Freakshow

Horror lovers are almost by definition crazy about anthologies. This particular horror fanatic personally also believes that a horror anthology can only be great if the wraparound story is equally compelling, and even a kind of additional segment on its own. I can assure you "Freakshow" has a splendid wraparound story. Considering the title and the year of release (late 80s), the main influences for this film were obviously "Creepshow" and "The Twilight Zone";- not coincidentally two anthologies that were tremendously popular in the 80s. This certainly doesn't mean, however, that "Freakshow" is an inferior and uninspired rip-off. Quite the contrary, it's hugely entertaining and, in my humble opinion, vastly underrated. It can easily stand next to, say, "From a Whisper to a Scream", "After Midnight" and "Screamtime" as one of the 80s horror anthologies that deserve to be wider known and appreciated.

The wraparound story introduces an arrogant and emotionless female news reporter, who prefers to cover the story of a mass-shooting live on television rather than to prevent it from happening. Her cameraman is so disgusted by her sensationalism that he leaves her behind downtown, and during her search for a cab she gets lured in a museum called "The Freakshow", where the oddish curator takes her on a (very) personalized tour. As you can probably guess, the exhibits she sees here lead in the individual segments.

In the first story, a desperate junkie gets trapped in a sort of "Home Alone" situation where the Kevin McAllister role is played by a poodle with a bag of cocaine in its mouth. It's nothing special, but nevertheless entertaining. In segment two, the newly recruited delivery boy of an Italian restaurant has to bring a pizza - with positively no garlic - to an address on 1313, Bram Stoker Avenue. He's welcomed by a house full of vampire brides, but the boy has a secret identity of his own. The idea behind this short story is original, but poorly handled. Also, even though featuring a lot of scantily clad 80s beauties, the erotic vampire dance rituals last far too long. Besides, the vampires here wear the most ridiculous and unconvincing sets of fake teeth I have ever seen. The third and shortest segment is definitely the best. A girl who OD'd witnesses her own embalming process because her mind isn't quite as lifeless as her body yet. I'm pretty sure I've seen this concept before somewhere, probably in "The Twilight Zone", but it nevertheless remains terrifying. Last but not least, segment four stars two punk grave diggers who think they stumbled upon a profitable business by selling the dirt from underneath the tombstones as fertilizer. However, the dead don't approve of their final resting places being desecrated. The tone of this zombie story is mainly comical and silly, but it has a handful of ingenious moments and terrific make-up effects.

"Freakshow" is an anthology horror movie.It opens with surprisingly violent and unsettling mass murder massacre of late night show cinema patrons that reminded me current case of Dark Knight Rising massacre gunman James Eagan Holmes.All this carnage is recorded by bitchy news reporter Shannon Nichols and her cameraman.Four horror stories are told her by the proprietor of bizarre museum/exhibition.The first one involves luckless junkie and scared poodle,the second one has pizza delivery guy,haunted mansion and a lot of lingerie,the third one is about paralyzed but not dead woman and the final story has two greedy gravediggers,rich widow plus some cheesy zombies.Cheap production values,bad acting and nasty beginning-welcome to surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining "Freakshow".7 horror stories out of 10.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Freakshow" is a rock-bottom horror film that only a tax loss specialist could love, Prospects are rotten in all media.

Amateurishly directed and acted opus consists of four horror stories, linked by the flimsy premise of loathsome tv newscaster Audrey Landers trapped in a curiosity collection exhibit by its goofball curator Peter Read.

Tales, wholly lacking in awe or ingenuity, go from bad to worse: an endlessly padded episode of a drug addict lured to his death by a poodle with a bag of heroin in its mouth; a pizza delivery boy who survives a night at an evil mansion located at 1313 Bram Stoker Blvd.; a ripoff of a classic "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" to episode in which a paralyzed girl (from drugs again) is subjected to an autopsy while still alive and conscious; and a stupid story of ghouls rising from their graves to punish two gravediggers who are stealing the dirt from the cemetery to sell it to a golf course (!).

Level of tastelessness here is evidenced in the final segment when a goon finds out the dead and come back, and exults: "That's great! That means there'll be a Beatles reunion".

Director Constantino Magnatta embarrassingly tries to simulate music videos, with terrible rock songs frequently thrown in and girls sashaying in their underwear (one couldn't call it dancing). Heavy-handed use of spiral patterns to try and hypnotize the audience plu bookended setting of the pic in a movie theater doesn't work.

What can be said about a film where narrative form, editing and reality are totally foreign concepts. You may watch this film stone cold sober, but by the end you will feel as though your mind is jelly and that jelly is a appetizing treat that many a dwarfish freak would eat. Cue padded wallpaper.

This is allegedly a group of short stories, but no one seemed to mention to the writer that stories need endings, and if your going to film a ten minute James Bondesque strip sequence with ten very eighties looking woman they have to get their tits out! However, despite all it's insanity and pure weirdness it is in fact a throughly entertaining film with belly laughs throughout.

"Society"

This is truly an intellectual masterpiece - although I'll admit the first time through I was at a loss. After watching this seemingly disjointed set of stories, I was left with only one thought "What WAS that?".

I couldn't shake the feeling that I had completely missed the point. I put the tape back in the VCR a watched it again. This time carefully paying attention for any unifying threads. At the end of the second viewing I was convinced that I had NOT missed anything... this was just a weird movie with nothing to say.

That was it, until about 3 days later... I'm sitting at my desk and out of the blue, it comes to me "Oh, yeah!". On my way home from work I stopped at the video store and rented it out again.

I won't spoil it - I'll only say that this is indeed a profound piece of work. The very obscurity of its message serves to intensify the revelation.