'Frankie Freako' Reviews: "Frankie Freako is understatedly ghoulish and is no master of puppets, but flies its freak flag just enough to make for a winning low-lift horror comedy"

         On October 4, 2024, SHOUT! STUDIOS released 'Frankie Freako', which has received rave reviews from critics, currently holding at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "After calling a late-night party hotline that promises out-of-this-world fun, uptight yuppie Conor Sweeney must battle the pint-sized forces of evil that get unleashed through his phone line, led by the maniacal rock 'n' roll goblin Frankie Freako." The ensemble cast includes Conor Sweeney, Adam Brooks, Kristy Wordsworth, Matthew Kennedy, and Meredith Sweeney. In the film, After calling a late-night party hotline that promises out-of-this-world fun, uptight yuppie Conor Sweeney must battle the pint-sized forces of evil that get unleashed through his phone line, led by the maniacal rock 'n' roll goblin Frankie Freako." But what did the critics say?

Photo Courtesy of Shout Factory

       Katie Rife of IGN Movies says, "Frankie Freako is a ridiculous movie. The humor is juvenile, the dialogue is silly, and the plotting is more rickety than the minecart that transports its characters across dimensions in a goofy green-screened sequence. The lessons are cliché, the puppetry is crude, and the score is a step above temp-track Muzak. One of the biggest gags involves spray-painting the word “BUTT” on the wall of a suburban house. None of this is a criticism of the latest film by PG: Psycho Goreman director Steven Kostanski. These are all points in its favor. Kostanski specializes in what can best be described as R-rated kids’ movies, films that play like they were written by a 10-year-old with an affinity for excessive sex, violence, and/or curse words. With the right attitude, the combination of innocent framing and mature content can be quite amusing, although it takes a well-developed sense of mischief to keep the gag fresh for a full 85 minutes. In this respect, Frankie Freako surpasses Psycho Goreman as a movie whose modest ambitions are key to its success."

       Matt Donato of Collider notes, "Frankie Freako is understatedly ghoulish and is no master of puppets, but flies its freak flag just enough to make for a winning low-lift horror comedy."

       Matthew Jackson of Paste Magazine praises the film, stating, "Built from the same little monster framework as stuff like the Gremlins and Critters series, Frankie Freako is an unapologetically weird, esoteric ride through a very particular kind of ’80s movie." Continuing, "With that in mind, Frankie Freako certainly has its limitations. It’s packaged as light sci-fi/horror-comedy fare, and functions as such, its larger nostalgic commentary existing only as background to an excuse to have a lot of fun with creatures and sight gags. It never quite goes as far as you’d hope in the first two acts, and by the time its fullest ambitions show up, it feels just a hair too late. Still, it’s hard to be upset by those things when everyone involved is clearly having so much fun. Frankie Freako is an example of what happens when a gifted genre filmmaker understands that throwback movies are about so much more than song choices and big hair, and that depth of understanding produces delightful results. It’s Gremlins by way of Tim & Eric, and that alone is enough to make it one of the year’s most fun cinematic curiosities."