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Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Harry Earles ... see more see more... , Henry Victor , Daisy Earles , Rose Dione , Daisy Hilton , Violet Hilton , Matt McHugh , Ernie S. Adams , Louise Beavers , Edward S. Brophy , Albert Conti , Johnny Eck , Elvira Snow , Elizabeth Green , Josephine-Joseph , Tom London , Martha Morris , Randian , Olga Roderick , Angelo Rossitto , Schlitzie , Jennie Lee Snow , Michael Visaroff , Zip , Frank O'Connor , Peter Robinson , Rosco Ates

The genesis of MGM's Freaks was a magazine piece by Ted Robbins titled Spurs. The story involved a terrible revenge enacted by a mean-spirited circus midget upon his normal-sized wife. In adapting Spu... read more read more...rs for the screen, writers Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Wolf, and Al Boasberg retained the circus setting and the little man-big woman wedding, all the while de-vilifying the midget and transforming the woman into the true "heavy" of the piece. German "little person" Harry Earles plays Hans, who falls in love with long-legged trapeze artist Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova). Discovering that Hans is heir to a fortune, Cleopatra inveigles him into a marriage, all the while planning to bump off her new husband and run away with brutish strongman Hercules (Henry Victor). What she doesn't reckon with is the code of honor among circus freaks: "offend one, offend them all." What set this film apart from director Tod Browning's earlier efforts was the fact that genuine circus and carnival sideshow performers were cast as the freaks: Harry Earles and his equally diminutive sister Daisy, Siamese twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, legless Johnny Eck, armless-legless Randian (who rolls cigarettes with his teeth), androgynous Josephine-Joseph, "pinheads" Schlitzie, Elvira, Jennie Lee Snow, and so on. Upon its initial release, Freaks was greeted with such revulsion from movie-house audiences that MGM spent the next 30 years distancing themselves as far from the project as possible. For many years available only in a truncated reissue version titled Nature's Mistakes, Freaks was eventually restored to its original release print. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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87% liked it

21,806 ratings

Critics

93% liked it

45 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 4 min.

Directed by: Tod Browning

Release Date: February 20, 1932

Keywords: horror

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DVD Release Date: August 10, 2004

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Stats: 1,849 reviews

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Freaks Freaks Freaks Freaks Baclanova and Harry Earles Baclanova and Henry Victor Baclanova and Henry Victor Freaks Tod Browning poses with the freaks. Johnny Eck and Leila Hyams Baclanova and Harry Earles Baclanova and Earles Daisy and Harry Earles Daisy and Harry Earles Freaks Baclanova and Henry Victor Baclanova and Earles Baclanova and Henry Victor
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Flixster Reviews (1,849)

  • fb1664868775
    March 3, 2012
    fb1664868775
    A very odd film that forces everyone who sees it to confront their prejudices.
  • guttersnipe28
    October 1, 2011
    guttersnipe28
    A cracker, shame it's so scissored (down to only an hour). But what's left is perfecto, a movie that couldn't me made today (or if it was, it'd be cloyingly manipulative). Why Browning gets credit much more for the very boring Dracula iover this, I'll never know. This flick also ... read moresports my favourite tagline ever: "can a grown woman truly love a midget?". All mutant cast as well, no punches pulled.
  • ajv2688
    September 24, 2011
    ajv2688
    This is a very cool movie. It has real people from circuses and a great story. The mixture of authenticity and a fantastic story makes for such a great movie.
  • FilmFanatik
    February 5, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    A magnificent piece of cult celluloid. I love this film. I love the controversy surrounding it...I love the fact that Tod Browning used real freaks of nature for the film...and I love that the film is my own personal collection. :)
  • theunknownhobo
    January 23, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    I think that this movie, although impossible by today's standards of human rights and regulations, is one of the saddest films I have ever seen. The first time I watched it I did cry and with a film that has appeared on so many "disturbing" lists since it was made in 1936 I was n... read moreot expecting to be so moved. The basis of the story revolves around a freak show, with genuinely deformed people replacing actors with special effects make up, which is why it caused so much controversy. At the heart of Freaks is a love story between a midget named Hans and a trapeze artist named Cleopatra. I thought although they were not actors by trade the cast delivered wonderfully and a movie where a man rolls, lights and smokes a cigarette with no arms or legs, that also bares the tagline "Can a fully grown woman ever truly love a midget?" is a good movie in my opinion and is why I have the poster for this film on the wall in my kitchen.
  • creepfreak
    October 14, 2010
    creepfreak
    A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

