When you attend a film festival, you have to be selective about the movies you watch. There are usually so many options you can’t possibly see everything, so you have to decide which titles appeal to you the most. Sometimes a movie interests you because of the premise or the trailer, but other times, the hook is the filmmaker behind it. And for me, Frankie Freako fell firmly into that second category.

It was made by the same guy who wrote and directed the 2021 horror hit Psycho Goreman, and that was more than enough to catch my attention. If you haven’t seen Psycho Goreman, do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s one of the most hilarious genre films of the last few years, so when I heard that the man behind it was doing another horror comedy, I knew I had to check it out as soon as I got the chance. It took a while for that opportunity to come, but with the movie playing at Fantastic Fest, I was finally able to snag a screener.

Frankie Freako was written and directed by Steven Kostanski, and it stars Conor Sweeney, Adam Brooks, Kristy Woodsworth, and the voices of Matthew Kennedy and Meredith Sweeney. In the film, Conor is a pretty boring guy, and everybody around him knows it. He says phrases like “for heck’s sake,” and when his wife puts on sexy lingerie for him, all he wants to do is hold her hand.

But that all changes when he encounters a tiny, demonic-looking creature named Frankie Freako. Frankie and his pint-sized pals Dottie and Boink are dead set on partying and having fun, and they don’t care who they have to hurt or how much destruction they have to leave in their wake. Unsurprisingly, Conor doesn’t exactly appreciate these little ruffians, so he sets out to put an end to their rollicking antics before they completely ruin his life.

As you can probably tell from that plot synopsis, Frankie Freako isn’t exactly a shining example of the fine art of cinema. If you’re looking for layered storytelling and nuanced characters, this isn’t the movie for you. But if you just want to have fun with a gang of groovy ghouls, you’re going to love this film.

Hands down, the best thing about it is the titular gremlin and his fun-loving crew. They’re puppets in the tradition of movies like Ghoulies and, to a lesser extent, Gremlins and Critters, and each one has its own unique schtick. For starters, we have Boink, a cyborg with a vocabulary to rival that of Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

He basically just repeats the nonsense word “Shabadoo” with varying inflections, and while that may sound lame on paper, it actually becomes funnier and funnier as the film goes on. What’s more, this little devil also has a nearly Inspector Gadget-like knack for pulling out random contraptions at exactly the right time, so he’s responsible for some of the funniest gags you won’t see coming.

Next, there’s Dottie, a cowgirl who shoots tiny guns and speaks in a Southern accent, and on her own, she’s not particularly hilarious. But she has some great interactions with other characters throughout Frankie Freako, and without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that they totally make up for her lack of inherent comedic charm.

Last but definitely not least, we have the titular monster himself. If you imagine a rock-and-roll partier shrunk down to about two feet tall, that’s Frankie to a T, and he’s an absolute blast whenever he’s on screen. I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something incredibly charming and entertaining about seeing such a small creature act that way, and writer/director Steven Kostanski manages to squeeze every possible ounce of fun out of this miniature troublemaker.

Most of the gags in Frankie Freako involve some sort of physical comedy, and there’s even a sequence that feels very reminiscent of the Home Alone films. Frankie and his friends set up Kevin McCallister-esque traps that would probably kill (or at least severely injure) a person in real life, but here they’re just played for laughs. And they totally work.

All that being said, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. There’s more to Frankie Freako than just fun and games. For example, this movie has some excellent gore, but it’s not what you’re probably expecting. Without giving away the film’s surprises, I’ll just say that it looks great, and it fits perfectly in a movie like this.

But above all else, the most surprising thing about Frankie Freako is its strong emotional core. Again, I can’t say much without venturing into spoiler territory, but I can tell you that the story wraps up on an unexpectedly heartwarming note. It ends up being a legit feel-good movie, so it’s just a joyous experience all around.

It’ll make you laugh right from the get-go, and when the credits begin to roll, it’ll leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. To be fair, I don’t think this film is quite as good as Steve Kostanski’s previous horror comedy gem, Psycho Goreman, but it’s still a worthy follow-up. Frankie Freako is an absolute blast from start to finish, so if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I highly recommend checking it out when you get the chance.