Freakshow

This is yet another David Michael Latt/Asylum production. This is a sort of remake of Tod Browning’s “Freaks” (1932). This is very low budget and it really shows in the lack of sets. Everything takes place on the same small circus set but that doesn’t really affect the story much. A group of outlaws plan on ripping off of traveling carnival. Then they decide to take it further by having the girl of the group try to seduce the owner so he gives up his secret money. Everything is not as it seems with him though. They soon find out how tight of a family the circus family is. There is not a lot in the way of story development and it seems a bit drawn out sometimes. I feel a bit more could have been added as well as some better dialogue. The use of some real circus sideshow “freaks” adds a nice touch. I loved the soundtrack which was all very old sounding records that seemed like something you might have heard at a carnival in the 20’s or 30’s. It really added a nice touch and gave a pretty eerie feeling to the slower parts of the movie.

As I stated before, the movie does move a bit slow in parts and what you know is coming seems to take a while to get there. With this said however I was not fully prepared for what happened in the last act. I was quite pleased (and a bit disturbed) by the last 10 minutes and it made the entire movie worthwhile in my opinion.

My rating 6 out of 10 (B-movie rating)

Review by Elvis Lawson