Welcome to my first recuring blog post-thing:
In honor of the coming Halloween, my first classic film is Tod Browning's 1932 film Freaks, about the events in a sideshow production, mainly centering around the love triangle between Hans, the head of the sideshow (a dwarf), Cleopatra, a trapeze artist, and Hercules, the strong man of the show.
The story starts when Cleopatra marries Hans, in order to achieve fame. There she is disgusted by the people that unfortunately have disorders, and she takes rescue in Hercules. She then plots to try to kill Hans and run away with the money that Hans has built up from running the show. It all ends with one of the most thrilling scenes ever. Truly horrifying!
Technically, the film is not horror, but rather a drama or exploitation. Browning used real people with deformities to portray theme selves, like the conjoined twins Violet and Daisy, and several people missing legs.
When it came out, it was shocking to people! There was an original ending where something VERY bad to Hercules, but that ending was cut after a woman claimed she actually lost her baby because of it (a lie), and the film still shocking to some. The original ending is now lost! It was a failure for MGM, and it ruined Browning's career. Time has been good to it, and it is regarded as a classic film.
It is in public domain, so if you want to see it it's on YouTube and Google Video
5/5
It is a great film, and the pinheads in it always gave me the willies as a kid. Don't need to look on YouTube, though, since I made sure to have this as part of my collection! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! My dad has it! I hope I can see it! It looks good, and I wish I could see the original ending because you're keeping it a secret from me! *epic-pout* Alright, it looks good and I love a good weird movie! XD 5 Stars? Awesome! (P.S. I see you fixed your layout, so yayyyyy!!!!!)
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