I love when puppets are naughty. Ironically, I’m also a huge fan of the Muppets, who are somewhat more wholesome, but the concept has always thrilled me. As one of the few who enjoyed The Happytime Murders, I’m always down for a puppet engaging in some weird shenanigans. Now, we have Frank & Zed, a truly unique fantasy horror movie with puppets. A seven years in the making passion project, it’s utterly odd and incredibly gory, making for something you’ve almost certainly never seen before. Folks, if it sounds like something you’d be into, it’s one to truly be on the lookout for! The film is a horror flick, all done with puppetry. The protagonists are a pair of reanimated corpses, the Frankenstein-like Frank, as well as the zombie Zed. They’re both dependent on each other for survival, with a symbiotic friendship ensuing in the ruins of a castle, relics of a battle that ravaged a village. Frank and Zed had very different lives while they were, you know…alive, but now they live a life of solitude, just going about their days. When a village stumbles into their world, things come alive, as it were. Namely, a power-hungry magistrate in the town, hoping to take advantage of the relative calm in the land, tricks a group of villagers into attacking the castle Frank and Zed reside in, hoping to fulfill an ancient prophecy known as the Orgy of Blood, they spring into action. Much carnage ensues, as well as a bit of emotional resonance, too. Jesse Blanchard writes and directs, with cinematography by Patrick Blevins, as well as a score from Michael Richard Plowman. Voice work here includes Sam A. Mowry, Steve Overton, Jason Ropp, and more. Watching the puppets commit these acts of carnage is more fun than you might expect. It all is somewhat silly, yes, but the movie largely plays it straight. The commitment to following its arc as if it were a true horror outing really does give it some extra oomph. Plus, as much as the violence is out there, the bond between Frank & Zed hits home pretty well. Once you get to the end, it even feels a bit emotional, which might seem like a hard sell at the start. The tone is not what you normally get from puppets, but that’s part of what keeps this one fresh. Frank & Zed is […]