Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

A brand new entry!

This outing we get babes, bombs and greed with a 1970s flair...



"Freaky Deaky" was released on home video on February 26th, 2013.

It streeted against "Lady For A Night", "Chasing Mavericks", "The Master", "The Carol Burnett Show: This Time Together" and "Oasis Of The Zombies: Remastered Edition".

DVD only release, originally came with a non-embossed slipcover over a transparent case. There is artwork on the inside (Breanne Racano as Robin Abbott laying in a black bikini on a bed with a sucker). No insert was issued.

This is a direct-to-video release; was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 22nd, 2012. And yes, director Charles Matthau is the son of actor Walter Matthau.

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One exclusive, an oddity.



Best Buy had exclusive wraparound window (first time I've encountered) and "'70s Sideburns", yup you read correctly. These are wearable brown sideburns (with pre-adhesive).

Came in a small bag inside the case - as you can see above, wraparound window lets you see the sideburns inside.

Sold for $9.99 and was so hard for me to find.



The exclusive edition did not come with slipcover, above. Had to be creative and got my slip from Wal-Mart, almost too late. The store gets rid of inventory rather soon - replaced by newer titles.

Anyhow, my Best Buy did not carry it - in fact never did. Quite frustrating, almost gave up. But less than a month later was in the High Desert (Southern California) visiting a friend and made one last effort, their store. Yes, they had a couple of copies.

Did not realize until after watching... I had this DVD for five years; viewed on May 30th, 2018.

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Rant.

Would recommend. For those who haven't...



Year is 1974; Detroit, Michigan - bomb squad detective Chris Mankowski (Billy Burke) wants to move up to homicide, but gets stuck in Sexual Assault Investigations. Here he meets Greta Wyatt (Sabina Gadecki) a wannabe actress who claims she was raped (though through the course of the film, becomes real fuzzy - I'll cover in a few).

For the most part, she's a party girl going by the name 'Ginger'. She was at a festivity held by millionaire, Woodrow 'Woody' Ricks (Crispin Glover). Mankowski does his job and investigates the claim.

Soon it blows up into a side case of extortion by Robin Abbott and her former, now requited partner Skip Gibbs (Christian Slater) - demolition. She is the brains behind a scheme to scare Woody into giving them (her) several millions, not to get an explosive surprise.

The cover story being - buying the rights to her romance novels; turn them into Hollywood movies.



Robin is an acquaintance of Woody and his brother Mark Ricks (Andy Dick). When their parents died, Mark got a car. Woody got the house and fifty million.

Woody is a mess, fueled by alcohol and prescription drugs - a haze, that has him quite childlike. His butler, Donnell Lewis (Michael Jai White) runs the house. Making sure Woody doesn't hurt himself and is fed, a full time babysitter. All the while trying to get as much money from him as possible - but considers him, like his son.

It's an odd relationship. Sure, he's protecting 'Mr. Woody', but it's more than money.



Pretty much each time Glover is on screen he steals the scene; so many WTFs. He's drinks a martini with his cereal and milk with a shot to Pepto - his morning meal. The way he sits on the couch or making bizarre associations.

Is Woody retarded or just super high? Real short attention span, all the time.

The plot point that started it - the 'maybe rape' gets Greta under threat from Donnell since he trying to stop a lawsuit from her from happening. He finds out where the party girl lives. Shaken, Chris takes her in who is staying at his father's place since he's on vacation in Florida.

And because he can't go home.

His wife/girlfriend (wasn't made clear), threw him out days earlier; worse yet - his car is stolen, leaving him to borrow his dad's car. A vintage 1950s classic.

Things get complicated with so many folks trying to scam and/or threat Woody out of cash. Even Chris joins in - getting ten grand to disarm a failed attempt, a bomb dumped in the swimming pool. He knew it was a dud, but took the deal before telling Donnell the dynamite rig was rendered harmless.

Nobody here is fully clean, just various shades of gray with some very murky - the deadly kind.

I am not doing this justice; smiled a lot, laughed a few times at a cool, modest budget flick ($6,000,000 estimated) that should be better known. Seek it out, sway.

Okay, the 'maybe rape'. It's not black and white.

Quite unclear - even Greta changes her mind upon seeing Woody after the party. Did something happen? Consensual? Sex? During the party, a very drunk - on her own accord, Greta wandered into Woody's bedroom. Then got naked.

Not in bra and panties, but totally nude and alone in the room at the time. Why did she do that in the first place?

Party is still on; Woody comes to his room to sleep/nap, finds a naked party girl waiting for him. He take her to bed... that's it. The rest is fuzzy. His natural state is - barely there, at the party; even drunker. Could he even get it up? What little Greta remembers is him falling asleep next to her, dropping into slumber.

Hinted is that he might have taken her to bed then snoozed, no sex. When I say 'taken', I don't mean by force. Clouded Woody is a gentle dope. At one point later, Woody is awed by Greta and offers to marry her. Sooo pretty.



The real star here is Gadecki. She plays her sweet, not some blonde air head. Greta is trying to do the right thing and get sucked into the quandary.

Looked at her filmography, this is the only thing I've see her in. She should be more famous.

*shrugs*

There is something quite out of place - actress Breanne Racano. All her lines appear to be dubbed over. She's in the short making-of featurette, speaking. I still fuzzy on that. Robin has a husky voice. Perhaps doing that inflection made it sound... dubbed.

The other is the ending. The final bit before credits roll.

Mankowski and Greta drive off in a new car, together. Woody is in the house, Donnell is leaving to join him. Then an explosion happens in the background, not seen, but heard. Was that some kind of backup bomb by Skip??? We don't see the aftermath. Did Woody get blown up? No answers.



Gave this some thought, vibe wise, there is a quasi-companion flick. "The Baytown Outlaws" is a 2012 movie with 1970s feel. Far more action and less mystery. But has such enjoyable characters. This is on DVD for pretty cheap on Amazon.

Too bad they didn't make a sequel, "The Baytown Outlaws" has room for at least another installment. Like with "Freaky Deaky" it was a blind buy - no regrets.

Anyhow, FD is based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.

Oh yeah, before you ask, Andy Dick's role was short. Would've been nice to have seen more of Mark.



Above is the paperback version with the better cover. The hard cover edition is nothing to write home about, art wise.

Come back here on July 19th, 2018 for a tale of being your own travel agent and all the troubles it gets you - especially from an armed secret society fueled by Samuel Jackson.