Freaked

Tom Stern & Alex Winter – 1993 – USA

Freaked was calculated to be a cult classic.  This calculation is palpable while watching the film, and it’s what keeps it from quite achieving its goal.  Stuff like Tapeheads (1988) and the films of Gregg Araki are examples of the same problem; like them, Freaked is a little too wacky, a little too self-conscious, a little too eager to be embraced for its visionary kookiness and over-the-top satire.  What these filmmakers forget is that the exploitation films that inspired them were intended to fly under the radar, to be mistaken for serious genre fare by mainstream critics but embraced by lovers of weird and crazy B-movies; films such as those by guys like Jack Hill, Eddie Romero or Brian Trenchard-Smith.  Filmmakers winking to the audience as a way of saying that they know this is not to be taken seriously, (hence, “forgive anything that doesn’t work”), is the kiss of death for movies like this.  They would be much better off going for straight horror or comedy.  The tongue-in-cheek posture is hard to maintain for the length of an entire film; in fact, I’m having trouble thinking of a time when it was done effectively at all.  In a banana republic, a vain actor gets trapped by a Dr. Moreau-style mad doctor and mutated into a… freak.  There are pointed barbs at show business and politics, and it’s actually a pretty fun movie filled with interesting make-up and effects.  I think part of its problem is that neither Tom Stern nor Alex Winter are really filmmakers; they apparently assumed that it would be a no-brainer to make a great movie just because they’re talented writers and performers.  I do enjoy the film, but it would have been so much better if they’d entrusted the directing to someone with experience, style and/or vision.  For example, this is likely what Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985) would have felt like if not directed by Tim Burton, or M*A*S*H (1970) without Robert Altman.  You get the idea, hopefully.  Watch carefully for Keanu Reeves – (clearly doing a favor for his Bill & Ted co-star Winter) – in an uncredited cameo as a dog boy.