Pedro Pascal, Normani shine in the raucous, blood-splattered Freaky Tales

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are longtime Sundance staples, launching their career with indie festival favorites Sugar, Mississippi Grind, and Half Nelson. Then, four years ago, the two directors cashed their Marvel check, helming the superhero flick Captain Marvel and packing it with CGI spectacle. Now, the pair have returned to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, this time with an ambitious anthology story that attempts to marry both worlds. The result? Freaky Tales, an epic, nostalgia-fueled odyssey that blends intimate character drama and bone-crunching action.

And boy, is it bone-crunching. Freaky Tales is a gory, giddy joy, a genre-bending fairytale set in 1987 Oakland. Fleck himself grew up in the area, and the film brims with hometown affection, telling four separate stories about four different Bay Area underdogs. Part one sets the zany, blood-spattered tone, checking in with a group of Gilman Street punks as they defend their territory from a squadron of Nazi skinheads. Part two shifts focus to aspiring rappers Barbie (Dominique Thorne) and Entice (Normani) — a.k.a. Danger Zone — two BFFs prepping for a high-stakes rap battle against local legend Too Short (Symba). Pedro Pascal headlines part three, starring as a longtime debt collector and soon-to-be father named Clint, who hopes to finally escape his criminal career. And part four centers on legendary NBA All-Star Sleepy Floyd (an excellent Jay Ellis), chronicling his storied triumph against the Showtime Lakers before shifting into a fantastical and honestly jaw-dropping tale of fictional, sword-wielding vengeance. (Frequent Boden and Fleck collaborator Ben Mendelsohn also appears here for yet another one of his signature, scenery-chewing villains, this time playing a corrupt cop referred to only as “The Guy.”)

Each of the four stories intersects and overlaps, anchored by a mysterious green glow that zips across the sky or flickers in certain characters’ eyes. The light is never fully explained: Is it alien? Is it the work of a New Age-y cult called “Psytopics,” which repeatedly pops up throughout the story? Or is it the spirit of Oakland itself, some sort of strange, ethereal magic that powers the city’s identity? That unexplained magic and Boden and Fleck’s heightened tone give the entire film a dreamlike quality, making it feel a bit like an urban legend that’s been told and retold so many times that the embellishments are now indistinguishable from fact. After all, who cares about reality when the retelling is this much fun?

Some of the segments are stronger than others: The second chapter is a particular highlight, as Normani and Thorne steal every frame they’re in. The two actresses lend a lived-in believability to Entice and Barbie’s friendship, whether they’re trading lyrics on stage or fending off creepy customers at their day job at an ice cream shop. Together, the pair are magnetic, and it’s easy to imagine them headlining their own neon-drenched feature-length film. The punk segment is a bit less successful: Sure, the music rules, and the anarchists-versus-Nazis brawl is filled with bloodthirsty catharsis. But the plot boils down to a fairly conventional love story, as the lovesick Lucid (Jack Champion) tries to work up the courage to confess his feelings for the way-cooler-than-him Tina (Ji-young Yoo). It’s all very sweet, but it doesn’t quite hit as hard as some of the film’s other, more memorable moments.

Pascal also deserves special mention for his turn as the grizzled Clint: The actor has essentially built his career playing rugged enforcers with a secret soft spot (see also: The Mandalorian, The Last of Us), and here, he returns to similar territory, this time as a debt collector returning for — you guessed it — one last job. One moment, Clint is all danger, breaking a target’s fingers with the methodical professionalism of someone who’s been doing this a very, very long time. The next, he’s softened completely, daydreaming about his future with his pregnant girlfriend (Natalia Dominguez). One of the film’s best scenes comes during his segment, where he trades quips with a gatekeeping video-store clerk (played by a surprise A-lister in a cameo that’s too delightful to spoil). Pascal can instantly shift between menace and melancholy — and it serves as a stark reminder of what he can do when his face isn’t hidden beneath a shiny chrome helmet.

Between all the Nazis, rap battles, punk shows, and detours, that’s a lot of movie to squeeze into 106 minutes. Indeed, Boden and Fleck pack every frame with a more-is-more aesthetic, as green lightning bolts zing across the sky and blood spurts in glorious, exaggerated arcs. (Sleepy Floyd’s triumph on the court is told through cartoonish 2-D animation.) The film’s intersecting storylines and hyperbolic violence lend the film a Taratino-esque quality, and at times, it feels like Freaky Tales is attempting to do for 1987 Oakland what Once Upon a Time in Hollywood did for 1969 Los Angeles — part violent historical rewrite, part love letter to a bygone place and time.

It’s a hyperspecific vision of the Bay that won’t connect with everyone, and in truth, Freaky Tales seems destined to be more of a cult favorite than a genre-hopping blockbuster. But even with all the psychic energy and violent revenge fantasies, it’s the performances that help keep this tale grounded. Actors including Pascal, Normani, Thorne, Ellis, and the late Angus Cloud (who has a small but memorable role as one of Mendelsohn’s henchmen) prove that the city isn’t nearly as interesting as the people who live there. And sometimes, it’s the freaks who really do have more fun. B+

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