Masters of Puppetry Fantasia Festival 2024 Review: Frankie Freako

Frankie Freako is a love letter to the early classic critter feature horror films

I feel as I sit to write this review that I have a great insight into this beautiful little horror comedy. I had the pleasure of chatting with writer/director Steven Kostanski. It was awesome to chat with him and I was super grateful for his time – because the dude had his premiere the night before and the crowd at Fantasia arrived, rocked and were ready to party.

Frankie Freako tells the story of an office drone, Connor. He lives a boring and mundane life. Even his gun-loving wife is starting to get annoyed at his boring existence. When she leaves for a weekend away he starts to see weird advertisements on his TV. The ad is of some little cool-looking goblin-like creature enticing Connor to party … and there’s a phone number to call. Connor decides that he’s gonna fight for the right and calls Frankie Freako. The next morning he wakes up, the house is trashed and is now inhabited by three little, lovable goblins.

So, it’s up to Connor and the three little party goblins to put the house back together again as they deal with all sorts of hilarious obstacles – even getting sucked into an intergalactic cosmic goblin realm.

What we have here is a mash-up of some of our childhood greats. It’s structured and written in a way that resonates with film fans who revisited some old classics and realised they were better left on that dusty VHS cover. It is a film for the 40-year-old child in us.

Frankie Freako is a mix of Ghoulies (Ghoulies Go To College, to be exact), Garbage Pail Kids, 976 Evil (the sequel) and we even have some grown-up Home Alone thrown in there (you’ll know it when you see it). It’s odd, crazy, creative and impossible not to love.

I would even say that this is a film that the whole family can enjoy. Hey, maybe it might get a 15 certificate when it’s released but this one is no different to all the little light-hearted critter creature-features we got in the 80s. The young ones will love this and just maybe, it might put them on to the 80s/90s classics that are the soul of this little gem.

Made with love and wholesomeness, Frankie Freako is a tonne of fun and a breath of fresh air. Those with a love for the above-mentioned films will take a trip down memory lane with a truly original, yet bat-shit-crazy concept.

More From This Year’s Fantasia Film Festival

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