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Released by: Sub Rosa
Released on: April 27th, 2004.
Director: Steve Ballot (as Escalpo Don Balde)
Cast: Frank O’Brien, Johnny Horizon, Chick Carter, The Bride
Year: 1996
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Bride Of Frank – Movie Reviews:
One of those bizarre films that has gained itself a reputation thanks to the VHS bootleg market of days past, The Bride Of Frank finally saw its first ever proper home video release on DVD thanks to those swell guys over at Sub Rosa Studios way back in 2004.
So what’s it all about? Frank (Frank O’Brien) is a rather crazy and very homeless old man with quite a temper about him. He sleeps in a rundown old warehouse; alone save for his collection of mangy looking stray cats. His is not exactly a life of luxury, and he reminds you of those guys you see hanging out at the bus station downtown, talking to themselves or whoever will listen to them. You kind of feel sorry for Frank, or at least for his situation - initially that is. Once you get to know him a little more, you might sing a different tune.
Frank suffers from some serious nightmares while he sleeps, and during the day he fantasizes about killing children, and screaming random, incomprehensible threats at passersby. When he gets a strange gopher-type job at a local warehouse and ends up going out to the local strip bar with his co-workers one night, he proclaims his love of the female figure. His warehouse pals try and get him with a woman through an ad in the paper and set him up on a few dates with random hoochie types, none of which end well and most of which culminate in someone's gory demise - all in the name of finding Frank his ideal woman.
Existing mainly as a way of furthering the film from one nasty set piece to another, The Bride Of Frank is a nasty film with a mean streak of black humor running right down the middle of it. Entirely one big exercise in bad taste, the movie spares no one and is full of bad low budget gore, deranged profanities, and exploitative and gratuitous sex (you'll never look at a foot fetishist the same way again after watching this movie). This is a movie that kills off a little kid in the opening scene – after Frank whacks her in the head, he licks her blood off of his fingers, then runs her over with a track and eats her guts.
That being said, the movie really does work. If your sense of humor allows for some cruelty, you'll probably get a kick out of the movie. It's not a feel good affair and it sure as Hell has fun at the expense of others, but in that manner at least it is quite an effective gross out movie. Frank is an interesting character with a truly sick sense of humor and Frank O’Brien’s performance really goes for it. Many are likely to be put off by some of the set pieces and some of Frank's outbursts, but those with a taste for the bizarre in their quest for comedy need to see this one, especially if you crass humor and cheap gore appealing.
Bride Of Frank – DVD Review:
For an incredibly low budget film, The Bride Of Frank doesn’t fare too bad on DVD. The colors are pretty dulled but the image is clean of any serious print damage. There’s grain throughout and the deficiencies of the original lighting are made more obvious by the detail prevalent in the transfer, but for the most part things look okay – just not great.
The much-touted ‘9.1 Buttersound’ mix on the DVD registered on my receiver as Dolby Digital 2.0. That’s ok though, I don’t think my receiver is ‘Buttersound’ capable as it stands right now. In all seriousness though, the ‘Buttersound’ effects do kick in during a few scenes and add a certain something to the proceedings. Dialogue can be a bit muffled at times and the levels go all over the place in a couple of spots but other than that most of the time you can hear what’s going on and why.
The main extra is a half hour alternate ending that isn’t quite as effective or interesting as the one that the filmmakers ultimately went with, but fun to watch regardless. It doesn’t have the same kind of squirm quality that the chosen ending does, but I was glad to see them dig up this segment for the DVD release even if it is only for the sake of completion.
Sub Rosa has also supplied a deleted scene in which Frank goes on a camping trip with the predicted disastrous results that is kind of funny. There’s also a fairly lengthy blooper reel made up of outtakes from filming and the like, as well as a segment entitled Frank’s Home Movies that contains some clips of Frank’s European appearances on a trip to promote the movie. Both of these bits are pretty interesting and rather humorous.
Lead actor Frank O’Brien, director Escalpo Don Balde and Brent Butterworth (he of the aforementioned ‘Buttersound Technique’ fame!) offer a truly bizarre commentary track that covers all manner of minutia and trivia surrounding the filmmaking process and the movie itself. There’s a bizarre sense of humor running throughout the entire commentary track and if the movie appealed to you, this track likely will as well.
Four Easter Eggs, five trailers, a featurette on the film’s ‘Buttersound’ technique, and a brief behind the scenes montage round out the extra features.
Bride Of Frank – The Final Word:
Sub Rosa gives a genuinely obscure underground film a fairly royal treatment. Fans of The Bride Of Frank or of bad taste filmmaking in general could certainly spend their money on worse discs, and this offering from Sub Rosa is worth checking out.