[Editorial] The Shocking Brilliance of Frankenhooker (1990)

Mary Shelley’s gothic tale of Frankenstein, penned in 1818, is a story told and retold many times in the centuries since its initial publishing. Over the years, modern culture has adopted the interpretation given by James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) - one of the essential Universal Monsters - as portrayed on the screen by horror icon Boris Karloff. Modern horror cinema has used the Frankenstein theme in various iterations, but none so unique as exploitation director Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990). 

As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I was in the very lucky position of my mother managing a local video store and having access to any and all VHS movies and unlimited free rentals. I had worked my way through the majority of the massive horror section of the store and was 11 years old when Frankenhooker debuted for home rental. I was secretly delighted at the title of Frankenhooker, thinking it was salacious pornography hidden behind a horror label; a forbidden fruit that piqued my curiosity. I was delightfully wrong. Frankenhooker was much more of a witty social commentary masquerading as an exploitative horror comedy and it introduced me to the world of Frank Henenlotter films. As a pre-teen, I couldn’t quite express this sentiment in words just yet, but as a woman in my 40s now, I can do just that. 

The references to Shelley’s Frankenstein are so obvious and plentiful, presented with no qualms or nuance. For instance, our main characters are an electrician/mad scientist named Jeffrey Franken and his girlfriend (and titular Frankenhooker and oft-cosplayed character), Elizabeth Shelley (iconically played by Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen). Actor James Lorinz brings the quirkiness to the role of Jeffrey, or “Jersey Boy” as the prostitutes he later employs call him, in such a way that’s fun despite him being such a despicable character. Jeffrey is staunchly anti-drug, but uses an electric drill for trepanning (boring holes in the skull to specific brain areas) to “calm down”. Later in the film, to obtain body parts for his fiance Elizabeth after she’s accidentally dismembered by one of Jeffrey’s inventions, he creates what he calls “Super Crack” to kill the drug-hungry prostitutes by causing them to explode. In print, this movie sounds like it would never work, but it does and it does it to perfection. In Jeffrey’s own words, “I won’t be killing them, it’s the crack that’s killing them!”

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Henenlotter is clever in this film, hidden heavily behind the absurdity, with his unique take on a classic horror tale and putting it in his trademark New York City setting with a modern update that only he could tackle. One could certainly argue that Frankenhooker is the tamest of Henelotter’s films and make a very strong case. Compared to the bleakness of Brain Damage (1988) and the gore-fest Basket Case (1982), Frankenhooker comes out looking more like an exploitation horror comedy. Thanks to Bill Murray giving the film a glowing review (prominently featured on posters and VHS covers), this film was many viewers' first foray into the Henenlotter-verse. 

Frank Henenlotter did feel the film had some important messages inside of its absurdity. For Jeffrey to have a lesson in the film - and he certainly learns the ultimate lesson in “playing god” with his estrogen-based reanimation fluid - was very important for the iconic ending, as was the use of the drug known as crack. Henenlotter explains the evolution and inclusion here:

“He [Jeffrey] tried to fix [Elizabeth], in his way, and that’s why he paid the price. [...] New York was in the grips of the crack explosion at the time. When I was filming Brain Damage, we were working on a street that was hooker central, literally, and in the mornings, I’d walk to where we were shooting and there were two items that would cover the sidewalk - used condoms and crack vials. [...] And it was that awareness of it that seeped into the film. Why don’t we make Super Crack? Everyone was doing crack”. [Mulvanetti, JP. 2014, October 14. Frank Henenlotter - Basket Cases, Frankenhookers and Sexploitation!. ScareTissue.

In a poetic justice, Elizabeth ends up saving the day when Jeffrey is killed by his own estrogen-reanimated spare female body parts by, in turn, using his estrogen reanimation fluid on him and salvaging female body parts he has stored. His reaction to being alive but now having a female body is comical and it feels right after everything he’s put the female characters through. It is satisfying as Elizabeth professes her undying love and how they can now always be together, turning the tables on Jeffrey’s dark experiments and yet still loving him. It is both queer and justifiable and it feels so wholesome that Elizabeth is still in love with Jeffrey and accepting him in any body he inhabits, something Jeffrey was misguidedly attempting to do for her. Elizabeth is the definition of a sympathetic character and, while perhaps not the brightest, she is absolutely the heart and the real show of this iconic film. Patty Mullen’s iconic Frankenhooker twitch face is something she still does when she meets fans. I met Patty Mullen last summer and she did the face for me. If you’re wondering, yes, she wears the purple wig in meet-and-greets.

The argument can certainly be made that the film is misogynistic, but on the other side of the coin, there is a strong sense of female justice and barely hidden feminism. This film, as with all of Frank Henelotter’s work, is in heavy rotation in my viewing. All of the wonderful things about Frankenhooker are more poignant on repeated viewings and I highly recommend revisiting the film if it has been a while since viewing it. If one has not seen the movie, my twist reveal takes nothing away from the pathos and overall fun of the film. Frankenhooker is Henenlotter’s most famous film for a reason.

My podcast covered Frankenhooker during our season 3 run and you can find our talk here: The House That Screams: Frankenhooker

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