By Naman Ramachandran  

Raven Banner Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market for Steven Kostanski‘s latest feature “Frankie Freako.”

Kostanski’s previous feature “Psycho Goreman” premiered at SXSW in 2020 and gathered a cult following worldwide. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as “‘The Toxic Avenger’ remade by the Robert Rodriguez of ‘Spy Kids.'”

“Frankie Freako” is described by Raven Banner as Kostanki’s homage to the practical-FX-driven monster horror-comedies of the 1980s like “Gremlins 2” and “Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College.” It tells the story of workaholic yuppie Conor Sweeney (“The Editor,” “Father’s Day”) whose perfect life is turned upside down when he accidentally unleashes a trio of tiny trouble-makers into his home, led by the maniacal rock-n-roll party monster Frankie Freako. It’s a race against time as Conor must defeat the trio and clean up their trail of destruction before his wife returns from her weekend work trip, all while going on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.

Shout! Studios has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Frankie Freako” with Raven Banner Releasing handling Canadian distribution.

The film is produced and financed under the Toronto-based Hangar 18 Media banner, produced by Pasha Patriki, Melanie Murray and Kostanski. Executive producers include Michael Paszt of Raven Banner, Andrew Thomas Hunt, James Fler, Avi Federgreen and Alison Waxman, alongside Garson Foos, Bob Emmer, Jordan Fields and Julie Dansker.

Paszt said: “Steve is a visionary filmmaker who has the unique ability to take token genre conventions and turn them completely inside out. This is our third collaboration with Kostanski and it’s a real honor to be working with him and his team again.”