‘Freaky Tales’: Sundance Review

Dirs/scr: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck. US. 2024. 107mins.

Anarchic energy is to the fore in this anthology film from long-time collaborators Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Captain Marvel), who bring it to Sundance’s Premieres strand 20 years after they came with their first short Gowanus, Brooklyn. Freaky Tales is, in some ways, a return to shorter form and indie filmmaking, after their mainstream success with Captain Marvel, and comprises a deliberately grungy quartet of stories – loosely interlinked and featuring the vengeance of underdogs –that unfolds in Oakland, California during the summer of 1987. 

Marries splashes of dry humour to gallons of blood

They marry splashes of dry humour to gallons of blood, and feature every musical genre from punk to hip-hop while connecting the stories  to  a strange green glow in the sky. If the end result never quite achieves the style and bite of the likes of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, it is still a lot of fun and should appeal to late night crowds and those who lived through the period, in particular. 

As in Pulp Fiction, the segments unfold over a single timeline, overlapping in ways that are not immediately apparent. The first section, ’The Gilman Strikes Back’, is the weakest of the four, and a clear nod to Walter Hill’s The Warriors. It hinges on young, punk-loving almost-couple Tina (Ji-young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion) as they fight back against a group of skinheads who repeatedly target their club. Light on plot but big on comic-book style bloodshed, it features mischievous animation that adds a quirky kick. 

In ’Don’t Fight The Feeling’, wannabe rap duo Barbie (Dominique Thorne from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Entice (Normani Koredei Hamilton) find opportunity knocking. They are invited to a rap battle with Too $hort, a real rapper from the period, whose songs have inspired the film, played onscreen by modern day rap star Demario “Symba” Driver (although Too $hort does provide narration elsewhere). This segment is a triumph of costuming from Neishea Lemie, with Barbie and Entice’s eye-wateringly bright shell suits and outsized bling so fiercely redolent of the period you hope they stay away from naked flames. It also introduces a racist villain (Ben Mendelsohn, enjoying himself), who will be back.

A third story, ’Born To Mack’, sees a “last job” for violent debt collector Clint (Pedro Pascal) turn into a personal crisis. The chief joy of this section is a droll cameo that it would spoil to reveal, which also acts as a love letter to video stores from the period. An affection for VHS is also present in occasional bursts of static across the screen, although Boden and Fleck never fully commit to this. 

The filmmakers save the best for last, however, as they apply a good coat of fiction to a real basketball points record, in which Eric “Sleepy” Floyd scored 29 points in a single quarter in a game which saw the Golden State Warriors memorably beat the LA Lakers. ’The Legend of Sleepy Floyd’ stars Jay Ellis as the player and imagines his big night in May 1987 spiralling into martial arts mayhem that somehow manages to combine the sartorial stylings of Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Wesley Snipes in Blade.

In addition to finding inventive ways to despatch a whole bunch of characters – including one bad guy played by Angus Cloud, who died earlier this year and to whom the film includes a final credits dedication – the film is peppered with enjoyable touches. Chief among them has to be a mix cassette tape Clint acquires that includes everything from Sly and The Family Stone to Metallica’s Master of Puppets.

Also popping up from time to time – and popping from the screen – is that strange green glow, at various points causing a mic to take on a toxic look, adding an odd sheen to tears and repeatedly occurring as flashes of lightning. The meaning behind it remains mysterious but, as Boden and Fleck indicate, when you are wielding a large bladed weapon there is little need for explaination.