Making a movie encapsulating a place in time close to people’s hearts is already hard. Now make it Oakland. With staunch locals with a hard nose for posers and outsiders, I was a little worried going into the sold-out Grand Lake Theater, wondering if “Freaky Tales” would end with a Rocky Horror-style reaction. Yet, instead of popcorn throwing and shouts of offense, there were hoots, hollers and clapping to the series of East Bay references and plot points. Cheering from the theatre could be heard all the way from Skyline neighborhood all the way to Jack London Square.
The film follows four different stories involving a weird green substance, woven together with touches of all kinds of genres from serious to melodramatic: thriller, comedy, mystery and action. This film works as both a love letter to the 510 as well as a love letter to cinema.
The first chapter is about two teenage punks (Jack Champion and Ji-young Yoo) who go to the popular volunteer-run punk club 924 Gilman that gets constantly bombarded by Nazis yelling racist and homophobic slurs. The next follows rap duo Danger Zone (Dominique Thorne and Normani) who are asked to come to a Too Short (Symba) concert by his manager to do a rap battle with him. The third chapter stars Pedro Pascal as a nearly retired loan shark enforcer who just wants his wife to be safe and out of the game. The last story was the most bombastic of all, involving Golden State Warrior player Sleepy Floyd going on a crazy kung-fu, Mortal Kombat-style bloody killing spree, which is just bonafide fun.
While the acting can be subpar in the first two chapters, the first’s mushy and rowdy characters make for a cute coming-of-age story. And the jokes of the second, including a bit where Too Short is performing fellatio on a woman backstage, is hilarious.
In the latter half of the film there is a change in tone from comedy to unnerving in a campy sort of way that you would see in the B-movies of the ‘80s. Pascal knows exactly what kind of film he’s in in the third story. He balances seriousness with the self-awareness of the expected performance you see from a kooky-staticky cult classic.
“Freaky Tales” is the definition of a movie with spirit. Oakland is pumping through this movie literally and figuratively. With an epic driving sequence, passing through the Alameda Tunnel, the Mormon Temple, and over the Bay Bridge, there’s something for everyone from The Town. They even feature Loard’s Ice Cream, an Oakland staple since the 1950s. The film also casted over 1,000 residents for the film to give it a higher sense of realism.
“Freaky Tales” has an old style of a staticky filter and cue marks in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that feel very representative of Oakland’s history that is still alive today.
While this film is a lot of fun, I do wonder if those from outside the Bay would have as good of a time watching it. The answer: probably not. While this movie will be a blast to the past for Bay Area natives, it will probably alienate people other than those agreeing that prejudices are bad. In addition, the film left out certain plot points unexplained. Overall, “Freaky Tales” by the sounds of those in the back of Grand Lake Theater, was definitely made for the locals.
