Frankenhooker (1990)

A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiancée by building her a new body made of Manhattan street prostitutes.

Director:

Frank Henenlotter

Writers:

Robert Martin, Frank Henenlotter

Stars:

James Lorinz, Joanne Ritchie, Patty Mullen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Lorinz	...	Jeffrey
Joanne Ritchie	...	Mrs. Shelley
Patty Mullen	...	Elizabeth
J.J. Clark	...	Mr. Shelley
C.K. Steefel	...	Dolores (as Carissa Channing)
Shirl Bernheim	...	Elizabeth's Grandmother
Judy Grafe	...	Newscaster
Helmar Augustus Cooper	...	Detective Anderson (as Helmar Cooper)
Louise Lasser	...	Jeffrey's Mother
John Zacherle	...	Weatherman
Charlotte J. Helmkamp	...	Honey (as Charlotte Helmkamp)
Kimberly Taylor	...	Amber
Shirley Stoler	...	Spike the Bartender
Joseph Gonzalez	...	Zorro
Ari M. Roussimoff	...	Zorro's Customer (as Ari Roussimoff)

Storyline

A medical school dropout loses his fiancée in a tragic lawnmower incident, and decides to bring her back. Unfortunately, he was only able to save her head, so he goes to the red light district in the city and lures prostitutes into a hotel room so he can get parts for his girlfriend.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitute | prostitution | scene before opening credits | hooker | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

Wanna Date?

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for gore, drugs and sensuality, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The final shot -"the surprise ending!" per Lorinz required he spend five hours secured into the table and prosthetic body. He recalls having to pee into coffee cups.

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Goofs

Incorrectly regarded as goof: As 'Frankenhooker' is an homage to writer Mary Shelley, the 'Frankenstein' films and the low budget gore movies of the 1960s and 1970s, the FX, make-up and prosthetics are deliberately clumsy.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jeffrey Franken: [Jeffrey examines his creation of a human eyeball on the inside of a human brain] Just watch my hand. Watch it. Watch my hand now. Nice and slow, back and forth. Watch the hand.
Jeffrey Franken: [Jeffrey begins snapping] Come on. Do something, wake up. Let's go! Let's see that peeper.
Jeffrey Franken: [Jeffrey pauses before pulling out a scalpel] Be very careful here. I'm gonna give it a lobotomy.
Jeffrey Franken: [the brain and eye begins to move rapidly] Jesus - That's it, that's it. That's right. Now follow my hand. Look at the hand. ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

No animals or people were killed or injured in the making of this movie.

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Connections

Referenced in El Rato Muerto: El asqueroso, retorcido y genial mundo de Frank Henenlotter (2018)

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Soundtracks

Never Say No
Written by Roger Greenawalt and Clifford Lane
Performed by Roger Greenawalt and Clifford Lane

User Reviews

Hmmm..

Frankenhooker, a lovable piece of Z grade comedy horror fluff that Australian distributors CBS/FOX video would love to forget.

The story of Frankenhooker revolves around Jeffrey Franken, a strange wannabe doctor who like to bore holes into his head with a drill when times get tough. And who can blame him, his fiance died in a freak accident involving a lawnmower and his mother isn't all that caring. EXAMPLE:

Jeffrey rambles on about how his life is meaningless without his girlfriend and about his frequent rejections from medical schools for about five minutes. His mother replies, "Well, do you want a sandwich?"

Yet nobody thinks about how strange it is at his fathers birthday party that he keeps a giant brain (complete with huge eye) in a glass container in the kitchen.

Jeffrey steals the head of his girlfriend and the police are rather baffled. The press hound him....

"Do you know where your dead fiance's head is?"

"I don't know, last time I saw it it was flying through the air or something. Leave me alone with my grief!"

But Jeffrey won't be grief-stricken for long. He hires some hookers and they smoke Jeffrey's own creation, "Supercrack" and they subsequently explode. He takes the body parts and fixes them to his dead gal's head and re-animates her. She is alive, but is a monstrous creation, the hooker parts of her take over and she heads to the streets to ask people if they 'wanna date' or 'lookin for some action.'

It's all very hilarious, the highlight being the exploding hookers. The frequent nudity feels right at home in this film. But I have one complaint, there is not enough Frankenhooker action. The movie spends about an hour setting everything up before letting her loose on the unsuspecting public for the last 20 minutes or so.

Don't take this seriously. I didn't and I enjoyed it.

AUSTRALIAN CLASSIFICATION:

M 15+ Horror, Occasiional Course Language and Nudity.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swedish

Release Date:

1 June 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frankenhooker

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$205,068

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$205,068

Company Credits

Production Co:

Levins-Henenlotter, Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 82 min (R-rated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1