    The shock ending alone is enough to rate this movie 5 stars. That was such a nightmarish climax. It'll stick w... read moreith me forever. The only thing that sucks about this film is that it's 1 hour and 5 minutes long. I didn't want this film to end. It's pure genius. Freaks is an emotional disturbing tale of loneliness, seclusion, ridicule, and sweet, sweet revenge. A rare breed of a horror film. Both touching and creepingly demented. A flawlessly brilliant classic in every sense of the term.

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  • cosmo313
    May 30, 2010
    cosmo313
    It's really pretty hard to categorize this one, as it has it all: shocks, scares, humor, sweetness, and an undeniable "message". As a cult classic, it is a landmark. As a film in general, it is also a landmark, chiefly because of Tod Browning's decision to cast real people with d... read moreeformities instead of using special effects and makeup. I really liked some of the lighting, framing, and camera work on display. They really added to the atmosphere of things. Not for all tastes. but definitely one to check out of you're in the mood for something odd.
  • hobster1
    November 3, 2009
    hobster1
    Landmark cult film about the relationship between a long legged trapeze artist named Cleopatra and Hans, the dwarf she marries. Uncategorizable film is creepy and disturbing, but also touching and sweet. What makes this film so unique is director Tod Browning's controversial st... read moreep in casting real people with deformities as the so-called sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. However it is these performers that come off as trusting and honorable, while two of the "normal" members of the circus are portrayed as the real monsters. Although certainly one of the most unusual films ever produced by a major Hollywood studio, the message of sympathy and acceptance is admirable. The well publicized revulsion with which audiences originally greeted this film seems unjustified. A fascinating movie that remains a curious oddity.
  • fernandorafael
    November 1, 2009
    fernandorafael
    Touching, effective and ocasionally creepy, FREAKS's controversy and banning can be understood. The film poses a harsh critique to the human condition and our treatment of disabled people. Ahead of its time, powerful and entertaining. The scene with the titular "freaks" in the ra... read morein is chilling.
  • SirPant
    September 16, 2009
    SirPant
    An excellent film! There is no other film like it and I doubt there ever will be again. You and I are the freaks, the guy with no arms or legs is the normal one is the message but at the end of the day we are all capable of wrong doing (Adultery, punching a half man half woman in... read more the face, revenge, etc). I absolutely love the ending but am confused about the woman turning into a big chicken. A great film!

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

Freaks is sumptuously produced, admirably directed, and no cost was spared. But Metro failed to realize that even with a different sort of offering the story still is important. Full Review

October 7, 2008
TIME Magazine

Director Tod Browning, one of the few truly individual directors in the U. S., is a specialist in horror. Full Review

Dave Kehr
September 24, 2007
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

If the heart of the horror movie is the annihilating Other, the Other has never appeared with more vividness, teasing sympathy, and terror than in this 1932 film by Tod Browning. Full Review

August 8, 2006
New York Times

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer definitely has on its hands a picture that is out of the ordinary. Full Review

Cole Smithey
December 9, 2011
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

[VIDEO] In spite of the tremendous success he enjoyed with "Dracula" in 1931, Tod Browning's directorial career was effectively ruined after he made "Freaks" the following year. Full Review

October 20, 2010
Total Film

Firmly out of its tree from start to finish, the campy performances and bonkers dialogue make for plenty of cherishably deranged moments. Full Review

Philip French
September 24, 2007
Philip French, Observer [UK]

To the horror movie, a genre he helped create, he brought a taste for Victorian melodrama and an understanding, which he must have gained in the circus, for the isolated lives of weird and deformed ou... Full Review

September 24, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Freaks is one of Browning's more consistently fine films, a landmark still worth seeing. Full Review

September 24, 2007
Film4

A masterpiece. Full Review

Steve Crum
December 23, 2006
Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers

Absolutely spine chilling Tod Browning classic horror film. "We will make you one of us." Yike!

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