Freaks (1932)

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Freaks is one of those movies that I can best describe as “good.” Some of the effects look pretty damn impressive, even today. For example, there is a man with no legs in the movie. It does make me curious how they accomplished this. There are two versions of this movie. The one I saw was the edited cut, which is just over an hour long. The original version of the film is about a half hour longer. I am curious to see what the 90-minute cut of the film is like. The 64-minute cut feels very choppy at times, almost like there is more I should be seeing. The acting starts out OK. As the movie goes, the performances get much stronger. The best performance in the movie in my opinion is Daisy Earles as Freida (the female dwarf). She is, in my opinion, the best example of a performance that gets better as the film goes on. I actually feel a lot of the emotion in her performance, especially as the movie goes deeper into the length. One of the themes Freaks explores is that of judging a book by its cover. The titular “freaks” are more sympathetic creatures. The regular people on the other hand, are the true monsters. When this movie really starts getting good is the initiation. This is where the true nature of the “normals” starts to show, and the “freaks” begin the plotting of their revenge. This is where some of the best acting of the movie comes into play. While I don’t think Freaks is a bad movie by any means, I feel that the version I watched is fairly flawed It is a bit too chopped down, and the first two acts are good, but not great. Where Freaks shines is in performances that grow stronger as the movie goes on and a fantastic third act.

7 / 10