QuickTopic (SM) free message boards QuickTopic (SM) free message boards
Skip to Messages
  Sign In to access your topic list  |New Topic |My Topics|Profile
Upgrade to Pro   Customize, show pictures, add an intro, and more:   QuickTopic Pro...and check out QuickThreadSM
Topic: Recommend a movie.
Views: 2045, Unique: 1482 
Subscribers: 1
What's
this?
Printer-Friendly Page
Subscribe to get & post, or stop messages by email Subscribe
All messages    << 58-59  57-57 of 59  41-56 >>
About these ads
Who | When
Messagessort recent-top   
Post a new message
 
Scott  57
08-01-2003 03:56 PM ET (US)
"Freaks" by Tod Browning (1932). Here's a link to reviews of the movie on MRQE.com.

Here's an excerpt from one of those reviews:

Director Tod Browning, who'd scored a huge hit with the original "Dracula" in 1930, promised MGM the ultimate scary movie.

But the resulting picture surprised everyone: "I asked for something horrifying," said the studio's shocked head of production, "and I got it."

After trouble with the censors and a brief cinema run during which audiences reacted with unparalleled disgust, the picture was dropped and vanished into obscurity until it was revived in the 60s.

It's easy to see why reactions to the film have been so strong - it's a catalogue of the abnormal, the bizarre, and the grotesque that's still as unsettling today as it was 70 years ago.

Using real "freaks", including Johnny Eck (aka "The Half Boy"), various pinheads, some Siamese twins, and one unfortunate with no arms or legs (who's known simply as "Caterpillar Man" or "The Living Torso"), Browning's story packs quite a punch.

Greedy trapeze artist Cleopatra (Baclanova) seduces midget Hans (Earles) for his money, poisoning him with the help of her strongman lover (Victor). But when the freaks realize what she's up to, they take their revenge on this "Big Woman", chasing her through the forest with switchblades, and turning her into "one of us" once and for all.

Disturbing, grotesque, and quite unique, "Freaks" is a masterpiece of shock cinema.

As nothing here is faked or dreamt up by some special effects department, Browning forces us to reassess our assumptions of the normal and abnormal.

It's a cinematic slap in the face that'll leave you reeling with shock, surprise and maybe even delight. They certainly don't make them like this anymore.


Scott
RSS link What's this?
All messages    << 58-59  57-57 of 59  41-56 >>
QuickTopicSM message boards
Over 200,000 topics served
Learn more Frequently asked questions  Acknowledgements
What they're saying about QuickTopic
 Questions, comments, or suggestions? Contact Us
Read our use policy before beginning. We value your privacy; please read our privacy statement.
Copyright ©1999-2008 Internicity Inc. All rights reserved.