GENRE | Pedro Pascal Slashes Four 'Freaky Tales' in 1980s Oakland

"Oakland in '87 was hella wild."

Lionsgate / Cineplex Pictures

Freaky Tales, a neon-soaked throwback action-comedy from indie writing and directing team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, stars Pedro Pascal as the centrepiece of the third of four interlocking stories set before, during, and immediately after game four of the second round of the NBA playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in Oakland in 1987. It's a stylishly violent tribute to the East Bay's diverse neighbourhood charm and sense of community but reminiscent of something like The Warriors.

Scene stealer Jay Ellis portrays a fictionalized badass ninja version of Warriors basketball all-star point guard Sleepy Floyd across the first three chapters before starring in a wild, Kill Bill-esque revenge rampage in the style of Blade for the final chapter. Between him and the recurring villainous gang of skinhead neo-Nazis led by their sleazy corrupt cop leader (Ben Mendelsohn), different elements are threaded through the zippy film. Fresh faces like Ji-young Yoo, Jack Champion, Normani, and Dominique Thorne show up as upbeat punk rockers and aspiring battle rappers looking to thwart the greater white supremacist threat across the city.

Most of Freaky Tales is an entertaining and interconnected love letter fantasia to Oakland's Reagan-era past. It uses its anthology aspect to bypass or skip certain important plot points to mash together a fun but schlocky genre picture firmly focused on the culture of the San Francisco Bay Area. Boden and Fleck relish expressing the bloodier aspects of their characters' violent motivations, but a single story centred on the main players of Pascal, Mendelsohn, and Ellis would have likely proved more worthwhile.


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