Freaks (1932) Review

Juror #3 says: The 1930's are quickly shaping up to be a formative decade for film.  First we watched the movie M which brought a type of sophistication to filmmaking, and then there is the movie Freaks which takes everything we've previously seen in film and turns it upside down in an "up yours" kind of way.  I loved it.  No, love isn't a strong enough word, I LURVED it.  There are real circus freaks (many from Coney Island) and scenes created to make the audience as uncomfortable as possible - which also complements the entire point of the movie - a dark statement on humankind and how we perceive anything deemed abnormal.  
Even in today's torture-porn culture audiences would be shocked.  I was so enthralled with this film that I watched every minute of the special features on the DVD.  The background is as interesting as the film itself - the whole process seems so bizarre and improbable, but that's the amazing thing - there is an air of normality to it which is precisely what makes it so disturbing.  The movie was based on a short story called Spurs which I found online and read.  I have to say, Tod Browning took the short story to another level.  The only disappointment in Freaks is that it was censored by the studio and over 30 minutes were removed from the final cut, including a much harsher ending which included a castration scene as well as the mauling of the female antagonist.  I wish someone would piece the movie back together in Tod Browning's original vision.  Still, if you find this world of oursas bizarre, and fascinatingly so, as I do, then Freaks is a MUST see.  I rate it 5/5 stars.


girl by locker says: Freaks definitely shocks the viewers of the film, and I can only imagine how much more shocking it was back in the 1930's. I read that one woman actually attributes her miscarriage to watching the movie. The performers are actual circus freaks with various abnormalities - midgets, hermaphrodites, a man with only a torso to name a few. The first scene in which we see the "freaks" all together they are playing and frolicking about a field. I must say I that I was more than shocked during this scene and to me, that is what the movie was about - making the audience uncomfortable with "freaks", putting them in your face. I'm glad I watched the movie, and I definitely consider it an advancement to what we have seen in the 1920's, but overall I didn't enjoy the actual story. I enjoyed the spectacle. I rate it 3/5 stars.