#horror – #horrormovies – #FreckledMaxAndTheSpooks – #DeafCrocodile –
Director Juraj Jakubisko’s Gothic horror comedy about an orphan who hides out in Frankenstein’s castle with a lovable rogues’ gallery of monsters.
FRECKLED MAX AND THE SPOOKS (PEHAVÝ MAX A STRAŠIDLÁ) – 1987, Slovak Film Institute, 97 min. Dir. Juraj Jakubisko. “It all began under the Frankenstein castle. It was my tenth year with this circus troupe, and we were passing through a bleak territory of vampires, will-o’-the-wisps and water sprites,” observes young orphan Max (Martin Hrebeň), just before he runs away and hides out in the ruins of the nearby castle. There he discovers a rogues’ gallery of lonely monsters who’ve made it their home: gruesome but loveable Alojz (Eddie Constantine, Lemmy Caution from Godard’s ALPHAVILLE); the marvelous Ferdinand Mayne (Polanski’s THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS) as Count Dracula; a wonderful, whiskey-voiced Viveca Lindfors (THE DAMNED, STARGATE) as the Countess Frankenstein; Gerhardt Karzel as the irresistibly goofy Frankenstein’s Monster named Albert; along with the ghostly white lady Elizabeth Bathory (Mercedes Sampietro) and other assorted phantoms. A bittersweet, slapstick cross between MONSTER SQUAD, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and the Island of Misfit Toys, FRECKLED MAX is a nostalgic Gothic fairytale about broken hearts and monsters who long to be loved for who they are – and a truly delightful discovery for genre fans. Beautifully restored by the Slovak Film Institute for its first-ever Blu-ray release in the U.S. through Deaf Crocodile Films and Comeback Company. In Slovak with English subtitles.
STARRING: Eddie Constantine, Ferdinand Mayne, Gerhardt Karzel, Martin Hrebeň