Color, 1996, 71m. / Directed by Escalpo Don Balde / Starring Frank O'Brien, Johnny Horizon, Chick Carter / Sub Rosa (US R0 NTSC) / DD2.0
As a blend of gross-out gags and twisted pathos, Bride of Frank is bound to test the tolerance of many viewers but at least offers far more fun per minute than your average Troma film. The strangely affectionate tone for the lead character is easier to take since all of his victims are loud, obnoxious twits dispatched in the silliest, dirtiest manner possible (ranging from a karate thrust through the throat to copulation with an empty eye socket). The film also includes bucketloads of unpleasant but amusing nudity, including some hardcore bits thankfully accomplished with prosthetic "enhancement." Technically the videography ranges from oddly framed, clumsily staged dialogue scenes to surprisingly imaginative hallucination scenes; more interestingly, it was also filmed in "Buttersound" which apparently amounts to Frank's wacko dialogue and the funky score swerving back and forth into the rear channels.
Rendering years of fuzzy VHS dupes obsolete, Sub Rosa's DVD looks about as good as one could expect. Colors are rather drab, but the copious fake blood looks red enough and the sleazy detail is always crystal clear. The Buttersound audio only really kicks in a few times, but it's enough to merit a featurette called "What Is Buttersound?" in which we discover the amazing technical secret behind this video breakthrough.
Other extras include a half-hour alternate third act for the film (which might be less perverse, really), a deleted "camping" scene containing more Frank antics, a blooper reel, "Frank's Home Movie" (footage of Frank appearing in Switzerland and Paris to promote the film), and audio commentary from director "Escalpo Don Balde" (how's that for a pseudonym?), "technical director" Brent Butterworth, and O'Brien himself. Other goodies inlcude five trailers, a barrage of promotional material, and three hidden Easter Eggs. For some reason the special features menu is very slow to navigate, so be patient.
A perfect example of how the video underground can create an entire cult out of thin air, this zero-budget video outrage hit the bootleg circuit in the late 1990s and became a hot property for everyone who thought they'd seen it all. Launching into bad taste territory that would make the Farrelly Brothers cringe, this ultra-black comedy follows the
romantic exploits of elderly bum Frank (played by elderly bum Frank O'Brien), who spends his time daydreaming about running over kids' heads and spouting twisted threats of molestation in a slurred, barely intelligible accent (occasionally thick enough to require English subtitles). A group of New Jersey warehouse employees bring Frank on for a variety of odd jobs and take him to a strip club, where Frank discovers what a really wants in life: "Big tits!" Interpreting this demand as a cry for love, his new buddies set him up with a personals ad and even pretend to be him on the phone, leading to a serious of deranged dates - including a "big boned" stripper and a bossy bald man in drag - that always seem to end with Frank mutilating his potential sweethearts. You see, his mother told him that it's perfectly fine to kill someone as long as you tell them exactly what you'll do to them beforehand; thus, Frank's profane threats turn out to be all too literal in execution. Eventually Frank does find a possible mate, leading to the most harrowing scene of footsie ever filmed.
