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Making a great movie is a tall order. But making a great \u201cbad\u201d movie is a steeper challenge. Steven Kostanski has made the great bad movie his calling card: No one is elevating trash into treasure quite like the Canadian FX makeup maven turned director, whose abilities to transcend pastiche and stretch indie budgets into full-blown spectacle in films like Manborg<\/em> and PG: Psycho Goreman<\/em> should put him in a league with the likes of Licorice Pizza<\/em> director Paul Thomas Anderson. That will never happen, though \u2014 the masses ain\u2019t out here respecting the cheese!!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s fine. But for those who get it: Kostanski\u2019s latest film, Frankie Freako<\/em>, is another twisted goofball odyssey full of puppets, slime, and FREEEAAAAKO-ING OUT, MAN<\/em>. 2024 isn\u2019t necessarily the ideal moment for a mashup of Ghoulies<\/em> and Garbage Pail Kids<\/em> with a splash of 1980s party-gone-wrong comedies, but with his retro horror-comedy, Kostanski suggests that maybe it\u2019s always<\/em> the right moment for something in this vein. If Beetlejuice can stage a comeback in 2024, there\u2019s room in the hearts of moviegoers for Frankie Freako, a mischievous leather-jacket-wearing gremlin-man who loves to boogie and crush cans of Fart soda.<\/p>\n

\"Conor<\/p>\n

Frankie Freako<\/em> stars Kostanski regular Conor Sweeney as Conor, a classic \u201980s yuppie who\u2019s been ground down so hard by office life that he can\u2019t meet the sexual needs of his sculptor wife Kristina (Kristy Wordsworth). When Kristina leaves town for weekend work, the wayward schlub quietly sets out to stay at home and dust the CD rack. Those plans are interrupted by a mesmerizing ad for the services of one Frankie Freako. Knowing deep down that he needs the jolt of a self-described \u201cParty King,\u201d Conor summons Frankie with a simple 1-900 call \u2014 and immediately regrets the decision. Along with two of his fellow freakos, Dottie Dunko the cowgirl and Boink Bardo, who says nothing but \u201cSha-ba-doo!\u201d, Frankie wreaks havoc on Conor\u2019s house, in an extended rampage that Kostanski stages like live-action Whac-a-Mole<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Kostanski could have been content to just riff on Critters<\/em> and the joys of bad horror-movie dialogue with Frankie Freako<\/em>. Sweeney nails the cadence of every schlock actor who\u2019s been riffed on by Mystery Science Theater 3000<\/em>, and Kostanski\u2019s script tees him up with groan-worthy one-liners that play for laughs from a knowing audience. The set-pieces of the freakos running amok are simultaneously familiar and extraordinary: As Conor\u2019s house is destroyed, each bit of vulgar graffitied profanity or trashed wall art seems perfectly placed and in character. While Wes Anderson\u2019s attention to detail is easier to spot, the Frankie Freako<\/em> production design team is just as intent on dazzling viewers with every frame.<\/p>\n

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