Review of Freaks (1932) by Michael Y — 10 May 2011

It's horrible and sad, but it's true. Deformed births happen all the time, all over the world. Throughout history these people, who have the same emotions as everyone, have been tormented and ridiculed. They have since lived together and formed a code. This movie is about that code.

Taking place in a circus where normals and freaks work and live together, a trapese artist agrees to marry the dwarf leader of the circus after hearing about his inherited fortune. She is an evil woman, fooling around with another member of the circus. But the 2 forgot one thing. When your a minority amongst a group of freaks: DON'T FUCK WITH THEM. Freaks is a pretty ballsy movie for its time, casting not men and woman in makeup and costumes, but staring REAL people with REAL birth mutations. Those of you with weak stomachs be warned. You'll see adults who look like children, children who look like adults, people with body mutations, and various people missing arms, legs, and even a worm man who has no arms and legs yet can still take a match out of a box and light his cigar. (Good for him). This is a very disturbing and tear inducing cast. But not all the actors, both normal and abnormal, can act worth a shit. A handful of the actors actually do a good job, others are either REALLY bad or REALLY cartoonish. But their dialogue isn't helping them either. The movie is just over 1 hour, so the whole movie does feel very rushed.

For a movie made in 1932 it's still very impressive. Nice looking set pieces, though filmed in a simple setting. And the film's climax is done very, very well. A dark and rainy scene gives a very creepy and thrilling climax. At most times the movie looks great, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. The pacing of the movie isn't all that great, and scenes just seem to pass by awkwardly. The directing isn't anything too special either, and the camera work is a bit shaky and unfitting at times. Some consider this movie a masterpiece, and in its way it is. But there was definitely room for improvement for this movie that could have made it a real masterpiece.

The code of the freaks is this: They are all together as one. When one is hurt, they are all hurt. Freaks is a risky movie that does a very respectable job of portraying these unfortunate people. There will never be another movie made like Freaks, that's for sure.