Freaky Tales – A Review

Every so often, a film will be released that is essentially a collection of short films. In film school, we only watched Martin Scorcese’s “Life Lessons” from New York Stories. Sometimes, these anthology projects will have a little story overlap, a character or thread that connects them. While not a short film anthology collection, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours trilogy notably does this with minor background characters/action in Blue and White, but in Red, you see the convergence of the characters from all the films. However, the films can still be watched independently without missing context. Freaky Tales weaves a little closer with its interlocking stories, and while the first three stories can be enjoyed individually, the fourth builds on the knowledge of the previous tales.

All the Freaky Tales are interwoven, and you get this sense as soon as you tap into the second track of the mix tape, and the entry point is the same place as the first, only from a new character’s perspective. It is very pulpy and has the style of the late 80s and early 90s TV (think Tales of From the Crypt, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Goosebumps) fitting of its 1987 setting in Oakland, California. The first short centers on a bunch of punks who are targeted by some neo-Nazi skinheads and are going to fight back. It’s a simple punching Nazis story with budding romance at its heart (between two of the punks, not across enemy lines), the second short involves two female rappers (Barbie played by Dominique Thorne, and Entice played by Normani) who get offered the chance to rap battle Too $hort (played by DeMario Symba Driver but, the real Too $hort is a producer on the film which derives its name from his album, he also narrates), and after overcoming a little imposture syndrome and introducing a concept that comes up later, they tear it up on the stage. These first two tales end well for our protagonists. They don’t suffer significant losses and they get their desires. When we enter the third track, most audience members will be keenly aware they already caught a glimpse of this protagonist in the first track, as he’s played by Pedro Pascal. Pascal plays Clint, an enforcer for a boss, who is revealed to be the sleazy cop (played by Ben Mendelsohn) who harassed Barbie, but he’s supposed to be out on his last job. And then someone from his past comes back and, while threatening him, accidentally kills his pregnant wife. With nothing to lose, Clint wants out. But his daughter survives by a miracle, Mendelsohn’s character tries to use it against him, but Clint holds strong as we go into the final track, which is the wildest track of all.

The final track centers on the main character in Oakland’s history on the night in question when the film’s main events happen, May 10, 1987. On this night, Eric “Sleepy” Floyd set an NBA record by scoring 29 points in one quarter and 51 points in the game to help the Warriors take Game 4 in the playoff series against the Showtime Lakers. But while he is winning the game, his house and many of his teammates’ houses are being robbed. While Floyd was a hero to Oakland that day, the rest of the track is pure fiction. His house was not robbed, and so no one in his family was hurt as a result. So, while Floyd was a hero in Oakland for what he did on the court that night, he was not the sword-wielding, justice-dispensing badass that wraps up the tales. But links like Sleepy Floyd and Too $hort are the things that that ground this film in Oakland and give it a distinct sense of time and place despite the supernatural or fantastical elements.

In his limited screen time, Tom Hanks makes a memorable impression as the video store guy trying to recommend the top five underdog movies of all time to Clint. Though, in classic cinema style, he only teases Clint and the audience with number one, the filmmakers (writers and directors Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden) leave it up to audiences to do the leg work to get the answer.

Freaky Tales is in cinemas now.