Frankenhood Review

This latest piece of modern day blaxploitation film is interesting to say the least. The preview makes it seem like it's a modern day take on Frankenstein, but it really dumps out more comedy than anything truly scary. Unless your idea of fear is losing a 3 on 3 basketball tournament.

Frankenhood stars Charlie Murphy, and a bunch of guys that you probably saw in Leprauchan Back to the Hood or Leprechaun in the Hood. The movie looks well enough, the colors are nice, but the plot...wow...it is far from truly terrifying.

Here is a trailer for the 2009 film Frankenhood:



The movie starts really creepy, inside a morgue with lots of test tubes. The colors are reminiscent of ReAnimator, a lot of florescent green and reds. It really is somewhat creepy, and then we meet our two main characters. Two morgue workers fixing a light bulb run into Charlie Murphy who plays Franklin. Franklin is a scientist? It's never really clear what he does there at the morgue, but he is there.

The movie progresses and we get into the Frankenstein storyline, and it's not very good at all. It's worse than Black Frankenstein was in the 70's, it's almost as good/bad as the MADTV sketch Blackenstein and Black Dracula.

Seen here:



The movie never gets creepy. The two friends, in a freak accident, become friends with Frankie, the monster. They then proceed to train and play basketball and enter a 3 on 3 basketball competition. It's hilarious to say the least.

I hate to spoil it for you, but they win.

What? No protagonist?

Well, if you must know, there is a rival basketball team that tries to figure out who in the world Frankie is, and when they figure out he's dead they simply do nothing. Yep, they really don't do much. The crux of the film is lame one liners and simpleton humor mixed with a basketball plot line. Sure it's Blaxploitation but they aren't even trying anymore.

The movie really is terrible, but it looks good. The straight to dvd cinematography isn't really there, and really looks good at times. There is some film grain, and attempts to master the colors which is nice, but the acting is terrible the plot is unbelievable and the story isn't really a Frankenstein story! It just breaks all the rules. Then again, watching Frankenstein play basketball isn't half bad.

Frankenhood looked scary...but ended up being just another bad attempt at comedy. It has a few one liners, but it's no Friday After Next. Watch at your own risk; the scariest part of Frankenhood is that there are people out there green lighting these things.



Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.