Steven Kostanski has found a unique, cheesy, weird and most importantly, fun corner of cinema to thrive in, and that continues with his latest film, Frankie Freako. It’s bizarre, but a whole lot of fun and sometimes, that’s all you need in life.

Workaholic yuppie Conor is in an existential rut until one night he catches a bizarre ad for a party hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin: Frankie Freako. Could this be just the recipe to spice up his boring life?

Let’s get this out of the way: Frankie Freako is as dumb as a pile of rocks. It’s such a stupid film that it shouldn’t work in the slightest. Yet it’s as much daft fun as you could ever wish to have while watching a film. Nothing is taken seriously; a man is caught in a bear trap and then covered in a drum of glue, yet he continues chatting away. You can’t take this film seriously, and purposefully, Steven Kotanski doesn’t want you to take it seriously.

The puppets’ mouths don’t even move in time with their speech, and you honestly do not care in the slightest because you are just rolling with it and having a good laugh with it. By being so brazen in its self-awareness, you will either love it or hate it. There will be no in between with Frankie Freako.

Our Freakos are great for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they appear to be so seamlessly integrated. None of our characters actually bats an eye at the fact that these space goblins exist, with one moment having a great little twist at the end. To best describe how our Freakos act, I have seen them described as Gremlins, but they aren’t. These are an alternate, non-human, eating, and more party-oriented, goblin-looking iteration of Critters. Even down to their backstory, they echo each other’s backstories.

Kostanski demonstrated with Psycho Goreman how much he loves practical effects, and he is clearly having a great time with his creations here. They all look fantastic and have the perfect “clearly a puppet” aesthetic. Yet they are their own little characters that you feel for, so when one is getting punched endlessly, you feel for it. You know they’re not real, but the work to make it look just “real” enough pulls you in.

The off-kilter feeling that Kostanski brings to Frankie Freako is all part of the cheesy charm. All the characters are over the top in one form or another. Our human villain, Mr. Buechler, who is trying to frame Conor for some cheeky fraud, is constantly popping up like an early morning cartoon baddie. It’s just daft mischief, and you are all in for it.

Conor Sweeney is having the time of his life in the lead role. A man who thinks holding a hand is as risque as it gets with his wife and is the type of guy who throws caution to the wind by getting two different types of cheese on his pizza. Bland and boring, his life is turned upside down, yet other than being flustered, he just goes along with the chaos, and his deadpan reactions help the movie enormously.

Despite the destruction, the bear traps, the guns, the intergalactic kidnappings, and Temple of Doom-esque escapes. What is clear throughout all of Frankie Freako is the importance of friendship. Similar to Psycho Goreman, Kostanski ensures a warmth that is omnipresent throughout. It’s fun, and in a world where the lighthearted nature of films always seems to be dwindling, these types of films are a welcome and weird breath of fresh air.

Frankie Freako will be available on Digital Download from 14th July

★★★★

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