The Extremely Raunchy, R-Rated Sci-Fi Comedy Romp You’ll Love For Going Too Far

Written by Chris Snellgrove | Updated 1 hour ago

Modern horror films are much tamer than ever, with the extreme nudity and gore of the R-rated films of yesteryear replaced by sanitized PG-13 films. But if you’re in the mood to watch the kind of horrific movies they don’t make anymore, you should know that the best vulgar exploitation films are just a click away. You can now broadcast Frankenhooker (1990) on Prime Video, this raunchy sci-fi comedy is sure to blow your mind.

plot Frankenhooker is that the fiancée of a young amateur scientist is killed in a freak accident involving a robotic lawnmower. He decides to bring her back to life by collecting body parts from different prostitutes and using some good old mad science. He is not ready to face the monster he is creating, and the world itself is not ready for her ferocious, uncontrollable wrath.

A film with brutal talent

Cast Frankenhooker is both eclectic and talented, starting with James Lorenz (known outside of this film as… King of New York) as our blue-collar mad scientist who will do anything to bring his fiancée back from the dead. That fiancée is played by Patty Mullen (known outside of this film Asylum death) as the titular Frankenhooker, an inhuman creature who aims to help us learn more about humanity. CK Steefel (best known for a few episodes of Seinfeld) plays a prostitute who watches her co-workers explode because they used super crack (how’s that for an anti-drug PSA?).

As for the talent behind the camera, director Frank Henenlotter deserves special praise for doing the impossible, which is taking an exploitative tale of sex and violence and creating a subtle feminist masterpiece. I realize this sounds crazy, but it’s true: the same guy who brought us Basket condition and Brain damage It also manages to give us a deeply feminist film. This movie has a lot to say about objectification and female agency, but it’s easy to miss that because it’s a movie full of gratuitous nudity and even more gratuitous violence.

A box office bomb and critical darling

Unfortunately, the general public decided that this raunchy comedy wasn’t worth the sum of its parts. With a budget of $2.5 million Frankenhooker It only earned a little over $205,000 at the box office, even after getting a surprise endorsement from Bill Murray (film Ghostbusters The star had previously befriended the crew.) This killed off any chances of a sequel, though I can only imagine how much fun Frank Henenlotter would have had directing Bride of Frankenhocker.

Despite its crazy title and even creepy premise, critics had a surprising verdict on this salacious slice of lavish cinema: “It’s alive!” On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 65 percent rating, with critics generally praising the game’s very same performances by James Lorenz (whose manic madness was absolutely captivating) and Patty Mullen (whose physical comedy chops were top-notch). Critics also praised director Frank Henenlotter for using the visual language of exploitation to tell a subversive feminist love story (shockingly enough).

A24 before A24

I was just as stunned as the critics when I watched it Frankenhooker Because I expected this to be just another cheesy horror movie filled with boobs and blood. While this film never skimps on riotous nudity or brutal bloodshed, it also serves as a satire of the genre and a commentary on misogyny in America. Decades before A24, everyone started talking about “elevated horror,” Frankenhooker Prove that you can deliver an intelligent script with social commentary without sacrificing entertainment value (don’t worry, guys: this movie never preaches to you and mostly focuses on crazy, cheerful one-liners).

Would you agree to that? Frankenhooker Is it a shockingly clever bit of exploitation, or is this the one movie you’d want to blow up with a few grams of super crack? The only way to find out is to stream the movie in all its debauched (or should that be physical?) glory on Prime Video. Then, you might become a lifelong fan of Frank Henenlotter, the most brilliantly corrupt director to ever set foot behind the camera.