FREAKY TALES (2025) review

written by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
produced by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Jelani Johnson, and Poppy Hanks
directed by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
rated: R (for strong bloody violence, language throughout, including slurs, sexual content, and drug use)
runtime: 107 min.
U.S. release date: April 4, 2025

“Freaky Tales” is the follow-up project for Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the directing duo whose last foray was in the MCU, helming 2019’s “Captain Marvel.” It’s a fun, sci-fi action comedy, with spurts of bloody violence, that tells four interconnected stories occurring in Oakland, California, circa 1987. It’s an interesting “next step” for the filmmakers, clearly showing a Gen X affinity for overall 80s pop culture, especially considering their film before the Marvel hit was uniquely character-driven and idiosyncratic (I highly recommend “Sugar” and “Mississippi Grind”). Boden and Fleck also wrote the screenplay for “Freaky Tales,” it takes inspiration from the people, locations, and events of a specific time while combining them with aspects of bizarre fantasy.

The first tale is titled “Strength in Numbers,” and it follows two teen friends, Lucid (Jack Champion, “Avatar: The Way of Water”) and Tina (Ji-Young Woo, “Expats”), who must defend their favorite punk club scene from a local Nazi skinhead gang. When the punk community votes to fight back, Lucid and Tina prepare for war, working themselves up to get involved in an inevitable smackdown against the skinheads. Revenge is on the menu, but love between these two characters is also in the air, and the heightened drama of their environment elevates their feelings.

The following story, “Don’t Fight the Feeling,” finds two young friends, Entice (Normani, an R&B pop singer making her acting debut here) and Barbie (Dominique Thorne, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), enduring their day jobs at an ice cream parlor, while they’re known as aspiring rapper duo, Danger Zone, amid the local club scene. They’re pressured into a rap battle with Too $hort (DeMario Symba Driver), which forces Entice to overcome her timidity and throw herself down at a crowded concert. Too $hort’s rap is called “Freaky Tales”, while the rap Thorne and Normani deliver is called “What Would It Look Like”, and we’ll see the latter duo again during the end credits.

“Born to Mack” finds criminal enforcer Clint (Pedro Pascal), an internally scarred man who, having recently endured a horrific loss, believes he has nothing to lose and considers turning on his boss, The Guy (Ben Mendelsohn, reuniting with Boden and Fleck after “Mississippi Grind” and “Captain Marvel”), who is also a local creepy and corrupt police detective. Guilt-ridden, Clint is ready to throw in the towel, but a glimmer of hope may change that. This segment offers the most engaging drama of the four, staying involved with Clint during a most challenging day involving an unexpected confrontation from his past. Clint also receives a geeky cinephile lesson from a most recognizable clerk (a two-time Oscar-winning East Bay native) at a video store, adding some quirky levity. Pascal has the most to convey out of all the characters, capably communicating Clint’s inner turmoil throughout the day.

The closing chapter, “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd,” is the most outrageous, as it concerns a string of home burglaries specifically targeting NBA players, including Golden State Warriors basketball star Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis, “Top Gun: Maverick”). When he learns his property has been violently hit, he retaliates in full vigilante mode, intent on delivering vengeance on those out to ruin his life. The final chapter contains
the most action, paying homage to martial arts with a committed, hostile, and ridiculous tone.

What connects all these vignettes is a “freaky” glowing green energy force that permeates the Oakland area. While its origin is unknown, it seems to embolden individuals with strength and attitude. It has a connection to “Psytopics” which is a spiritual learning center (akin to a cult) promoted by Sleepy Joe, seen at the start and end of the film in promotional commercials. Individuals who succumb to the green aura often wield objects that wind up glowing green when used or can briefly be seen with a neon green glow in their eyes.

There’s an evident “Pulp Fiction” influence here, but a “Creepshow” vibe is present as well, with Too $hort himself (an Oakland hip-hop legend) serving as the narrator for “Freaky Tales” and also making a cameo as The Guy’s partner. The aesthetic of the movie also incorporates comic book style elements, keeping the violent gore of the first and fourth chapters comically gratuitous (think Tarantino’s approach to kills in the “Kill Bill” movies or “One Upon a Time in Hollywood”). “Freaky Tales” is also influenced by other 80s cult classics, such as Alex Cox’s “Repo Man”, David Cronenberg’s “Scanners”, and Robert Townsend’s “Hollywood Schuffle”, as well as Penelope Spheeris’ punk rock movie, “Decline of Western Civilization”.

Adding to the style of the movie is an animated sequence during “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd” chapter, which recreates the May 10, 1987 record-breaking NBA game that Floyd became known for. In that game, Floyd scored 51 points in a playoff victory against the Los Angeles Lakers at Oakland Arena, setting NBA playoff records that still stand for points in a quarter (29 in the fourth), field goals in a quarter (12 in the fourth) and points in a half (39 in the second), to this day. Of course, the bloody action that Floyd gets into after the game is all fantasy fiction from Boden and Fleck.

Even if you don’t get the references and homages to Oakland-centric nostalgia, enough is happening here to get invested and notice that there are references for “in the know” viewers. The Grand Lake Theatre is shown several times, with a time-accurate marquee listing “The Lost Boys,” “Ishtar,” “Radio Days,” and “Raising Arizona.” At one point, we overhear characters exiting the theater after seeing the classic Joel Schumacher vampire flick, questioning the logic, “Wait, so the grandpa knew about the vampires the whole time?”. It’s one of many quick lines populating the movie that feels like actual conversations the writers may have had or heard back in the day. Like many locations in “Freaky Tales”, the movie theater comes across as a historic location but also a place steeped in nostalgic significance where people once gathered.

Also included are settings where whole social groups thrived, centered on music, like the punk bars and the hip-hop clubs, which were part of Fleck’s East Bay youth. They are captured in a way with the kind of fondness that comes from memory rather than how we assume these places were. That’s how most of the locations and environments can be considered in “Freaky Tales,” as fond representations for those of a certain age who recall the sights and characters they encountered back then.

Throughout the movie, Boden and Fleck balance a line between comedy and catastrophe in “Freaky Tales” and deliver escapist fare that is quite fun. They offer plot turns and fluid interconnectedness as all these characters cross paths in one way or another during one strange day. While the chapters vary in intensity, the whole endeavor is consistent with solid performances and distinct oddities, making for an engaging viewing experience and a nice return to form for Fleck and Boden.

The filmmaking duo cap off “Freaky Tales” with “In Loving Memory of Angus McCloud” appearing on the screen, as this was one of the Oakland native’s last roles (along with last year’s “Abigail”), playing one of Mendelsohn’s lackeys, before his recent death in 2023.

RATING: ***