Title: Freaky Tales
Describe This Movie In One The Decline of Western Civilization Quote:
WAYNE MAYOTTE: It’s – it’s an energy outlet. They’re really nice kids. They just have to be doing something different. It’s a release – from their daily tensions, I guess, whatever it may be.
MAC NEELY: In our day, we ate goldfish.
Brief Plot Synopsis: Who knew the Bay Area was so weird?
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3.5 Ottos out of 5.
Tagline: “In 1987, Oakland was hella freaky.”
Better Tagline: “In 1987, as in every other year, punch Nazis.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: So, on one hand, you’ve got some punk rock kids fighting Nazis, then you’ve got an NBA star … fighting Nazis. Along the way there’s an aspiring hip hop duo and a retiring (?) strongman with nothing to lose. Also more Nazis.
“Critical” Analysis: Movie anthologies are a dicey proposition. Some are divided into largely unrelated segments (Twilight Zone: The Movie), unrelated but linked by a frame narrative (Coffee and Cigarettes, the V/H/S movies), or are explicitly connected (The Red Violin). Split into four chapters, Freaky Tales is more of the connected variety, chronicling a few days in 1987 Oakland, California.
These aren’t normal days, mind you. They’re strange, or — dare I say — freaky, thanks to some mysterious cosmic event that imbues various people and objects in the city with a green glow that appears to really have it out for white supremacists.
Case in point, the first chapter: “The Gilman Strikes Back.” The Gilman is an Oakland punk club where friends Tina ( Ji-Young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion) hang out. It’s also regularly visited by a truckload of skinheads who trash the place and abuse the multi-ethnic crowd. The clubgoers have to decide whether to hire off-duty cops or fight back. They choose the latter, and Tina is aided by an apparently cosmically enhanced spike bracelet.
Little that happens in Freaky Tales is unexpected. I was mildly curious if the Gilman crowd’s plan would backfire. Like, suddenly arming a bunch of former pacifists with bats and chains doesn’t sound like a great strategy, but strength in numbers and all that. And as I’ve said before, watching Nazis get the shit kicked out of them never gets old.
“Don’t Fight the Feeling” deals with aspiring female hip-hop duo “Danger Zone:” comprising Entice (Normani) and Barbie (Dominique Thorne), giving Salt-N-Pepa vibes (minus Spinderella). It links to the first segment via Barbie and Tina exchanging a nod after flipping off the previously mentioned skinheads. They just came out of a screening of The Lost Boys, which is about as 1987 as it gets.
The segment also features one of the film’s producers, Oakland rapper Too $hort (“Freaky Tales” is, not coincidentally, the name of an early T$ single). He narrates the film, and Danger Zone has a rap battle with his younger self (DeMario Symba Driver). $hort himself has a cameo as partner to Ben Mendelsohn’s sleazy cop.
Mendelsohn is having almost as much fun here as he did in Rogue One. “The Guy,” as he’s known, is corrupt, racist, and linked to organized crime, which segues into “The Mack,” starring Pedro Pascal as Clint, whom we’re introduced to as he’s getting the news his wife died in childbirth under questionable circumstances. Clint’s a mob enforcer getting out of the life, and he and Mendelsohn are definitely the high points.
Fact meshes uneasily with fantasy in “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd.” Floyd (Jay Ellis), the former Golden State Warrior (and Houston Rocket) is robbed during a pivotal playoff game against the Lakers and exacts bloody revenge. Ellis loading up his Game of Death style vest with weapons like Dancer from The Malazan Book of the Fallen is one of my favorite shots of the year. And one particular kill had me laughing so hard my daughter texted me from her bedroom to see if I was ok.
Freaky Tales works mostly as a cultural artifact, and I say that as someone who didn’t visit the Bay Area until this century. The fashion, music (“Operation Ivy” plays “Knowledge” at the Gilman), and locations are on point. There are some amusing cameos and b-ball references to Joe Barry Carroll (AKA Joe Barely Cares, who Floyd would be traded for, along with Ralph Sampson). Floyd’s “Psytopics” angle, on the other hand, doesn’t really go anywhere, and the green glow — aside from recalling Repo Man — appears sporadically.
Freaky Tales is in theaters today.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
