The sophomore effort of director Drew Bell, Freakshow–a mixture of Tod Browning’s Freaks and Donn Davison’s She Freak–is an unexpectedly effective film posing as a piece of horror exploitation and lethargic plagiarism. Masterfully, Bell plays to the viewer’s expectations only to later develop what appeared at first to be merely gratuitous effect, only to end upon a perhaps-too-stunningly efficient, if a tad unnerving, note, as he leaves his viewer dauntingly impressed and exasperated by the closing frame.
A band of thieves are hired as security with a traveling sideshow and the femme fatale of the group of conmen, Lucy (Rebekah Kochan), integrates herself into the “family” of performers in order to get closer to Lon (Christopher Adamson), the mobile entertainment’s boil-laden ringleader. When the crooks act upon their plan prematurely, they are forced to suffer the consequences at the hands of those whom they were attempting to exploit.
Freakshow is a deceptive feature. At first posturing as softcore trash, the film slowly legitimizes what came before as it continues to progress while tension is created and mounted by an ethical double entendre of plot twists (one being remarkably Hamletian in its hesitation, if not at once naively compassionate) without hinting in the direction that the story might ultimately take. By midway through the feature, we sit enthralled at the methodical degree which the already convoluted nature of acceptance and rejection have been explored as we readily anticipate which direction Bell will have his hammer fall.
Many have commented that Freakshow, much like Bell’s previous directorial effort– Random Acts of Violence–is too slow, which it is if one is judging it based on typical, disposable B-movie horror standards. Instead of placating and playing to the lowest common denominator (an almost standard practice with low-budget horror), Bell incorporates what Noel Carroll–author of one of the seminal studies on horror, The Philosophy of Horror–states are prerequisites for fright: grotesquery, mood, and tentative danger/vulnerability. As most of the sideshow hands are actual real-life performers, many a viewer will find him or herself repulsed at their initial appearance as Bell forbids his cast to be depicted in a sympathetic light. Lon reminds us that we are merely host to a group of individuals who are merely doing a job, nothing else. As such, the director thereby cunningly aligns the various malforms with his audience as we, as do they, proceed about their business as usual. By superceding what would have otherwise been a deficit in his narrative, pathos, Bell is able to execute a very agreeable revenge scheme, one which culminates in a scene that–though I have seen my fair share of the truly grotesque (sponsored largely by 1970s Italian cinema)–is a first. Sadly, Bell is perhaps a bit too succinct in his resolution in that, to fully appreciate and understand what has taken place, it is necessary to watch the alternate (extended, to be exact) ending.
Aside from the visceral tone and mood which Bell sustains throughout, all-but-literally issuing his viewer grime and filth throughout its duration, the soundtrack does more than its fair share in maintaining the atmosphere as the uncredited effort is largely composed of period ditties. The only detraction of serious note is the performance of Rebekah Kochan, even though the remainder of the cast attempts to distract from her unbalanced and largely ineffective portrayal of Lucy.
It is not often that a director offers a rehashing of a subgenre of a subgenre to any worthwhile ends but Drew Bell does amazingly well as he examines the nature of ostracization and alliance in such an unrepentant manner that is could be considered a timely remake of Tod Browning’s Freaks cast as litmus of contemporary morality. For gorehounds, Freakshow will be too slow in arriving at its promised carnage while genre aficionados might prematurely waver as the film opens to what appears to be a softcore itinerary. However, for the patient, the feature is one of the most rewarding, to say nothing of surprising, B-movie efforts to open this year.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
