Frankie Freako, call the number on the late-night ad for a great party. Well, maybe.
Written and directed by Steven Kostanski, whose work has not always hit right for this viewer, this new film takes place in the 80s or 90s possibly from the technology and wardrobe choices, but it’s not entirely clear what year due to some issues with mixing references there, but this is digressing from the main subject here. This new entry in Kostanski’s career as a writer-director should make his fans happy and bring in a few more people. This film here has a very 1980s small critters feel to it, the kind of film you could find on a video store shelves unprepared and run off to watch immediately. The story here is fairly simple, a square of a human male working a dead-end office job decides to take one single risk while his wife is out of town and that risk massively backfires on him. The writing and directing here are fun, the lead is written to be a bit on the annoying and pathetic side and the beasties are fun. So, it fits well in the bygone era of cinema so many are so nostalgic for. This mostly works and the film knows well to not overstay its welcome clocking in at just under 90 minutes. The writing and direction work, it’s mostly about how the story works for each viewer, much like Psycho Goreman which had not worked for this viewer.
Here, the cast is mainly one man and 3 beasties, fighting back and forth as havoc is wreaked on the house and a few people. In the human lead role of Conor is Conor Sweeney who plays the nerdy dork office drone quite well and manages to sell the awkward transformation this man goes through also quite well. This is not exactly groundbreaking work, but it fits the film and makes it fun in its own way. The three beasties here are puppets that look fun and are great to watch through their (mis)adventures here. The voices for these are provided by Matthew Kennedy for Frankie Freako and Meredith Sweeney for Dottie Dunko, the two main beasties with lines. Both of them provide a fun bit of voice work here, even within the limitations of their parts. They both aren’t afraid to just go for it and go for broke at times. The other main beasty doesn’t get much in terms of lines and is more just there as a character anyways. Of course, we do get a few villains, none of which will be spoiled here, but the performances both human and non-human work well too.
As Kostanski has worked on many special effects projects in the past, the look of the practical effects here is important. While the effects are a bit date here, they fit the story and its settings, bringing Frankie and his buddies to life as puppets that remind of Garbage Pail Kids Movie and a touch of early Peter Jackson. These are something cool to see and they really give the film that nostalgic feeling it strives for. The work on these isn’t perfect, but it’s great in context.
The film here doesn’t really pick a year for its era, but it still works. The nostalgia bait is strong with this one, but it works so why not. This is an entertaining bit of mayhem cinema and one that many will love. It’s fun, it’s a bit dumb at times, overall, it’s enjoyable and it moved at a fast paced. It should be a fun Halloween party movie.