Dina Silva is perfect as Francis “Frankie” Ramirez
The absolute star of Frankie Maniac Woman is Dina Silva, who has already won a Best Actress award for this role at GrimmFest. With this movie, she’s playing a character who lives on the edge and frequently runs, jumps, and dances over that edge.
Frankie Maniac Woman is an unapologetic, raw, personal, and feminist character inspired by Dina Silva’s real struggles. And it comes across perfectly. Not least also, due to the classic “pretty girls” in the story and the male characters, who act like the jerks we all recognize.
This is a horror movie that could easily be described as a slasher horror-comedy meets a body horror plot. It has lots of dark comedy, but also a few laugh-out-loud moments. And it has a lot of murder and blood with gorgeous practical effects… but it does get really brutal, so it’s not all kitsch and campy.
We follow Francis Ramirez, AKA Frankie, who is an overweight woman trying to make it as a singer. She has an amazing voice and presence, but struggles with the idealized sense of beauty, which usually means skinny. As the story progresses, it touches on important subjects including mental illness, body image, violence against women, and overall objectification.
And yet, it’s also “just” an absolutely brilliant and gory horror slasher!