11. BREAKING THE MOLD: More than make up, this one is when practical effects masters employ their crafting skills directly to making the whole damn movie.
Freaked
Really great art slips through the cracks every single day. Music, books, and movies better than anything you’ve ever known are constantly getting swept away in the crushing firehouse of cultural output before they have a chance to land in the welcoming arms of an adoring audience. Case in point: Freaked, the 1993 special effects masterpiece written and directed by Alex Winters and Tom Stern.
Combine the visual enchantment of Pee-wee's Playhouse with the gross-out factor of The Ren & Stimpy Show, and you have Freaked, a movie about a mad scientist who uses obscene experimental technology to turn kidnapped humans into deformed acts for his roadside attraction called Freek Land.
Look at this cast: Alex Winter, Michael Stoyanov, Randy Quaid, Megan Ward, William Sadler, Bobcat Goldthwait, Mr. T, Keanu Reeves, Brooke Shields, Derek McGrath, and Morgan Fairchild.
Look at this soundtrack: Butthole Surfers, Parliament Funkadelic, and Henry Rollins and Blind Idiot God.
This, my friend, is early-’90s ✨gold.✨And 20th Century Fox knew it, too—Winters later said in an interview that the studio was so stoked they agreed to dump $12 million into the movie before the script was even done!
And yet, after a leadership shakeup at the studio resulted in much of the film’s post-production funding and promotional budget getting slashed (at least according to Wikipedia), Freaked hardly saw any advertising, and landed with a thud. It reportedly made just $6,957 on opening weekend, relegated to cult status at best. And that is a goddamn shame because Freaked is fucking delightful.
It’s funnier than you’d expect, it’s smarter than it needs to be, and the makeup effects used to turn people into talking, human-sized cows, worms, dogs, and other creatures were done by big-timers including Tony Gardner, Bill Corso, and Steve Johnson with a multi-million dollar budget. It should’ve been huge! Alas. Don’t let the fact that the studio shit all over Freaked before it had a chance to thrive fool you into thinking it’s a flop. It’s not; Freaked is fantastic.
As far as I can tell, the film isn’t available for (legal) streaming, so you’ll have to buy the DVD or head to Scarecrow to rent it, and wouldn’t you know, at the time of this writing, they have multiple copies available in both DVD and Blu-Ray format.
Best quote: “Hey, I’m okay!”
Snack recommendation: Jelly Belly Bean Boozled jelly beans. I can’t explain why, it just makes sense.
The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀
