Freaked- Butt Ugly, But Funny!

Ever wonder what happened to Bill (confirm this) of Bill and Ted? Or what the guy who played all of the oompa loompas in Tim Burton’s Willy Wonka? What Mr. T would look like as a woman, or what the guy that plays Dr. Loveless in Wild Wild West looks like with legs? Hint: it’s like the Scary Movie franchise met the live action Scooby Doo movies met every nineties cartoon, mixed in with hilarious intellectual pizzazz. Freaked takes the scathing, incredibly clever humor of the early 90’s (a la The Heathers) and twists it into a surreal nightmare fun for anyone.

Freaked follows Ricky Coogan (Alex Winter), a heartthrob actor, while he decides to become the poster boy for a new pesticide. While assessing the damage the chemical is accused of causing in South American agricultural regions for himself, he finds a very different kind of farm. The kind that corrals mutants, monsters and—as promised—freaks. After being kidnapped, Ricky and his gang are disfigured by the very pesticide the actor was planning to promote. Forced to sing and dance for paying audiences, the freaks finally decide to ban together and escape the freak farm under Ricky’s leadership.

Freaked is constantly walking the line between strange and beautiful, masterfully tip toeing around the uncanny valley by embracing the surrealism of the situation. Conjoined people? No, too basic. Half-orc man? Even farther. A hand for a head, a literal cow boy, fire farts? That’s what I’m talking about. I’m honestly embarrassed that, with such a cast line up and on-point scripting, I wasn’t aware of this film until recently. It has everything you need in a cult classic: iconic character design and personality, a colorful back drop, and solid, memorable scripting. I’m still shook from the Hamlet scene (those who’ve seen it know exactly what I’m talking about).