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Codex Atanicus
Codex Atanicus is a three story anthology by Spanish director Carlos Atanes. Before watching the movie I never heard of the guy, but the introduction video on the DVD by one of his regular actresses Arantxa Peña made me realize that I'm in for a hell of a ride. Experimental, bizarre, sick, strange - these are some of the words that describe the stories contained in Codex Atanicus. The anthology is opened by a 20 minute short from 1995 called Metaminds & Metabodies. I am really not into this kind of experimental videos, but I will try to summarize. It opens with a girl singing in the club. Everything looks ultra underground and the girl is connected with some wires to the walls. Strange people are watching her...
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Movie Review: Frankenhooker

Story
Jeffrey Franken is a medical school dropout who likes to make experiments at home. One day his family are having a birthday party in their back yard and Jeffrey's fiancée gets killed in a accident with a lawnmower. As he's truly in love with this now dead girl he decides to try and bring her back to life again. Unfortunately he was only able to save her head from the lawnmover remains so he goes in to the city and tries to lure prostitutes into a hotel room so he can get body parts from them to use to re-animate his girl.

Comments
Say cheese! If you're into cheesy movies you're gonna love Frankenhooker as it is truly a cheesy flick. That doesn't mean that's it's bad though, it's actually far from it, only thing is that you should just know what you're getting yourself into. If you're looking for a serious horror movie this is so not it. Frankenhooker has a lot of horror elements in it, that plus a lot of gore, but it is first and most a comedy. Forget Shakespeare and say hello to Frank Henenlotter, the genius behind such great films as the Basket Case trilogy, Braindamage and of course this one that is Frankenhooker.

The actual title of the movie says a lot. If you're familiar with the Frankenstein story, you will see that Frankenhooker has a lot in common with that but is of course slightly different and that's just one of many reasons why it's so great. Now this movie was made in 1990 but has a really strong 80's feeling, and personally I love these types of 80's flicks so that of course only adds more positivity to it. It's way over the top at times so expect nothing else, but if you can take it for what it truly is, you're definitely in for a fun ride.

Frankenhooker Frankenhooker

Jeffrey Franken is a hobby scientist who dropped out of medical school and who for the most of the time just stays at home making experiments. One day his family are having a party in their back yard and tragedy hits young Jeffrey hard when his fiancée is killed by a lawnmover. Just the fact that she gets killed in a lawnmover accident tells you a lot what type of flick this is. Personally I think it's brilliant and makes for a really cool scene. The only thing left of his once beautiful bride to be is the head, something that Jeffrey keeps since he has plans for it.

Being a man of science, he figures that he can re-animate his girlfriend and bring her back to life once again, thing though is that only her head is still intact. So he hits the city in order to lure prostitutes into a hotel room and there steal some of their body parts needed to put his girlfriend together. He doesn't just kill the hookers the old fashioned way, but instead gives them some of his "super crack", a drug so strong it makes them explode.

After a lot of trouble he finally manages to gather all the part needed to bring his girlfriend back from the dead. And so he does, only thing is that she doesn't quite come out looking like she did before, but instead looks more like a purple zombie hooker. If that wasn't bad enough, she takes off to go on a killing spree in New York and Jeffrey has to try and find her before it's to late.

As you probably can tell, Frankenhooker has a lot of weird elements in it, something that makes it funny and interesting. Yes, it's pretty goofy and while some stuff is a bit too much, most of the time Frankenhooker is a riot. The acting is ok for what it is and it truly has this great 80's feeling to it. Plus that there are tons of gore and a lot of nudity, something that of course makes it even better. Even though it's low-budget it still looks very good and is a fast-paced flick featuring a lot of weird and funny things.

Final Comments
Look, whatever you do, don't take this the least bit seriously, cos if you do, it will so not work. But if you take it for what it is and you like over-the-top humour and gore, Frankenhooker can be quite entertaining. Recommended.

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Frankenhooker

ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 1990
DIRECTOR: Frank Henenlotter
WRITING CREDITS: Frank Henenlotter, Robert Martin
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
CAST: James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, Joanne Ritchie
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 85 min

RATING: 8/10

Frankenhooker Website/IMDB Click here
Frankenhooker Trailer Click here

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