Frankenhooker Gets 4K Treatment
Frank Henenlotter’s gloriously unhinged cult horror-comedy Frankenhooker is getting the 4K UHD treatment.
Synapse Films will release Frankenhooker on October 13 in separate 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray editions, bringing Henenlotter’s outrageous 1990 spin on the Frankenstein myth back in a newly restored presentation.
Starring James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, and Louise Lasser, Frankenhooker follows grieving medical student Jeffrey Franken (Lorinz), whose attempt to resurrect his deceased fiancée Elizabeth (Mullen) sends him down a path involving unconventional medical experimentation, New York’s sex-work scene, dismembered body parts, and the sort of grotesque practical-effects mayhem that could only come from the filmmaker behind Basket Case and Brain Damage.
The result became one of the stranger gems of early-’90s cult horror: part mad-scientist movie, part splatter comedy, part Times Square fever dream. Henenlotter takes Mary Shelley’s familiar premise, drags it through the neon grime of late-20th-century New York, and emerges with something entirely his own.
The cast also includes Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), Shirley Stoler (The Honeymoon Killers), legendary horror host John Zacherle, Lia Chang (Big Trouble in Little China), Charlotte Kemp, Jennifer Delora (Robot Holocaust), and Heather Hunter.
A New 4K Restoration
The new 4K Ultra HD edition features an all-new 2025 Dolby Vision 4K restoration created from the archival uncut original 35mm vault materials.
Synapse’s Blu-ray edition marks the film’s return to the format and includes the complete 85-minute uncut feature, utilizing the same new 2025 restoration.
Both editions also dig into the wonderfully bizarre history behind the film with a collection of supplemental material.
Special features include:
Audio commentary with director Frank Henenlotter and makeup effects designer Gabe Bartalos
A Salad That Was Once Named Elizabeth — Patty Mullen featurette
A Stitch in Time: The Make-Up Effects of Frankenhooker — Gabe Bartalos featurette
Turning Tricks: Jennifer Delora Remembers Frankenhooker
Jennifer Delora’s Frankenhooker Photo Scrapbook
Theatrical trailer
And, of course, Frankenhooker carries one of the greatest endorsements ever associated with a cult horror movie:
“If you see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker.” — Bill Murray
More than three decades later, Henenlotter’s stitched-together monster still occupies its own wonderfully sleazy corner of horror history. Now Synapse Films is giving the film a restoration worthy of all those flying body parts.
Frankenhooker arrives on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray October 13 from Synapse Films.
Watch the official trailer:
