Workaholic yuppie Conor has a dilemma: no one in his life respects him! Not his boss, not his coworkers, not even his wife Kristina, who thinks he’s an uptight “square”! Conor sees no way out of this existential rut until one night while channel-surfing, he catches a bizarre ad for a party hotline hosted by a strange dancing goblin: Frankie Freako. Conor is entranced by Frankie’s promises of wild and freaky adventures, just a phone call away – could this be just the recipe to spice up his flavorless life?

For in-depth thoughts on Frankie Freako, please see my colleague Fritz Couture’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Frankie Freako comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that looks very nice. The film has a vibrant color palette that is reproduced perfectly here with a fetching radiance. It plays very well with the hues on display in the lighting and clothing, especially. The highlights are handled beautifully, along with the deep blacks that do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. There are no serious signs of noise or other such digital nuisances outside of some fleeting banding. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. The frame reveals an incredible amount of detail including the distinct textures of the various puppets and makeup effects. The sequences inside the office provide a nice reference to showcase the depth at play in the image. This presentation holds up very well on the format.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures this soundscape with a distinct effortlessness. The sound design is just as deftly rendered as the on-screen visuals with all of the sounds positioned just right in the mix. The environmental effects create an active soundscape of straightforward and heightened cinematic flourishes. This is a fairly lively film with moments that give the track a jolt. Activity in the low end knows when to make itself known in key moments. This is a favored release that brings the movie to life in a splendid way. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Steven Kostanski, Actor Conor Sweeney, and Cinematographer Pierce Derks provide an entertaining and informative commentary track in which they discuss the origins of the film, the challenges of acting opposite of puppets, collaborating with the ensemble, the cultural influence on the look of the film, and more.

Fasten Your Freakbelts – Behind The Scenes Of Frankie Freako: A nearly 11-minute look at the production of the film with a special emphasis on the special effects work.

Conor & Frankie – A Conversation Between Actors: A nine-minute discussion between our lead actor and the titular puppet that is fairly amusing.

Frankie Freako’s Funtime Phone Commercial: A 47-second look at the infomercial in the film.

Antique Connoisseurs Segments: A two-and-a-half-minute look at the fictional antique show featured in the film.

Trailer: The nearly two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Frankie Freako is a fun throwback to the classic personality-driven creature features that embraced the delightful mayhem of a tiny force running amok. The deadpan delivery of this material ratchets up the innate humor as things escalate and evolve and weird and wonderful ways. There are countless references to other movies from this era that show the creative team has a genuine passion for the material they are reinventing. The special effects work puts this one over the top as a creative success that hits for its intended audience. It is a hilarious and ambitious journey you won’t soon forget. Shout! Studios has given this film a Blu-Ray with a first-rate A/V presentation and a great selection of supplements. Recommended

Frankie Freako will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital on November 5, 2024.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Shout! Studios has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.