Frankie Freako review – cheap and cheesy comedy horror channels 80s schlock

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Ineffectual office worker Conor calls on the services of a gremlin that looks like someone dipped a Muppet in latex, covered it in caustic soda, and ran a car over it a few times Canadian writer-director Steven Kostanski has been one of the creative forces behind a bunch of silly-sweet horror pictures such as The Void and PG: Psycho Goreman that appear to skew towards a younger demographic. Or perhaps his target audience is really the gen X crowd that never outgrew its affection for 1980s fare such as Critters or Gremlins, cheap and cheesy schlock reliant on practical special effects. Luckily, the latter happens to be Kostanski’s speciality; he’s also worked as a prosthetic FX artist on bigger budget films such as Crimson Peak and the TV series Hannibal. All of that comes together for this daft comedy horror farrago, seemingly set in the 80s, about a nebbishy Canadian office worker called Conor (Conor Sweeney). Conor’s beige jumper alone bespeaks a man deeply risk averse and afraid...
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And Then Come the Nightjars review – farmer and vet at centre of drama of rural life

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This screen adaptation of Bea Roberts’s play has a compelling concept but yields disappointing results

Based on a play – a painfully obvious fact given the stiltedness of the dialogue – by Bea Roberts, this small-scale British drama revolves almost entirely around two characters who are followed over a number of years. The early scenes, set in 2001, establish the affectionate friendship between Devon dairy farmer Michael (David Fielder), recently widowed and judging by the beard eligible for a pension soon, and local veterinarian Jeff (Nigel Hastings), a younger man with a budding drink problem.

When foot-and-mouth disease reaches their neck of the moors, Jeff is compelled to put down Michael’s entire herd according to governmental guidelines. Michael tries to resist with an unloaded shotgun and some choice curse words aimed at the ministerial enforcers who accompany Jeff, but there’s no stopping the forces of change. As the years pass, agriculture itself comes under threat in a rural economy increasingly skewing towards offering hospitality for wealthy visitors who want to capture sunsets on Instagram rather than see where their meat and milk comes from.

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