Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7298 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-19
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, compassionate, freaky.
"We'll make her one of us"- say the Freaks, yet ironically that statement is already true as it is the "normals" who are the real freaks.
When Hans the midget first catches sight of the lovely Cleopatra, he thinks she is the most beautiful "normal" he has ever seen. She treats it as joke and flirts with him to poke fun at him, but when she finds out he has inherited a large sum of money, she hoodwinks him into marrying her, and with the help of Hercules her strong man lover, she plots kill him. All the other freaks, including; Frieda the dwarf, the Bearded Lady, the half boy, the living torso, the half woman/half man,the pin heads, Koo-Koo the bird girl, the stork woman, the living skeleton and the armless wonders can not except her as one of them.
It is finally on their wedding night, when the Freaks learn that the whole thing is a hoax, when Cleo is repulsed and insulted by the freaks' propsition she is now one of them having married Hans. The following evening the Freaks witness her trying to poison Hans, and plot a shocking, terrifying revenge, in an attempt to really make her one of them which is the code of the freaks: "offend one, you offend them all".
The wedding scene is a prime example of excellent use of "mise en scene", with the bird girl dancing atop the table, and the Freaks' chanting of " one of us, one of us...gooble, gobble..." while passing round "the loving cup of wine".
The revenge scene however has to steel the title of one of the best scenes in cinematic history, with the freaks crawling in the pouring rain, chasing Cleo and Hercules through the woods. What makes it even more scary is that the viewer sees hardly anything, therefore the terror relies solely on imagination to decide what happened.

To conclude, this is a cult/horror/drama classic which needs a place in all DVD collections and proves tht you should'nt judge a book by its cover.

watch while u can
You will never see another piece of cinematic history like this one. Some will say this is sick ( like my gf) but take it for what it is.
Fantastic acting, outstanding directing and moving to boot. It starts as a freak show, and ends as heart churning classic.

Refreshing

I watched this film yesterday and I enjoyed thoroughly.

How often do we get to see the physically/mentally diverse in a film these days, let alone empowered and taking revenge over callous injustice! And we are supposed to be in the politically correct age.

Of course the people featured on this film are seen through the perspective of 1932, when deformity was considered circus material, not at all tolerated by society at large, and 'freaks' were confined to circuses and traveling fairs as exploitable attractions. But this film also shows that, even if not leading a dignified life by ordinary standards, the 'freaks' living in the circus were also able to earn a living and be part of an accepting community. They are portrayed as people with ordinary problems, relationships, and friendships.

A bit of a voyeuristic touch is noticeable as the man with no arms nor legs is shown lighting a cigarette (with a somewhat proud look in his eyes) or the lady with no arms drinks a glass of bubbly. This could also be viewed as simply showing how people different from us do the same things we do.

The horror chase at the end is quite scary, and despite this film taking the us/them perspective, between normal looking folks and 'freaks', and saying that 'freaks' have their own codes, in a conspiration theory science fiction, the movie's final message is that physical diversity is acceptable, and indeed preferable to beauty when accompanied by evil behaviour, which is punished harshly in the end, when the beautiful baddie is transformed in what she despises the most.

The best part of this movie is that at first the 'freaks' (a man with no limbs, a lady with no arms, a man without legs, three microcephalus ladies, an extremely thin man, the classic circus bearded lady, and others) seem disturbing, but by the end of the movie their diversity is not as noticeable, as in view of their character, their smile, and the way we see their lives as not very different from our own, we identify with them.

I don't think that in our age there is a much better acceptance of physical and mental diversity, and I consider this film as doing a better job at treating the subject than total invisibility in the media, which is pretty much the way in the 21st century.