Frankenhooker

Jeffrey, a young man who lives in New Jersey, is a former med student but dropped out due to absurd and unethical experiments with bringing body parts to life using a formula he invented in combination with electricity. He is later heartbroken after his fiancée Elizabeth is killed by a lawnmower during a family cookout. He decides that the only way to confront her loss is to use his science skills to bring her back to life. As her body has been cut into pieces save for one of her hands and her head, Jeffrey must take new parts from other women in order to create a new body for Elizabeth. He ultimately chooses to harvest them from the bodies of New York City prostitutes as no one would notice if they went missing. He feels guilty with the idea of killing them and performs a surgical method using a drill to his brain to calm himself and go through with the plan. He lures them back into a hotel under the guise of a party but begins to back out of the decision to kill them with large exploding crack rocks he made since the hookers were already addicted to the drug. The hookers find the bag of drugs and begin using them much to Jeffrey's dismay, seconds later they explode with Jeffrey having to rush to run away with the parts and escape the wrath of their pimp Zorro. He uses the body parts to bring Elizabeth back to life; after a successful attempt she lives, her face has turned pale along with her original hand and her hair is purple now, however her mind isn't fully restored and only speaks the words the previous hookers have said and acts like one too. The newly revived creation escapes and begins looking for customers, who end up exploding after encountering her. Jeffrey goes looking for her and finds her at a bar but unfortunately Zorro is there too and upon hearing her mention his name and seeing his tattoo design on her arm his girls had he angrily strikes Elizabeth nearly knocking her head off. Jeffrey grabs Elizabeth and escapes home to fix her neck and hits her with electricity again which causes her to regain her senses but she's angry at Jeffrey over what he did to her. After Jeffrey explains to her how he did it and why they Almost reconcile but Zorro tracked them down and decapitates Jeffrey with a machete with the attempt to steal Elizabeth. However the spare hooker parts were reanimated from the first experiment into a many limbed monster, which drags Zorro away when he pulls out his drugs to lure Elizabeth. Wanting her lover back, Elizabeth decides to revive Jeffrey via the same procedure he used on her. When Jeffrey wakes up he sees Elizabeth who tells him what happened but since the process only works on female bodies, Elizabeth had to use the hookers' body parts to bring him back. Elizabeth Happily says they'll be together now forever with the ending being Jeffrey groaning in the same manner as the traditional Frankenstein in horror of his new appearance.

• James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken
• Patty Mullen as Elizabeth Shelley/Frankenhooker
• Joanne Ritchie as Mrs. Shelley
• Paul-Felix Montez as Goldie
• Joseph Gonzalez as Zorro the Pimp
• J.J. Clark as Mr. Shelley
• Greg Martin as Rufus McClure
• Carissa Channing as Dolores
• Shirl Bernheim as Elizabeth's Grandmother
• Hannah York as Mary Jane
• Helmar Augustus Cooper as Detective Anderson
• Heather Hunter as Chartreuse
• Louise Lasser as Mrs. Franken
• Charlotte Kemp (credited as Charlotte Helmkamp) as Honey
• Lia Chang as Crystal
• Kimberly Taylor as Amber
• Shirley Stoler as Spike the Bartender
• Jennifer DeLora as Angel

Frankenhooker's initial release was delayed because of difficulty obtaining an R rating from the MPAA; the director recalls that one representative of the ratings body actually said, in a phone call to the production company's secretary, "Congratulations, you're the first film rated S." And she said, "S? For sex?" And they said, "No, S for shit."[2] To his dismay, Henenlotter's conservative parents insisted on attending the film's premiere in New York City; Henenlotter expressed surprise that they were not offended by the exploitative elements.[3]

Variety wrote, "Frankenhooker is a grisly, grotesque horror comedy recommended only for the stout of heart and strong of stomach."[4] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that "there is a legitimate sense of the absurd lurking within Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker," but it is "overshadowed by special effects" and elements that recall soft-core pornography.[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it a "hilarious, totally outrageous grin-and-gore comedy."[6]

Frankenhooker was named "Killer B Film of the Year for 1990" by E! Entertainment Television's Attack of the Killer B's segment.

Bill Murray was quoted as saying "If you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker." Henenlotter said that Murray had been editing his film Quick Change and hung out with the Frankenhooker crew. After Murray expressed interest in their film, the distributor attempted to get an endorsement from him. Embarrassed that they would abuse Murray's friendliness, Henenlotter attempted to avoid Murray. When they eventually ran into each other, Henenlotter apologized and explained that he was not responsible. Satisfied with the explanation, Murray volunteered a quotation.[7]

The film currently has a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10[8]

Frankenhooker was released on VHS in 1990, by Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment, and had an interactive box which had the titular character exclaim "wanna date?!" when you pressed a button on the box.

On November 8, 2011, Synapse Films released Frankenhooker on Blu-ray. This edition has reversible cover art, with the original theatrical poster on one side and newly commissioned artwork on the reverse side. The disc contains a 2K high definition transfer of the film and a digitally remastered 5.1 audio mix, as well as an audio commentary track from writer/director Frank Henenlotter and make-up effects designer Gabe Bartalos, three featurettes and the original theatrical trailer.[9] The special features from this release were also available on the DVD version of the film, released on September 10, 2013.

On January 2, 2012, Arrow Films released a special edition Blu-ray of Frankenhooker. Like the Synapse release before it, this edition also has reversible cover art, featuring both the original theatrical poster art and newly commissioned art (different from the Synapse version). This edition includes many UK exclusives, including an audio commentary from Henenlotter and star James Lorinz, a documentary titled "Your Date's on a Place" and a tour of Gabe Bartalos' effects lab in Los Angeles. It also includes all three featurettes from the Synapse release, as well as trailers for the films Basket Case, Basket Case 2 and Brain Damage, all of which were also directed by Henenlotter.[10]

• List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster

• Frankenhooker on IMDb
• Frankenhooker at AllMovie
• Frankenhooker at Rotten Tomatoes