Review: 'Frankenhooker' Blu-ray

What is there to say about Frankenhooker that Bill "If you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker" Murray hasn't already said? Needing to explain to someone why they should see a movie about a grieving mad-scientist who uses the body parts of prostitutes to rebuild his fiancée recently deceased due to a routine lawnmower accident doesn't seem like something a grown man should be doing, even if Patty Mullen comes right to the precipice of genius in her face-contorting performance as the title creature. Will this kind of thing fly amongst those with 2026 sensibilities and sensitivities? What am I, a psychiatrist? All I know is that, much as it is with Bush-era terrorists, you're either with Frankenhooker or against Frankenhooker. If you fall into the latter camp, you probably do enjoy your bong hits.

And if you're with Frankenhooker, you probably long to watch Patty Mullen in all her purple-wigged, glitchy-grimacing glory in the very best quality available. Is that what you get with Synapse Films' new 4K disc of Frank Henelotter's 1990 cult classic? What am I, some kind of 4K-watching techno-geek? No, I'm a very down-to-earth, standard blu-ray watching geek, and Synapse's newly-restored-from-the-uncut-archival-print standard blu-ray disc is good enough for me. Like any movie intended for adult children, Frankenhooker is a sort of cinematic mobile, and it does not skimp on the bright, pretty colors to stimulate developing brains. These look blindingly vivid and rich in Synapse's restoration, while textures and grain look as natural as one could hope for from a film with so much spandex and silicon. The print is in great shape aside from a few rare bits of damage.

Along with a feature commentary with the director and makeup effects dude Gabe Bartalos, there's an hour of additional featurettes, though all of these extras are twenty-years old. They include interviews with Bartalos, Mullen, co-star Jennifer DeLora, and some real-life sex workers! DeLora also walks us through some on-set photos she took. Wanna date?