Retro Freaks
**Seen at the 2023 Renegade Film Festival.
For the setup of its premise, “Retro Freaks” was a rough sit. I liked the idea of nerds getting in over their head with a witching board, but the attempts at humor didn’t really land, and everything felt very, very cheap. And then, the film found its footing as a look at streamer and collectible culture, and it’s silliness won me over, as did the fact that one of the characters inexplicably survives. Points to writers/directors Michael Goldermann and David James Ryan for figuring out why this is funny, and leaning into it.
Part of the inherit problem the screenplay has is that the beginning must set up Princess Acula as a threat, and that requires the film to be quite serious in how it approaches matters. Once that is accomplished, as we see three demonologists trap her in the board, getting it into the hands of the nerds is another matter. If I’m being honest, the characters we meet at Horror Freak and Retro Madness are not interesting. I don’t know if this was deliberate, but we should at least care that they are possibly going to be killed. Even when our heroes arrive, Craig Roberts and Cincy Nerd (playing themselves) are not terribly interesting…but then, there’s a choice the film makes that is purely crazy, leading us into the direction the film takes to win us over.
Fandom is, first and foremost, about community, and what “Retro Freaks” does very well is capture the community of streamers and toy collectors Craig and Cincy Nerd are a part of beautifully. We get livestreams that not only show the connection people have but also deliver necessary exposition for our heroes. Andre Gower (“The Monster Squad”) shows up as an employee who is almost a side character on the quest these characters are on, which culminates in one of the craziest, most hilarious endings to such a film we’ve seen. It took its time, but “Retro Freaks” won me over.
