She Freak

A waitress who has dreams of a better life decides she'd have more fun working for a traveling carnival. Weird choice for a better life, but whatever. Once there, it isn't long before she's courting the rich owner of the carnival freak show. After marrying him, she carries on an affair with the ferris wheel operator behind his back. Everything ends badly for all involved.

This is a pretty poor attempt at a remake of Freaks. Instead of actual character development, the film feels content to give us countless scenes via musical montage. The entire courtship between the lead and the freak show guy is a wordless series of scenes set to music. We also have several lengthy scenes of the carnival being set up and then even more of it being taken down. This is sort of neat to see, but it takes up way too much time. The pointless scenes don't stop there, as we also get a cheesy fight midway through. One guy gets a screwdriver through the hand, which would seem pretty serious, but there are no repercussions.

Leading lady, Claire Brennen (who unfortunately passed away ten years after this film), was actually quite good in the movie. The ending is decent too as the freaks have their revenge and we see what's become of her. I was really surprised to read that Claire had a romantic relationship with the actor who played the sideshow midget that her character is so disgusted by in the film. Good for them.

The film itself is absolutely nothing to write home about. For a better freak-oriented movie, check out Jack Cardiff's The Freakmaker.

Waitress Jade Cochran quits to join the circus. She's waiting tables again but she is quickly befriended by dancing girl Pat 'Moon' Mullins. Steve St. John is the owner.

The acting is painfully amateurish. The lead actress is all false attitude. It's also not an appealing character. The fake acting is really annoying. It's an amateur low-budget indie and it's pretty bad. The filmmaking is poor. The story is a melodramatic pulpy mess. The most compelling aspect is the real life circus location. I'm more interested in a montage of setting up the rides than the plot. I love the circus paintings in the background. They look gorgeous. Everything else is pretty bad.

A "waitress" named Jade dreams of a better life. Her chance at living her dream arrives in the form of a carnival. Indeed, Jade soon becomes a carnival "waitress".

One day, Jade wanders into the freak show tent, and, filled with hatred and revulsion, she sets out to treat them with disdain. As Jade's star rises, she winds up in charge of the entire carnival, unaware that the freaks she so despises have had enough of her tyranny.

Sort of a ham-handed "remake" of FREAKS from Director Tod Browning, SHE FREAK lacks every quality that made Browning's film a classic. It's cheapness is no excuse for the overall dullness of the production.

On the upside, if you love carnivals, this movie does use a near-documentary approach to show carnival operations in all their glory...

The fact that this movie is a rip-off of Tod Browning's "Freaks" should not be construed as a reason to see it. The photography and acting are bottom drawer, the direction is listless and unimaginative, and writing is rarely sly (or at least it's hard to get any good dialogue out of these actors' mouths). There isn't even all that much exploitation footage here.

What is kind of interesting is the picture of carnival life in the 60s (a period of decline for that art form) it provides. Roustabouts, geeks, carneys, all are presented with some sort of versimilitude.

With a stronger lead actress and a more competent cast/director, this film could at least have been a memorable shock-fest. Instead, it's ultimately forgettable.

Rotgut updating of Tod Browning's carny horror classic is actually not nearly as awful as it could have been...still, just about any quotidian viewer will refuse to endure it til the closing credits. Gorgeous, blonde Claire Brennan(sadly lost to cancer early in her life)portrays a complete and total bitch with a distinct "Bad Seed" approach to getting whatever she wants. When she brings her unscrupulous shenanigans to the mechanical wheel of a roadside carnival, she fitfully receives her come-uppance at the hands of the sideshow attractions. Her beauty is given way to monstrosity, as she is mysteriously transformed into a half-woman/half-beast with a fried egg eyeball, salaciously fondling a large snake(nice touch!).

Examine the names associated to this one, then reference their other works...I'm sure you'll find that "She Freak" is a cut above most of those other entries. It's overall a fun bit of grindhouse nonsense, but could have benefited greatly from the more gratuitous sex and violence one might expect from a Mabe/Friedman epic.

5.5/10