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In this colorful, cartoonish farce, a former child actor, his friend, and a political activist are captured by a mad scientist and transformed into carnival freaks at a roadside circus. The former child star becomes the half-deformed ‘Beast Boy’, while his friend (Blossom‘s Michael Stoyanov) and the activist (Megan Ward) fuse together to become a two-headed man/woman. They commiserate with the other freaks in residence, forced to perform for paying masses, until Beast Boy (Alex Winter) learns the fiendish freak show owner (Randy Quaid) plans to mutate him further and have him murder all the other freaks.
Freaked is not for everyone. It’s garish and unrelenting in its attempt to make us chuckle at its absurdity. It’s written like Airplane!, styled a bit like Beetlejuice, and executed with the tenacity of Gremlins 2: The New Batch. You either run with a free-spirited movie like this, or you run away. I don’t often enjoy comedies that lack verisimilitude, but I found myself laughing much more than usual and, more importantly, I was never bored. I also admire what the filmmakers were able to achieve with what must have been a low budget. Co-directors Alex Winter and Tom Stern employ extreme lenses, stylized sets, grotesque prosthetic makeup, and stop-motion animation to bring this unique vision to life.
Some of my favorite gags include two gun-toting, Rastafarian eye balls (you read that right), and a freak named ‘The Eternal Flame’ whose butthole blasts a perpetual flame. The motley but inspired supporting casting includes Brooke Shields as a talk show host, William Sadler as a heartless CEO, Mr. T as the Bearded Lady, and Derek McGrath as ‘The Human Worm’ who’d do anything to be able to wipe his own ass again. Alex Winter’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure co-star Keanu Reeves gives an uncredited performance as ‘Ortiz the Dog Boy’.
When you’ve overdosed on Oscar-bait or formulaic flicks grown in marketing department petri dishes, Freaked might be the perfect antidote.
With Morgan Fairchild, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Hawkes, and Deep Roy.