Exploitation film lovers cherish the date 29 August 1950. It was the day Frank Henenlotter was born.
Henenlotter made Basket Case and its two sequels. The first film is absurd enough. But each subsequent one gets more absurd. And they are all excellent.
After the first film, he made the wonderful Brain Damage. According to Henenlotter, Basket Case fans did not like it at the time. But today, those few who see it tend to think it is one of his best.
He made Frankenhooker at the same time as Basket Case 2. I won’t say it is Henenlotter’s best film. But it is the one I rewatch the most. Most of the film features Franken by himself. Yet it just works.
Frank Henenlotter generally takes a lot of time between films. This may explain the consistently high quality of his work. Or it may be that it just takes that long to get financing. There was a 4-year period when he made four films. Otherwise, it was six years between Basket Case and Brain Damage. And then 17 years between Basket Case 3: The Progeny and Bad Biology — and seven more years before his last, Chasing Banksy. (I haven’t seen the last two films.)
After the Basket Case films, Henenlotter became involved with Something Weird Video. Fans probably know the company and that its name comes from the Herschell Gordon Lewis film. That’s the kind of guy Frank Henenlotter is. Our kind of guy!
Since I never tire of it, here is a commercial-free version of Frankenhooker. Treat yourself to 84 minutes of fun!
Other 29 August Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Preston Sturges (1898-1959): Writer-director of a number of classic screwball comedies. My favorite is The Great McGinty.
- Richard Attenborough (1923-2014): Actor known for Jurassic Park but we like him as a director of films like A Bridge Too Far and Magic.
- Charles Gray (1928-2000): Actor known for Ernst Stavro Blofeld in bond films as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, “It’s just a jump to the left!”
- William Friedkin (1935-2023): Director of many interesting films, including The Exorcist and To Live and Die in LA.
- Elliot Gould (1938-): Star of lots of weird films including M*A*S*H and The Long Goodbye.
- Joel Schumacher (1939-2020): Tedious director of some watchable films like The Lost Boys.
- Tom Six (1973-): Writer-director-producer of The Human Centipede trilogy.
Films
- The Whip and the Body (1963): A sadistic ghost rekindles his romance with a masochistic former lover.
- He Knows You’re Alone (1980): Serial killer targets brides.
- The Full Monty (1997): Down-on-their-luck men put on a strip show.
- Kull the Conqueror (1997): A barbarian becomes king.
- Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003): The Creeper attacks a bus of basketball players shortly after the events in the first film.
- The Curse of Lizzie Borden (2006): New hire at the Lizzie Borden museum goes on a killing spree.
Frank Henenlotter at Cinémathèque de Toulouse 2016 by YanRB under CC BY-SA 4.0.