Review of Freaked (1993) by Marischa B — 29 Nov 2010

While impressed by the elaborate make-up, prosthetic, and robotics special effects, I personally saw very little likable or entertaining about this movie. Imagine one of the more disgusting "Ren and Stimpy" episodes brought to life with actors in huge, oozing, monster costumes and you've basically summed up the look and feel of this movie. While the numerous cameos -including Mr. T, Keanu Reeves, and others- are also interesting, the plot and acting are abysmal, intentionally to a certain extent.

The plot involves an evil and corrupt big business outfit, "The Everything But Shoes Corporation", which has developed a green slime (in movies the toxic sludge is always green) capable of turning humans into hideous freaks with incredible powers. Enter a freak show operator (Randy Quaid) with grandiose plans for the usage of said mutagen goo. Using the stuff on several innocent bystanders he hopes to create an army of side-show freaks, although weather these freaks are intended to be the first stage of an army, or just new entertainment for Randy Quaid's carnival, is never made completely clear. The incredibly made-up freaks by the way, are almost certainly an homage to the art of "Big Daddy" Roth and his "Rat Fink" creation.

As stated above, both the special effects and the gross-out factor are impressively high, and form the most memorable aspect of the film. While nothing in the film is so horrific as to keep viewers awake at night, watching ultra-gross cartoon action reproduced using live actors (and in one case a child actor), will leave many viewers feeling disgusted and used.

The only truly horrific portion of the film is the dialog. The writers intentionally "camped-up" the script, including every possible means by which they could remind the audience not to take this seriously. And while this makes the graphic cartoon mutations easier to watch, it also makes much of the film actually painful to listen to. Dozens, if not hundreds of visual or verbal one-liner jokes litter the film, unfortunately not one of the jokes I saw was genuinely funny. Most scenes involved so much exaggerated flatulence and body humor that the "jokes" evoked the same reaction in me as seeing bloody car wrecks.

Finally, despite the numerous well-known actors, and the two or three genuinely good actors, involved, everyone is intentionally acting as badly as they can. Imagine a group of third graders, hyped up on sugar while they try their best to put on a school play, and you'll understand the acting method the director demanded for this film.

All in all, if you like truly bad movies that don't bore you to death, this film may well be worth one or more viewings. And if you liked Peter Jackson's "Meet the Feebles", this film is definitely for you. But if your not a B-movie fan, or if your a partial B-movie fan who only catches an episode of "Myestery Science Theater 3000" every now and then, this film will only leave you feeling cold and empty.