Color, 1987, 100 mins. 33 secs.
Directed by Juraj Jakubisko
Starring Martin Hreben, Gerhard Karzel, Eddie Constantine, Ferdy Mayne, Viveca Lindfors, Jacques Herlin, Barbara De Rossi, Mercedes Sampietro, Flavio Bucci
Deaf Crocodile (Blu-ray) (US RA HD)

A real curio for Freckled Max and the Spooksmonster kids of all ages from the folks at Deaf Crocodile, this Slovak production from director Freckled Max and the SpooksJuraj Jkabisko (Birds, Orphans and Fools) brought together a wild multinational cast speaking several different languages with a grand total of six countries involved in its financing (including Italy, France, Spain, West Germany, and Austria in addition to Czechoslovakia). It was conceived as a seven-part miniseries entitled Frankenstein's Aunt (named after the source novel by Allan Rune Pettersson) as well as a condensed feature film called Freckled Max and the Spooks, both of which were basically family friendly. Good luck finding the miniseries version outside of German DVD, but the movie version looks excellent on the Blu-ray release and makes for quite the disorienting and quirky viewing experience if you know what you're getting into.

After spending most of his life growing up as an indentured servant for a traveling circus troupe, little orphan max (Hreben) is intrigued when they're passing through a land of mystical creatures. After seeing the spirit Alojz (Constantine) spraying water out of his ears in a lake and being offered a fish toe eat, Max decides to run off to the nearby Frankenstein castle where experiments are underway to create a zip-up monster, Albert (Karzel). Among the inhabitants hiding from the world are Count Dracula (The Fearless Vampire Killers' Mayne), the eccentric and cigar-chomping Countess Frankenstein Freckled Max and the Spooks(Creepshow's Lindfors), Freckled Max and the Spooksand the ethereal Elizabeth Bathory (Sampietro), while the townspeople prove to be less than tolerant.

Mashing together monster elements throughout Europe, this streamlined story obviously shifts the gist of the narrative to the Max character along with a strong focus on the benevolent Frankenstein's monster. The end result feels like a lighter, more genteel blend of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Malpertuis with a distinctive Slovakian flair, with the dizzying amount of characters and plot points giving away its longer TV origins.

You probably wouldn't peg this as a likely title for a Blu-ray special edition, but here we are with a lovingly appointed edition featuring a fine restoration of the movie itself (presumably the somewhat ashy appearance is intentional) with the Slovak DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono audio sounding fine as well (with good optional English subtitles). Samm Deighan contributes another of her informative and engaging audio commentaries, here weaving together an appreciation for the filmmaker while noting the correlations to each episode and connections to the source books. The thorough visual essay "Frankenstein's Faster, or Frankenstein's Aunt: the Novel That Became Freckled Max" (27m55s) by Ryan Verrill and Dr. Will Dodson uses extensive material from the first novel to show it was adapted here with tweaks to the characterizations and plot points throughout. The shockingly pristine "Film about Film (Film o filme)" (4m43s) by Rudolf Ferko is a tongue-in-cheek Freckled Max and the SpooksFreckled Max and the Spookslook at the 1986 production including a great look at the creation of Dracula's flying effects. Then 1989's "Portrait of a Film Director (Portrét režiséra)" (42m47s) by Matej Mináč is an extensive, very quirky snapshot of Jakubisko at work on his film Sitting on a Branch I Am Fine, including set visits from Federico Fellini (who sits down for an interview) and Carlo Lizzani for what seems like a very sunny and free-spirited time. You also get three new video interviews by Róbert Šulák with director of photography Ján Ďuriš (26m40s), assistant director Petra Galková (17m54s), and Rastislav Steranka, Director of the National Cinematographic Centre of the Slovak Film Institute (17m6s); all are substantive and worth a watch as they cover influences like the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism, the director's approach to his craft, their gateway to falling in love with cinema, and the resourceful tactics used to make Slovak films on an often meager budget. As usual the film comes in a standard edition or a more luxurious deluxe one featuring a hard slipcase illustrated by Steve Thomas and including an illustrated 60-page book with essays by Steven Peros and Walter Chaw about the film's adoption of monster conventions, the history of fantastic Slovak cinema, and the role this plays in the director's wider, very diverse filmography.

Reviewed on August 23, 2025