Almost exactly one year has passed since we heard that production had wrapped on Manborg, Father’s Day, The Void, Leprechaun Returns, and Psycho Goreman director Steven Kostanski’s horror comedy Frankie Freako, which is said to be a “commemoration of various practical FX-led projects including Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Ghoulies Go to College” – and now we know when the movie is going to be making its way out into the world! Shout! Studios has announced that Frankie Freako will be reaching select theatres on October 4th. Along with that announcement comes the unveiling of a trailer, which can be seen in the embed above.
The story follows Conor Sweeney (The Editor) as a workaholic yuppie with a dilemma: no one in his life respects him! Not his boss, not his coworkers, not even his wife Kristina, who thinks he’s an uptight “square”! Conor sees no way out of this existential rut until one night channel-surfing he catches a bizarre ad for a party hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin: Frankie Freako. Conor is entranced by Frankie’s promises of wild and freaky adventures, just a phone call away – could this be the recipe to spice up his flavorless life? Home alone for the weekend, Conor works up the courage to dial the number for the Frankie Freako hotline. As soon as the call connects, it unleashes chaos into his white-collar world, releasing Frankie and his troublemaker friends from their dimensional prison. It’s a race against time as Conor must defeat the rambunctious ruffians and clean up their trail of destruction before Kristina returns from her trip, all while going on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.
Sweeney is joined in the cast by Adam Brooks (The Return) and Kristy Wordsworth (The Spy Who Never Dies).
Kostanski provided the following statement to Bloody Disgusting: “The little monster movie is a subgenre beloved by horror fans. Franchises like Critters, Ghoulies and Puppet Master are still immensely popular despite there being no recent entries in the franchises. Frankie Freako is my vision for the next tiny monster franchise, brought to life through a combination of modern visual effects as well as old-school practical puppeteering techniques. Additionally, I envision the film as my personal take on the Evil Dead 2 format: it is a contained story centered around one flawed man fighting an onslaught of tiny terrors, with each set-piece escalating in absurdity and inventiveness. Frankie Freako is meant to be the complete antithesis of the current trend of overly self-serious A24- style horror films, with a tone more akin to early Tim Burton films like Beetlejuice or Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.“
Frankie Freako seems like a good time to me, so I look forward to checking it out.
What did you think of the Frankie Freako trailer? Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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