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Frank Henenlotter: Director Showcase
To begin with, I'd like to quote from an interview with Henenlotter for Total Sci-Fi. He claims that his films are intentionally exploitation films rather than horror in particular. "Horror" isn't the label that Henenlotter prefers (though I'd say it most definitely applies):
Frank Henenlotter has just six movies in his filmography:
Basket Case (1982) - The story of a young man who wanders around with basket, inside which lives his deformed and homicidal twin brother.
Brain Damage (1988) - The story of a young man who receives a parasite which injects him with a powerful and addictive drug so long as he finds victims to feed the parasite with blood.
Basket Case 2 (1990) - Sequel to Basket Case where the central characters find themselves welcomed into a new home.
Frankenhooker (1990) - The story of a young bio-engineer who plans to rebuild his wife from the body parts of prostitutes after she is ripped apart in a lawnmower accident.
Basket Case 3 (1992) - Sequel to Basket Case 2.
Bad Biology (2008) - Two young people with bizarre sexual deformities might be perfect for one another, in a bizarre and twisted way.
Pretty much every film Frank Henenlotter has made has a central premise which boggles the mind a bit and I wouldn't say that any of these films was predictable.
I would note however, that Henenlotter sometimes has a habit of letting a single joke run on too long. Also the exploitation element of the films means that there's sometimes a lot of nudity simply for the sake of it.
Still, these films are always a lot of fun...
Basket Case 1, 2 and 3 (1982, 1990, 1992)
Making up a full half of Henenlotter's filmography, I feel I need to deal with these three films separately from the others. Each one flows neatly into the next film, yet you could stop after any single one of them and be left with a pretty satisfying (and disturbing) ending.
( Read more... )
Brain Damage (1988)
Henenlotter has a lot of great ideas in "Brain Damage" but the film starts off rather slowly and early sex-related kill scenes didn't really feel as funny as they were presumably intended to be.
( Read more... )
Frankenhooker (1990)
I heard positive comments about this around the internet and was quite surprised. The title didn't exactly appeal to me. However, there's a lot of inventiveness, some clear tributes to the original Frankenstein and some great black humour.
( Read more... )
Bad Biology (2008)
I've got to admit, I'm very embarassed to be writing this review. Bad Biology has to be one of the weirdest films I have ever seen and in places it is barely distinguishable from softcore pornography.
( Read more... )
Frank Henenlotter is a great horror-comedy director and I would highly recommend that you all see at least four of his movies. You possibly ought to leave "Bad Biology" until you've seen one or two of Henenlotter's other ones first though!
To begin with, I'd like to quote from an interview with Henenlotter for Total Sci-Fi. He claims that his films are intentionally exploitation films rather than horror in particular. "Horror" isn't the label that Henenlotter prefers (though I'd say it most definitely applies):
"I never felt that I made ‘horror films’, I always felt that I made exploitation films. Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything - an attitude that you don’t find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They’re a little ruder, a little raunchier, they deal with material people don’t usually touch on, whether it’s sex or drugs or rock and roll.
"They’re what I grew up on. I used to cut high school when I was growing up on Long Island. I’d take the train into Manhattan and would go to 42nd Street back when it was the greatest paradise in the world. I remember it was just nothing but theatre after theatre after theatre after theatre. And my head would spin! It was never a question of, ‘Oh, what shall I see?’ It was a case of ‘How many shall I see?’ It was glorious. Whether it was low budget horror films or sexploitation films or foreign films or just grubby little strange things that you never saw again. And you wouldn’t see these films anywhere else except in that wretched little street. It was just paradise!
"...When I do exploitation it gives me the freedom to go a little nuts. I mean, I’d only say I work in ‘horror films’ so that the people that sell it have a safe label to put on it - “What category is it going to be on the shelves? Oh, horror.” And that’s fine.
"But if you look at my films they’re really crazy, and I like the way I can blend comedy, horror and sex and just sometimes… self-indulgence! (laughs) I don’t think there’s a bad joke I won’t chase. Bad Biology is the biggest homage to exploitation films ever made. I just thought, ‘let’s go back and make an exploitation film as if the world still wanted them!’ (laughs manically)"
Frank Henenlotter has just six movies in his filmography:
Basket Case (1982) - The story of a young man who wanders around with basket, inside which lives his deformed and homicidal twin brother.
Brain Damage (1988) - The story of a young man who receives a parasite which injects him with a powerful and addictive drug so long as he finds victims to feed the parasite with blood.
Basket Case 2 (1990) - Sequel to Basket Case where the central characters find themselves welcomed into a new home.
Frankenhooker (1990) - The story of a young bio-engineer who plans to rebuild his wife from the body parts of prostitutes after she is ripped apart in a lawnmower accident.
Basket Case 3 (1992) - Sequel to Basket Case 2.
Bad Biology (2008) - Two young people with bizarre sexual deformities might be perfect for one another, in a bizarre and twisted way.
Pretty much every film Frank Henenlotter has made has a central premise which boggles the mind a bit and I wouldn't say that any of these films was predictable.
I would note however, that Henenlotter sometimes has a habit of letting a single joke run on too long. Also the exploitation element of the films means that there's sometimes a lot of nudity simply for the sake of it.
Still, these films are always a lot of fun...
Basket Case 1, 2 and 3 (1982, 1990, 1992)
Making up a full half of Henenlotter's filmography, I feel I need to deal with these three films separately from the others. Each one flows neatly into the next film, yet you could stop after any single one of them and be left with a pretty satisfying (and disturbing) ending.
( Read more... )
Brain Damage (1988)
Henenlotter has a lot of great ideas in "Brain Damage" but the film starts off rather slowly and early sex-related kill scenes didn't really feel as funny as they were presumably intended to be.
( Read more... )
Frankenhooker (1990)
I heard positive comments about this around the internet and was quite surprised. The title didn't exactly appeal to me. However, there's a lot of inventiveness, some clear tributes to the original Frankenstein and some great black humour.
( Read more... )
Bad Biology (2008)
I've got to admit, I'm very embarassed to be writing this review. Bad Biology has to be one of the weirdest films I have ever seen and in places it is barely distinguishable from softcore pornography.
( Read more... )
Frank Henenlotter is a great horror-comedy director and I would highly recommend that you all see at least four of his movies. You possibly ought to leave "Bad Biology" until you've seen one or two of Henenlotter's other ones first though!
