Frank Henenlotter's FRANKENHOOKER!
The show that talks about stuff on purpose is back with a brand-new episode! And since it's that special time of year, we've got a very special treat for all you good boys and girls! Nestled under your non-denominational holiday trees this weekend, you'll find our latest episode where we discuss, in excruciating detail, Frank Henenlotter's 1990 cult masterpiece Frankenhooker! A creepy clown in a soiled Santa Claus costume broke into your house overnight and left you this spectacular gift. Happy holidays. You're welcome.
Frankenhooker, if you're somehow not aware (and if you're not aware of Frankenhooker's existence, then shame on you), tells the touching story of Jeffrey, a mildly deranged amateur mad scientist, and the bizarre lengths he goes to in order to resurrect his beloved fiancée Elizabeth, who was tragically torn to shreds by an errant remote control lawnmower at her father's birthday party. It may, in fact, be one of the greatest movies ever made.
So do yourself a favor this holiday season and listen to our painstakingly researched spotlight episode of Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker. You can find it below, or listen on Apple, Google, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic (is this a real thing?), Spotify, Anchor and Amazon, so choose your own adventure and listen to this terrifying tale of sluts and bolts!
Join the conversation! Leave a comment below telling us what you think of Frankenhooker! How much do you love this amazing motion picture? Let us know! While you're here, have you heard any cool music? Seen any cool movies? Attended any bizarre cult rituals? Tell us all about it! Spill your guts! Of course, if you're feeling a bit more verbose, you could always send us a lengthy email, which we always appreciate. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for the complete TRAPPO experience!
While we have your attention, have you voted in our year-end poll yet? We've got our first annual TRAPPO Music Awards coming up soon, and we need your help to figure out the winners! Just follow this link to our survey and vote for your favorites! The poll closes on December 16th, that's next Friday, so don't delay! Get your votes in today and make sure your voice is heard in the upcoming greatest music awards ceremony of the year.
Thanks for voting, and thanks for listening!
This episode honestly was pretty informative. Clearly somebody is a real fan of this movie, and it shows. I don't know what that says about you guys, but I'm sure it says something. Great job. laughed, and I learned a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother with all this effort for a trash movie? And you put it in your canon? That means your canon is a joke, and nobody should take it seriously. Good work on revealing yourselves to be completely irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteThat’s incredibly small-minded of you to say, anonymous one. Completely dismissing a movie just because it’s not your “cup of tea” and belittling people who actually do know how to have a good time is a really shitty way to live your life. “Frankenhooker” belongs in the canon because it’s their canon. It’s also a really entertaining film. FILM. I said it. Go be an asshole on somebody else’s blog.
DeleteFrankenhooker is good people. I'm pleased to learn the story behind the movie is just as ridiculous and bizarre as I was hoping it would be. And the episode itself is a pretty lively. Good rhythm, funny anecdotes. A cut above, TRAPS. You put on your Sunday best for Frankenhooker! And did you know that James Lorinz, the actor who plays Jeffrey, has a small but really memorable role in Street Trash? Based on his performance there, I'd say he's basically just playing himself in both of these movies. A funny dude. Any plans on doing Basket Case or Brain Damage? Complete the trilogy? After hearing this episode, I'd love to hear your thoughts on those wonderful cinematic achievements.
ReplyDeleteKeep it weird! Keep it Henenlotter!
I was lucky enough to see a Frank Henenlotter triple feature at the drive-in two years ago. Basket Case, Brain Damage and Frankenhooker presented on vintage, bashed up 35mm prints on a hot summer night. Spending the evening under the stars surrounded by like-minded weirdoes, watching three of the best exploitation movies ever made with my wife and some cheap drive-in nachos and hot dogs? It was magic, my friends. What a night to remember. Good episode!
ReplyDeleteI don’t know about any cult rituals, but I attended a pagan summer solstice festival once. It just felt like a renaissance fair, only without the cool stuff like jousting tournaments and stuff. People just chanted to the four winds and roasted a whole pig and there was a lot of crushed velvet being worn. I wasn’t terribly impressed, and when the drum circle started I left and got a burger. Not nearly as cool as it sounded, to be honest. Nothing against modern pagans, but I guess I’m just better off being a boring agnostic.
