28 March 2024
Freaks (1932)
62 min.
Directed by Tod Browning.
With Wallace Ford, Olga Baclanova, Lelia Hyams, Henry Victor, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles.
From director Tod Browning (1931's Dracula) comes this superb tale of carnival sideshow freaks, murder and revenge.

Baclanova is the aerialist who marries dwarf Earles for his money and then sets about plotting to knock him off.

A colorful cast of aberrations highlight this parade of the odd...the pinheads, siamese twins, dwarves.

Not for all audiences, but most certainly a horror classic (transcending individual tastes), purely for its offbeat subject matter and as evidence of Browning's particular genius and skill at filmmaking.

Unfortunately, the critical failure of Freaks (or rather the distinct lack of admiration for it upon its release) caused Browning's career to be cut all too short.

The wedding feast in particular packs a great wallop ("one of us, one of us") and the climax is a supreme feat of chillmaking.

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