"Freaky Tales" Trailer: Pedro Pascal Faces One Last Job in an Over-the-Top '80s Thriller

From Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck comes a chaotic, genre-blending ode to 1987 Oakland—featuring Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, and Jay Ellis.

To many, the 1980s are still remembered as a magical decade where anything could happen. But forty years later, nostalgia for that era has just passed its zenith. It has now shifted from rose-colored sentimentality to full-blown reinvention.

Which makes Freaky Tales, a new '80s retro thriller, such an interesting project. It's set in the '80s but exists in that vague space between romantic retrospection and artistic reinvention. It’s literally being billed as a “mixtape” of equal parts nostalgia and genre-bending chaos.

And hey, Pedro Pascal stars in it too—so it can't be all bad! It's certainly worth a trailer watch. So, here ya go!

Prepare to travel back to the year 1987, where basketball stars swing samurai swords and leap around like Street Fighter-style video game characters; where street thug enforcers rent their X-rated movies at the local video store like everyone else; and where young teen punks get into blood-drenched turf wars with neo-Nazi gangs. Oh yeah, and cocaine? It's everywhere—sniffed, tossed, and blown into the air like confetti.

It's the '80s, baby! This kind of shit just happened back then.

Freaky Tales hails from the writing and directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who earned accolades for their 2015 gambling drama Mississippi Grind, starring Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds. However, they’re perhaps best known for bringing Captain Marvel to the big screen—a film that, to be fair, was a massive box office hit but has seen its critical standing diminish over the years. It now ranks as one of the least-liked MCU entries in the franchise.

With Freaky Tales, Boden and Fleck make a return to their indie roots. It's been described as an “anthology” film, but it feels more like a movie with several intersecting storylines, mostly revolving around a basketball star's lavish home that becomes the target for criminal thieves looking for a quick score.

Set in 1987 Oakland, Pedro Pascal plays a low-rent mob enforcer who is fed up and looking to leave his criminal past behind. Hoping to start a new life, he is forced to do one more job by a ruthless businessman (played by Ben Mendelsohn, once again working with Boden and Fleck). But when Pascal's character refuses, it sets off a chain reaction of “freaky tales” involving a ninja-skilled basketball star, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a clueless crew of home invaders.

Joining Pascal and Mendelsohn in the cast are Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, and the late Angus Cloud, with a special appearance by the one and only Tom Hanks (not seen in the trailer but credited as part of the cast).

Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Freaky Tales premiered at Sundance last year, where it received mixed reviews from critics.

Here's some of the good:

"Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck create an anything-goes anarchic spirit that, when combined with an impressive cast game for this type of madness, plays like a stylish and entertaining genre mixtape."
— Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

"Freaky Tales takes nearly 40 minutes to find its footing, but once it kicks in, there’s roughly an hour of grindhouse glory ahead (assuming streaming audiences make it that far)."
— Peter Debruge, Variety

… And here's the bad:

"For a film so clearly designed to be fun above all else, it ends up being a bizarre slog. I’m glad they enjoyed themselves so much, shame we couldn’t join in."
— Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

"An exhausting Tarantino pastiche that aims for cool above all else and falls woefully short."
— Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

Executive produced by legendary Oakland rapper Too $hort, Freaky Tales is now slated to hit theaters on April 4.

Here’s the official synopsis:
…

Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles. Executive produced by hip-hop pioneer Too $hort, and featuring an all-star ensemble including Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, and Tom Hanks, this pulpy blend of explosive action, edgy humor, gory kills, and sly twists and turns makes for one wild ride.