ReplyDeleteI went to Woodstock 99 and almost drowned in mud and had a bunch of weird sex and got high and tried desperately not to get trampled during that fucking riot along with a girl I’d met during the festival. We struggled out of that nightmare together like we were living a real action movie. It wasn’t fun, though. Not after everything fell apart. But we survived, and we even stuck together. She was Wiccan and dragged me to one of those solstice fairs a few years later. Apparently she’d never been, either. We were both so bored we didn’t stick around. She stopped calling herself Wiccan after that. Now she’ll just tell people that she’s “agnostic but spiritually inclined”. I don’t know if these solstice things all suck, or maybe we just have the bad luck of knowing the wrong pagans. But I feel your pain. Woodstock 99 was such a bizarrely exhilarating experience in the end, so fucked up and weirdly spiritual at times, I thought maybe I could recreate that in some way. That was a fool’s errand. I can’t even go to concerts anymore. It’s like I have PTSD. We’ll just get baked and watch a fucked up movie. It’s safer.
DeleteI went along with some friends to a neo-folk festival back in 2016. It was being held at a drive-in theater in the middle of august, and it SUCKED. The high temperature hit 99 degrees with no wind and humidity for days. A surprisingly large number of people showed up, and it was just a sea of miserable bodies roasting in a flat gravel field for an entire day, listening to a bunch of nerdy bands with lutes and keytars and flutes jamming endlessly on an old wooden platform that looked like it had been constructed during the Salem Witch Trials.
DeleteBy the time we finally gave up and left for an air-conditioned Denny’s, I think seven or eight people had been carried off by paramedics and driven to the hospital. I watched a grown woman in a homemade sundress with some kind of Blue’s Clues pattern give up on waiting in line for the portable toilets, squat in the middle of the crowd and just shit all over the gravel and her legs. It was a fucking nightmare.
Three hours standing in the sun, being slowly murdered by stifling heat, assaulted by some of the worst odors you could imagine, and listening to goofy assholes trying to play a hurdy-gurdy and an antique theremin piped through blown-out speakers. I know what awaits me when I drop dead and the devil calls me home. I had a sneak preview back in 2016. If you ever hear of any “neo-folk” festivals happening nearby wherever you live, don’t go. Take it from your old pal, The Elf Sires. That shit ain’t worth it.
Of course I was trying to get laid. That’s why I tagged along. I figured showing an interest in a lady’s hobbies might be a little harmless fun. I was wrong. I was so wrong.
I would have preferred to drown in mud at Woodstock 99. At least the music would have been better.
I hope your experience at that miserable festival didn’t turn you off neofolk music completely. There are lots of good artists in the genre doing interesting things. Sol Invictus and Spiritual Front are two of my active favorites. And if it’s just not the music for you, no big deal. I’ve learned the hard way myself not to suffer through awful music for the potential of sex. That juice is never worth the squeeze, especially if they’re a big fan of that music you hate. Any time you hang out, you may be trapped listening to some stuff that sounds like nails on a goddamn chalkboard. It’s like a game of Russian roulette. Every time you show up, you just pray that you land on an empty chamber. Christ, that’s dark.
DeleteI don’t really have a taste for neofolk, I’ve found. Unfortunately it’s just not generally for me. I’m willing to give more artists a shot, but my tolerance is pretty low.
DeleteI love Frankenheimer! It’s the funny sexy time for me when I get a good laugh out loud! Was his brain damaged the whole time he had a worm get the kid drunk on light? I seen to remember that one was good and it made him cry at the end. Very funny though TRAPPOS. Thumbs up. Good night my friend!
ReplyDeleteI’ve never seen this movie before, but your conversation has gotten me interested. I know you’ve spoiled the whole movie already, but I just saw the movie is still on Shudder and I’m going to give it a shot over my holiday break. Frankenhooker for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteIt’s time for some JOHN WATERS Love here on TRAPPO. The king of filth deserves his place in the cannon. Shoot that beautiful bastard up into space so he can party with all those weird fucking aliens. We will soon learn why our galaxy is called “the Milky Way”, my intelligent and highly advanced friends. Because JOHN WATERS is gonna come all over the fucking cosmos. He’s gonna make some goddam Star babies with his own monolith, if you know what I’m saying. It’s the right thing to do. Baltimore will thank you. The universe will thank you. And some very satisfied Venusian fuckboys will thank you, as soon as they’re allowed to remove their ball gags.
ReplyDeleteMake mine TRAPPO.