Freaks

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Claire, Bree, Chris, Owen, David B, David W, Cicely, Maria, Cassie, Amberly, Jess, Joanna, Lexi, Skyler, Geoff, Mitchell

Oh wow what a cool trailer some dude made!

Tod Browning's controversial cult classic. It's a pretty straight forward story and a short film, but that's also because the studio eded up cutting a great deal of it that they deemed to controversial in 1932. I would have loved to have seen the more violent ending.

I would also like to know just how a bunch of circus side-show attractions attacking a lady can magically turn her into a chicken-lady. That big reveal at the end is ridiculous. But also so absurd it's kind of delightful now.

Apparently this is Browning's first film with sound and he had some trouble getting used to directing with it. The dialogue is very stunted and often awkwardly delivered. The best performances come from the two midgets, both of whom I recognised as munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. Who could forget the Lollipop Guild dude? He's much less cheery in this film.

The scenes at the start of the film are very haphazardly placed together and don't really connect in any way. But once the main story becomes the focus you have a much easier time getting through.

It's a film I think I know more about the production of than the actual film itself. I love the stories of ladies running screaming from the screen at the premiere and a women that was so terrified she had a miscarriage and sued the studio. No-one really knows if this happened or not, or if it was a publicity stunt but they are great stories nonetheless.

Like the characters in the film, it is a odd and slightly dark curiosity. It certainly raises a lot of questions. All it was originally aspiring to be is the next Frankenstein or Dracula monster horror film and at that I think it fails but it still has merit in other aspects and is an interesting artefact of its time.