That cool retro vibe. Every genre filmmaker born after 1990 wants their projects to have that cool retro vibe. A large number of today’s films aim to capture the magic from the fruitfully outrageous movies of the 70s and 80s, a time when directors worked without a net to create some of the most entertaining popcorn entertainments of their time. Writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales is indeed such a film; an anthology picture that tips its hat to a variety of old school favorites. 80s horror, 80s action, director Alex Cox, Oakland, CA, John Carpenter, The 1987 Golden State Warriors, David Cronenberg, VHS video stores, and even legendary rapper Too $hort are just an example of the smorgasbord of homages that are scattered throughout the four strange stories of wild mayhem.

Inspired by the true stories of his hometown of Oakland during his childhood, Ryan Fleck and Ana Boden take true people and events from the time and turns them into a wild and bloody pastiche of craziness. This isn’t the heartfelt remembrances of films like George Lucas’s American Graffiti or Barry Levinson’s Diner, Fleck and Boden designed a whimsically bloody and offbeat trip into the era of low-budget 80s genre movies. This is the type of picture that would fit nicely into the filmographies of Cannon Films or New World Pictures. 

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck announced their talents with the excellent 2006 drama, Half Nelson, which earned critical praise and found Ryan Gosling with his first Oscar nomination. Following that with the critical darling baseball picture, Sugar, and the undervalued comedy/drama It’s Kind of a Funny Story, the duo directed the so-so gambling drama, Mississippi Grind, which was basically a rehash of Robert Altman’s superior 1974 film, California Split. Soon after, Hollywood came a-calling and the filmmakers fell under the seductive spell of a big payday. The result was the incoherent MCU movie, Captain Marvel, an experience that proved even the best Indie filmmakers need not try their luck at big budget studio fare. Reviews from critics and Marvel fans were mixed, at best.

Freaky Tales is their return to the Independent world and this time Boden and Fleck are out to have a good time. While their giddily exuberant direction is on display in every moment, the film feels like a jumble of disjointed fragments. The four tales are linked (as they take place in the same area on the same night), but none of them are all that interesting. Just as a segment starts to come alive, it ends and clumsily moves onto the next. 

The first segment had promise. “Strength in Numbers: The Gilman Strikes Back,” is set at a music club at 924 Gilman, which was home to the Berkeley Punk Rock scene and an oasis for the glorious days of misunderstood youth. We meet a young couple, Tina (Ji-young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion) who are friends teetering on the edge of romance. They and their crew are regulars at the club and are harassed by a group of Nazi skinheads who drive by every night to yell racial and homophobic slurs as they pass by.  When the club’s innocent patrons yell back, the skinheads come into the club and viciously attack everyone they can.The sign on the club’s front door says there’s no tolerance for racism, sexism or homophobia. After the assault, Tina and Lucid rally their friends and fellow club-goers to fight back. They do and that is it. The scene of bloody retribution is fine, but has less punch than it thinks. Ultimately, the segment is an unfinished idea thrown together. 

The second story, “Don’t Fight the Feeling” is the best of the lot. Two friends, Entice (singer Normani) and Barbie (an excellent Dominique Thorne) are invited to take part in a Rap battle with none other than Too $hort (played by Symba, although the real rapper narrates the film and has a cameo as a detective). There isn’t much more to this story, but old school rap battles were fun and this one is no exception. As  Too $hort blasts them with harsh, sexually charged, lyrical attacks, the two push back with skill and rapid fire retaliation that earn them respect from the audience and from the rapper himself. This segment has fire and we care about the characters after a good set up that finds them fending off the sexual harassment from one of their customers, a corrupt cop played by Boden and Fleck mainstay, Ben Mendelsohn. Boden, Fleck, and their actors make this the one tale that comes alive in interesting ways. 

Tale number three, “Born to Mack”, sees Perdro Pascal as a man named Clint, a debt collector for a loan shark. His pregnant wife (Natalia Dominguez) is days away from giving birth. In the old “one last job” style, Clint goes to collect from a deadbeat gambler, but things go tragically wrong. Boden and Fleck go for something deeper and redemptive in the narrative, but come up short. There isn’t enough meat on the cinematic bone to leave a lasting impression. A nice cameo by a modern acting legend is quite entertaining and Pascal is solid, but neither can save this one from being undercooked and ultimately pointless. 

The final tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd,” is a revenge fantasy born of a real-life sports drama. In May of 1987, Golden State Warriors guard Eric “Sleepy” Floyd scored 29 points in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers. Sports commentator Greg Papa declared, “Sleepy Floyd is Superman!”, and the spark was ignited in young Ryan Fleck’s mind. While Floyd (Jay Ellis) and his teammates are out celebrating, a group of thieves (led by Mendelsohn) have broken into multiple players’ houses. When Floyd’s mom and girlfriend come home, the thieves are still there, igniting a terrible tragedy and sending “Superman” on a Kung-Fu movie-inspired path of ridiculously cartoonish vengeance full of swordplay and the loss of limbs and heads.

The film is certainly a love letter to the Oakland area and to the genre movies that gave the filmmakers inspiration. Boden and Fleck achieve a good feel for the period, as the music, movies, and styles of the time are well-used. The problem lies in how the final product is nothing above a one-off exercise. When the final credits roll (including a funny outtake from the unnamed A-lister), the audience is left with nothing substantial. It all feels too flimsy while many of the references play like an afterthought. A connecting tidbit about some type of otherworldly force that gives characters their power (complete with a green glow à la Repo Man) is pointless. 

Freaky Tales is a good idea and the cast and filmmakers are certainly having fun, but the screenplay is so overstuffed with references that the film suffers, leaving viewers with nothing much to say.

Any unique qualities the film might have are lost in a messy collage of homages to better movies. 

Freaky Tales

Written and Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

Starring Pedro Pascal, Ji-young Yoo, Jack Champion, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Symba, Jay Ellis, Ben Mendelsohn

R, 106 Minutes, Lionsgate