#REVIEW: “FREAKY TALES”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

With a title like FREAKY TALES, you kind of expect something weird and freaky. And Writer/Director duo Anna Fleck and Ryan Boden sort of deliver on that promise with an Anthology of four interconnected tales all taking place over the course of two nights in Oakland, California in 1987 – one involving a group of punks taking on Neo-Nazis, one involving a rap battle, one involving an aging enforcer trying to get out of the game and another involving a basketball player out for bloody revenge.

Oh, and there is some involvement with psychic powers and neon green lightning.

Saying anything else would ruin the chaotic and wild nature of FREAKY TALES. It is a frankly insane pastiche of styles and genres, mixed with different aspect ratios and camera framing. It is not High Art by any stretch, but feels very offbeat and experimental in nature. There is a certain aura of cult that permeates through the entire Picture, that will delight and annoy in equal measure, and the lovingly designed and tangible look of the 1980’s is stunningly recreated in practically immaculate detail. The Film opens outside a theatre playing The Lost Boys and Ishtar among other pictures, and I would be lying if I did not suggest I wanted to immediately hop in and experience the stories alongside the Cast.

For all the style and flair Fleck and Boden bring to FREAKY TALES though, it all feels very surface level and more than slightly hollow. I am not sure what point there is to much of anything that happens and while it is fun seeing how the characters and storylines connect and intersect along side each other, it does not really amount to much beyond some fun cinematic and thematic references for genre fans of a certain age. There is unfortunately nothing deeper going on beyond that, and as their follow-up to one of the most successful movies of the past decade (an obscure little indie you might have heard of called Captain Marvel), it is nothing short of a disappointment. One hyper-specific 1980’s icon drops in for a bit cameo as a video store clerk which is certainly strange, but then Fleck and Boden double down and reference the actual actor more than once afterwards in quasi-meta style. Writing that down was a mouthful, and seeing it play out is somehow even weirder.

Acting wise, Pedro Pascal and ever reliable Character Actor Ben Mendelsohn are the clear highlights here with Jay Ellis putting in some strong work as a man of very few words and a whole lot of actions.

I am not really sure what I was expecting sitting down to watch FREAKY TALES, and days after watching, I am still a little bewildered by the experience. I was never bored and was more confused than anything. I admire the huge swing Fleck and Boden take, yet I am not sure I can actively recommend it either. It is certainly a curiosity for ’80s genre fans. But if you are looking for something deeper than that, you may need to look elsewhere.

Cineplex Pictures release FREAKY TALES in theatres on Friday, April 4, 2025.