She Freak

Let's get this out of the way: this is a terrible movie. The performances are campy. The conclusion is inevitable and foretold by the title. The story could've been told in less than half the time. However, the... let's call it "relaxed" pace of this film works in its favor. I am a big fan of carnival imagery, so the numerous long (and I do mean long) montages of the fairgrounds, day and night, sometimes featuring the film's characters (but usually not), are quite compelling. The dark jazzy score is very much of its time and is A LOT, full of intrusive sleazy horns and dramatic percussion (again, this is a plus for me). The lead performer, Claire Brennan, is very watchable and has a striking look reminiscent of Mary Woronov.

I guess I can't complain too much, because for all intents and purposes, I got this movie for free. It came with a 'freaks' boxed set through Something Weird video, along with, among other movies, the classic 80's cheesefest BASKET CASE. At the time, purchasing BASKET CASE in this boxed set actually cost less than it did alone, so hey, a good deal is a good deal. And since I bought it, I gave SHE FREAK a day in court and watched it. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as interesting as BASKET CASE. It's really only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry.

SHE FREAK is, near as I can tell, the 1960's remake of the classic freak film FREAKS, directed by Tod Browning. Unlike Browning's movie, however, SHE FREAK contains almost no freaks at all. The biggest problem with this movie is that a grand majority of it contains stock footage of carnivals being set up and taken down, shots of random people on rides, and other such mundane images of fair grounds and carnies.

What little story there is revolves around Jade Cochran (the late Claire Brennan), an average-to-homely woman who begins the movie as a coffee shop waitress with high aspirations. After getting fired from her job for not being appreciative enough (if you know what I mean), she finds work at the local carnival, becoming good friends with one of the strippers. She eventually meets and seduces Steve St. John (Bill McKinney) and marries him, although it's made very plain that she's a bit on the easy side, as prior to the marriage she has a little bedroom bam-bam with Blackie Fleming (Lee Raymond), a man egotistical enough to decorate the walls of trailer with his own name in spray paint.

Steve St. John, Jade's new husband, is in charge of the freak show, something that deeply disturbs Jade. See, Jade is a bit on the shallow side, thinking more about the material advantages of marrying a man with money and less about the human side of his work trying to make a life for people who might not otherwise have one. Since Steve isn't the most attentive of husbands, Jade's little fling with Blackie continues despite the marriage. Then, one night, the only freak in the movie--a little person named, appropriately, "Shorty"--sees Jade getting it on with Blackie, and while he says nothing, he makes his dislike of Jade as clear as this script is capable of making it.

Things escalate (so to speak) from here, with Jade becoming increasingly open about her dislike of the unseen freaks. Unfortunately, as an actor, Claire Brennan was as talented as she was attractive, and when she expresses her disgust she does so with a smile that she holds back with painful difficulty. Soon, Steve St. John catches Blackie after one of Jade's indiscretions, the two of them have a fight, and Blackie stabs Steve to death in a very brief and tame fight scene. Jade then inherits the freak show, and runs it with a cold heart, in contrast to Steve, who considered the freaks close friends of his.

Anyway, eventually the freaks catch up to her and deform her in ways that are only possible in the movies, and she ends up becoming the bizarre and twisted creature shown in the SHE FREAK trailers and posters, and the movie ends. That's it. And believe me, this review is far more interesting than the actual movie itself, which should tell you something.

Bored diner waitress Jade (Claire Brennen) joins the carnival in search of excitement, where she quickly worms her way into the affections of wealthy freak show manager Steve St. John (Bill McKinney), the carnival's most eligible bachelor. After a whirlwind romance, and a short engagement, the pair get married, but it's not long before Jade is out seeking thrills with loutish ferris wheel foreman Blackie (Lee Raymond), who happily gives her a ride for free. When Steve learns from pal Shorty that his wife is banging Blackie, he confronts the uncouth carnie, only to get a knife in the belly for his troubles. As a result, delighted Jade inherits her late husband's lucrative business, but her hatred and mistreatment of the sideshow's exhibits means it not long before the ruthless ex-waitress gets served her just desserts.

She Freak, a virtual remake of Tod Browning's 30s horror classic Freaks, opens with a solid five and a half minutes of carnival footage—shot after tedious shot of carnies plying their trade to happy punters—before eventually getting down to telling a story. Throughout the film, director Byron Mabe continues to make maximum usage of his carnival setting, regularly interrupting the action with further prolonged shots of people risking their lives on rather precarious looking fairground rides while eating unwholesome food purchased from dodgy concession stands. Strip this excess of colourful padding from this cheapo drive-in garbage and there really isn't a whole lot left—certainly nothing to get your average exploitation/horror fan excited about.

Considering the film was produced by trashmeister David F. Friedman, whose filmography boasts such legendary titles as Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, and Love Camp 7, it should come as no surprise to find that, in terms of style and atmosphere, She Freak is no match for the masterpiece that inspired it; however, it is rather shocking to discover that the film is remarkably light on both sleaze and gore. The bloodletting is limited to an unconvincing screwdriver through the hand during a fight between carnies and there is no sex or nudity to speak of (unless you count off-screen nookie and a few brief glimpses of skin from sexy sideshow stripper Moon, played by Lynn Courtney). Worse still, the film's genuine 'freaks' are limited to one dwarf (Felix Silla, Twiki from Buck Rogers), a sword swallower, and a June Whitfield lookalike who plays with snakes—no match for the collection of genuinely disturbing human oddities that helped make Tod Browning's Freaks such a memorable movie.

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.

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.