Freakshow

I am a huge horror buff and found myself looking around my local Blockbuster the other night. After a short while I stumbled on to the DVD entitled "Freak Show". Immediately I was drawn to it because the cover art states "Banned in 43 Countries"! Also, the back cover art reads "one of the most horrific movies of the last few years" or something of that sort. Well let me be the first to tell you --- This is a complete SHAM.

The movie starts off very slow and bored me to sleep in the first 30 minutes. Because I am a huge fan of B-rate horror movies, I managed to down (3) of my favorite energy drinks in hopes of pulling through to the end. I will not ruin this awful movie for you, but I will let you know that I will NOT rent or buy anymore Asylum movies after this rip-off. How can this movie be banned in 43 countries, yet have ZERO amount of gore until the last 10 minutes? Not only was there no gore, the movie lacks anything that resembles something suspenseful or scary! The last 10 minutes of this film is the high point, and that falls very short of the films potential.

If your interested in seeing a low budget version of HBO's series Carnivale, then this is the one. If your a horror fan and want to be completely ripped off by false advertising then go ahead and rent this one. You too will be as irritated as I am. The production value of this film was excellent, but the plot was very boring and there is absolutely nothing scary about this one. This was a complete waste of time. It amazes me how they can write that this film was the most "horrific and disturbing film in years" and "banned in 43 countries" yet give no sources or credits. Total BS!

You won't be getting my money anymore if you continue to mislead the public. Even the low budget horror fans can say enough is enough and shop elsewhere. There are too many other fine films to see, than to be ripped off by flashy cover art and totally false and misleading claims. TWO THUMBS DOWN!

I bought this movie without any high standards set for it. I originally bought it to see the ending that had so much hype surrounding it. To briefly put it, I got what I expected.

The story was... well.. nonexistent. The story was, I believe, about an outsider who worked for the circus as the ticket sales-lady. The owner had fallen in love with her, and she wished to marry him. Assumably, she only agreed to marry him for his wealth, which is what caused the rest of the movie to fall into the pieces it did.

After a good, hour, hour and 10 minutes, of absolutely nothing happening besides low- grade sex scenes, and persistent cussing, the "banned in 43 countries" violence began, which I can honestly say didn't satisfy my blood lust, but it did leave me saying "Eh, good way to end it."

The sex scenes were very frequent, but they were very boring and plain. Honestly, the R. Kelly video where he pees on the young girl, is a lot more interesting than the sex scenes in this film. I could have made better sex scenes with just myself.

The violence began decently cartoonish, and evolved into an Eli Roth styled partition.

As for film qualities, the acting was fair. Wasn't too impressive, but I have definitely seen worse (*cough* Trolls 2 *cough*). The film production was honestly, very well done. The filming styles and camera angles were nothing new or too fancy, but they definitely set the mood of the film. The soundtrack was very suitable, kind of an old-school styled sound which fit the film grain and the feel of the film.

Honestly, I would only recommend this film to 12-year-old boys who are desperate for nude scenes. If you are a fan of horror, or B-Horror, or Independent films, please, stay away. It will not please any of your senses, because anything "positive" from this film has already been done.

I gave it a 2/10, and that's me being generous, and for the ending.

I just don't know what to say about this film, it was so bad on so many levels that at the end of the 90 minutes I feel a mixed emotion of disappointment at time wasted and a curious wonderment as to if I've actually seen what I think I've just seen.

Now, I don't know the movie Freaks however I wasn't expecting the story line to be particularly original but it was worse than that. A clichéd storyline only marginally bolstered by an unusual setting. It may have been carried by some reasonable acting, but if the word had been defined by the standard in this movie then I think actors would still be waiting tables as it bought in a higher salary.

The production values were awful as well, with an dire soundtrack and even more abysmal editing. I assume the sound and costume were supposed to give us a feel for the era of the film as in itself it did little to set the audience expectation. But the soundtrack did little more for me than want to smash the damn gramaphone to splinters (you'll see/hear what I mean).

So what then made this a horror? Well it was those last few minutes. Although the concept, the hook if you will, was quite gruesome and to some extent deserves a little merit. Now the imagination can create a disturbing empathy given the right nudges and it made me feel uncomfortable so job done! Right? But still, even though the idea was great in the end it was the ham fisted execution of the concept that will probably make any self respecting movie go-er recoil in horror the most.

This isn't so much a comment as it is a warning. I've been watching horror movies since I was able to watch movies. I have them on tapes and dvds, I was originally going to school for forensic science (all this info is to explain that I DO have the stomach, strength, etc to watch horror movies/gore/etc). This movie sent me to therapy. Seriously. It effected me in such a way that I still can't sleep (it's now exactly one week after I rented this movie). I'm anxious, nervous, and the day after I watched this movie I had a panic attack and had to schedule an emergency appointment to speak with a psychiatrist. The last ten minutes of this movie are THE most disturbing ten minutes I have ever seen in absolutely any form (film, photography, written word, etc.) Just typing about it and making me think about it is making me start to get anxious.

Oddly enough everyone I watched it with was totally unaffected by it. My boyfriend doesn't understand why he has to stay awake with me every night. But for some reason, the last scene hit me in a way no movie, no book, no image has ever effected me before. Not hostel, or the hills have eyes, or house of 1000 corpses, or Texas chainsaw massacre, or any other horror flick involving torture/gore/disturbing images.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I can understand why it was banned.

This is simply not a movie I am extremely broad minded when it comes to films and I adore low budget movies because it enhances the meaning of art behind the process of film making. This movie is perverse, it provokes a feeling of sick to your stomach and not in a good way- I'm not even conservative when it comes to these things. It also has no plot except to make you want to vomit. It is one long cheap gag and not worth even putting on for five minutes. If you like movies with substance or at least some kind of plot or real scare do not watch this if you are however, looking for something to scream at this is perfect for you.