150 Word Review: 'Freaky Tales' (2024)
Oakland gothic
Why didn’t anyone tell me about Freaky Tales? This action-comedy anthology from directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden introduces us to Oakland in the late ’80s, a mystical urban sprawl populated by good-hearted punks, high-stakes rap battles, avenging ninja warriors, and Nazis. There’s plenty of good ol’ fashioned bloodshed.
The cast is largely unknown, except for stars like Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, and, um, Tom Hanks, whose early hits like Splash and The Money Pit are name-dropped. Anthologies, like 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie, or 1982’s Creepshow, are only as good as the strongest stories, and the good news is Freaky Tales’ four chapters are never dull and cleverly interlock. Michelle Farrah Huang stands out as a rocker, wearing a fascist-piercing spiked gauntlet. Fleck and Boden somehow sprinkled ’80s cult movies like Re-Animator and Repo Man over ’90s nonlinear indie all-timer Pulp Fiction, producing a violent, neon-green homage to underdogs.
I loved it, and, like you, I was mystified that I hadn't heard of it, zero, nothing, I saw it on HBO or whatever platform and the mention of SLEEPY FLOYD and fighting Nazis and being freaky, well, that's all I needed to hear, yo. According to what I read, Hanks was a producer because he's from that area, but what a fun, wild movie, ya know? More people should see this!