Movie Debate #38: Freaks

[Reed Rothchild 7,953]

 

[Reed Rothchild 7,953]

Part 1 of 2 for @fox's picks

[mbd39 1,768]

8/10

It's legit creepy even today but that's mainly because they used real "freaks." Now they're all on TLC.

 

[JamesRobot 5,118]

Fuck yeah!  Schlitzie the pinhead!  

I'd say it's a very important film that everyone should watch.  But it's also not something I would go out of my way for on the regular.  So an average of 5 and 9 gives it a 7.

I also have an odd fascination with pinheads.  I think it was the Zippy the Pinhead comic strip that started it.  Used to read it daily back when newspapers were a thing.

[Dr. Morbis 1,879]

Yeah, definitely worth watching once, but not something I'd ever go back to.  A movie like this could obviously never be made nowadays without being labeled "exploitative."  The thing that had me thinking the most was the dude who was married to one of the sisters who were Siamese twins.  Like, what does the other girl do when he's banging her sister - just lie there?  And that little guy who inches around on the ground like a worm... man,  there's a lot to see in this film...

[Tabonga 1,975]

Not exactly the easiest film to watch.   But it certainly is unusual enough to be worth watching.  The most salient point to me was how the group of outcasts from "normal" society formed their own society and were willing to protect one of their own.

Uncomfortable or not it certainly was a landmark film.  (The AHS fourth season was strongly influenced by this film.)

I wish the original version (which was 26 minutes longer) had survived - it would be interesting to see what was chopped out to make it more acceptable to audiences of the time.

 

[fox 1,458]

Freaks is one of those films where its reputation precedes it. It is best known for that one scene, but as a whole the movie is pretty entertaining. Somewhat mislabeled as a horror film, it is more a humanistic drama with one shocking scene that likely wouldn’t be out of place on a prime time soap opera.

The film follows the behind the scenes lives of a collection of side-show performers, many with real life deformities. This caused much uproar back in the day and lead to the film to being banned for exploiting these performers. I don’t really feel that is what happened, most were already in showbiz, be in the circus or vaudeville and were able to use their uniqueness to make a better life for them-selves. The film itself treats them fairly, it points out their position in this world, but doesn’t put them down.

Enough controversy, this film is surprising funny. The exchanges between the performers is pretty hilarious, they cut into each other, gossip, and bicker like any co-workers or family. It is all very slice of life. The main plot line concerns little person Hans dumping his little fiancé Frieda, for normal size trapeze artist Cleopatra, who is only marrying him for his money. It is rather heartbreaking to see the selfishness and cruelty of the characters come out. It really makes the ending well warranted.

So if you have only seen that one scene, do yourself a favor and see the rest of this freaking classic.