Frankenhooker
The film cost $1.5 million making it Henenlotter's most expensive (at the time), but there were still budgetary issues. The producers told him they had used up all of the allotted funds for pyrotechnics during the exploding hookers scene to which he replied "How the fuck am I gonna film the lab scene?!" He ended up calling in a favor to do some "unlicensed pyrotechnics" for the shoot. Lorinz recalls the guy finishing the setup and telling him "Don't worry, it's maybe safe.",Incorrectly regarded as goof: As 'Frankenhooker' is an homage to writer Mary Shelley, the 'Frankenstein' films and the low budget gore movies of the 1960s and 1970s, the FX, make-up and prosthetics are deliberately clumsy.,[Jeffrey talks to his mother for comfort]
Jeffreys Mother: Oh, Jeffrey... I'm worried about you.
Jeffrey Franken: Yeah - Well so am I, Ma. Something's happening to me that I just don't understand. I can't think straight anymore. It's like my reasoning is all, uh, twisted and distorted, you know? I seem to be disassociating myself from reality more and more each day. I'm anti-social. I'm becoming dangerously amoral. I - I've lost the ability to distinguish between right from wrong, good from bad. I'm scared, Ma. I mean, I feel like I'm - I'm plunging headfirst into some kind of black void of sheer and utter madness or something.
Jeffreys Mother: You want a sandwich?,No animals or people were killed or injured in the making of this movie.,Featured in Beyond the Wicker: Making 'Basket Case 2' (2007),Never Say No
Written by Roger Greenawalt and Clifford Lane
Performed by Roger Greenawalt and Clifford Lane,Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker (1990) is a funny horror comedy starring James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken, a young man who is extremely interested in medical studies and becoming a doctor. He makes his weird experiments in his house while his parents are little concerned as they think their son is little weird, understandably. Soon a horrible but incredibly comical accident happens to his girlfriend Elizabeth so Jeffrey takes all the body parts he can in order to re-build his girl. But he needs various body parts in order to complete his love and he develops a drug which makes its users explode. He goes to the streets searching for prostitutes and you know what he wants from them. He gets the parts, but will the new Elizabeth, Frankenhooker, be the same as she used to be?

This film is a must for lovers of B cinema and films which mix horror, gore and comedy. Franken's character is very mad as he talks alone all the time and inserts a power drill into his head everytime he is about to have some nervous problems under pressure. Usually when characters talk all the time without reasons in films it just shows how bad the script is, but in this case, the talking (especially for himself) is normal for this kind of crazy doctor and thus it doesn't feel irritating and bad choice.

Henenlotter's other films like Brain Damage (1988) and Basket Case (1982) are so fantastic as they mix humor and horror so uniquely. They are creepy and very funny (and clever especially in Brain Damage's case) at the very same film. Frankenhooker isn't an exception and the first lawnmower scene convinces the viewer what will the film be like. There are many severed limbs and body parts, but they don't seem repellent as the tone of the film is so tongue in cheek and not wicked. The scene in which some ten hookers EXPLODE is as funny as possible, but not gory at all, since the film had to get an R rating. It is even funnier now as crimson doesn't fly all the time, they just explode!

The mutants and attached body parts at the end are really creepy and almost nightmarish, and reminded me of Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator which has similar monsters. The effects work in Frankenhooker is fantastic all the way, and it all is now perfect, and wouldn't work anymore if done with computers or CGI. The pace is fast all the time and the viewer doesn't get bored. The Frankenhooker herself is also pretty outrageous and very deadly a hooker! The lady who plays her part is very talented with all her face expressions and movements. I like Basket Case and Brain Damage even more, but still Frankenhooker is a little classic by this talented and mad film maker genius. I give Frankenhooker at least 8/10 now after the first viewing.,