REVIEW BY: Kurt Morrison - 4/9/25

RATING 1.5 out of 5

It’s really hard for me to describe Freaky Tales because it is an insanely strange piece of filmmaking. There is no doubt it is ambitious as an anthology, and has some serious talent in front and behind the camera, with writing-directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck paying some serious homage to the action, sci-fi and suspense/horror genres. But Freaky Tales never quite reaches its full potential simply because it pulls you into some many different directions and never finds and sticks to one trope.

As mentioned, Freaky Tales is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who’s small resume has packed some serious punches. My personal favourite of theirs is 2015’s Mississippi Grind. From Grind came their first foray into big budget with the billion dollar grossing Captain Marvel. Personally, I really enjoy Captain Marvel for what it’s worth and think it gets WAY too much heat from the social media crowd.

This film feels like it is back to their roots - smaller budget with familiar faces - and it does truly play to their strengths. The sets are compact, the camerawork is sharp and as I mentioned, the familiar faces make this a fun watch just to see who pops in and out.

The film weaves together four different chapters that all take place in and around the 10th of May, 1987. As the film starts out and carries along, it’s apparent that the central focal point of the movie is around Eric “Sleepy” Floyd (played by Jay Ellis) of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and their upcoming fourth game in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m a sucker for a good sports movie, even when it doesn’t take place directly on the field or the court so I was pretty drawn in and intrigued by this storyline right off the bat.

We are then introduced to a slew of characters such as Josh (Keir Gilchrist), Tina (Ji-Young Yoo), Barbie (Dominique Thorne) and Entice (Normani Hamilton). All play small roles that once again intertwine with one another at particular points within the film’s first 30 minutes.

And it was around here where the eyeroll set in for me - because Freaky Tales tries really hard to be at a Pulp Fiction-esque level of entertainment but instead stumbles through some hot and cold narratives. It bafflingly maneuvers its way through being a violent and brutal beat ‘em up of south Californian Neo-Nazi’s (awesome 5 minute montage by the way) then to a long and boring drawn out rap battle THEN an introduction to Pedro Pascal’s character of Clint, who is the most entertaining part of the entire movie and is cast perfectly as a world-weary enforcer, eager to leave the business behind to raise a family.

The fact that there is a 40 minute wait for the star of the film (based on the posters and the trailer) Pedro Pascal, is also borderline criminal and the film could have used WAY more of his character Clint at the start of the film, perhaps leading into the Neo-Nazi subplot and beat-up right after.

My problem with Freaky Tales is in the storytelling, as aspects of Oakland and the Bay area, the Warriors-Lakers rivalry and the rap music scene of the late 80’s seemingly play no roles other than being mentioned, not even intertwining into the last chapter of the film enough for me to care.

The fourth and final chapter of the film plays much like a mélange of Tarantino’s greatest hits - Pulp, Kill Bill, Grindhouse, Django. It feels like they were all stuck in a writing blender and Boden/Fleck just hit the on button. The action is entertaining, with Jay Ellis’ Sleepy Floyd kicking some serious white supremacist ass and the gore being incredibly fun and over-the-top. But sadly by that point, even his inclusion into the story feels forced and is not relevant considering we just spent the last 45 minutes with Pedro Pascal. Having him be the Knight in Shining Armor with supernatural elements makes zero sense by this point.

Freaky Tales really is a mixed bag of homages and…..whatevers. I can see how and why people adore this movie, and trust me, I wanted to. A genre film is always a fun watch. But it really doesn’t land for me for 75% of the film. A shame considering the likes of Pascal or Mendelsohn could have been given a lot to cook with if given more screen time together.

Somewhere inside of here, there is a really great film. But in the words of Kanye West…

“I guess we’ll never know”.