Freaks (1932)

Star Rating- 4
Length of Film- 64 minutes
Director- Tod Browning
Cast- Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles, Rose Dione, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton, Schlitze, Josephine Joseph, Johnny Eck, Frances O'Connor, & Peter Robinson









This movie literally changed how I viewed movies. It made such an impact, and a lot of that is the shock factor. I mean, this movie was banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years because it was deemed to exploit its cast. I wouldn't necessarily categorize this movie as horror, but in 1932...this probably scared the buh-jesus out of a lot people. 

Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks", rather than using costumes and makeup.(http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E07E6D61031E333A2575AC0A9619C946394D6CF)

I mean, that was risque but he did not show them in a negative way, he actually did the opposite. He showed that these individuals, even though they looked different and had disabilities, they weren't that different from "normal". They wanted love just like everyone else. 

The film follows a trapeze artist, Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) who's in a relationship with the strong man named Hercules (Henry Victor). A midget named Hans (Harry Earles) has a crush on Cleopatra. At first Cleopatra is flattered and flirts back with him, but all changes when she finds out that Hans is loaded. Cleopatra and Hercules converse and set up a plan. Cleopatra will marry Hans, slowly poison him, and then take all of his money.

My favorite part of the film is when the family goes out on the hunt, and this guy crawling on the ground was creepy as hell! The end moral of the movie is that you will watch out for your own kind, and if you mess with them, there will be consequences. Now I really don't know how they pulled off the end, special effects wise 

Now I really don't know how they pulled off the end, (special effects wise) so if anyone knows, I'd love to find out. And I loved how the beginning of the movie started, and we had no idea what was inside the box until the end. It was a great bit of mystery and it was definitely satisfying to find out what it was in the end.

Enjoy the movie, it really is a slice of cinema history that everyone needs to watch.  Happy watching!