Customer Reviews

Freak

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Although, I did a thorough search for a dvd by john leguizamo called "The Freak", Amazons search engine lead me to this page. It even offered a commbined purchase with margaret cho/ another great stand up comic. HOWEVER. this is NOT Leguizamos Freak. So put a sigh aside and keep searching, it's bound to turn up somewhere in the near future, either in a clearance bin or on an overpriced cult list, along with "Spic-O-Rama". In any case. it's not here. John should really consider distributing these two stand up shows. Both shows are currently owned by HBO, sitting on a shelf collecting somebodies dust bunnies.

(DVD REVIEW): Also set in rural America and just as largely "quiet" as SIGNS (despite the in-your-face packaging), FREAK is an indie winner that I'm sorry slipped under my radar until now. Clearly and admittedly influenced by HALLOWEEN yet possessed of its own subtle style (and shot on genuine and thus far more persuasive Midwest locations), this is the kind of modest but accomplished first feature that makes me anxious to see what writer/director Tyler Tharpe comes up with next. Shot on 16mm, the movie has been given a solid full screen transfer by E.I., with frequent but never distracting grain and naturalistic colors. A brief behind the scenes feature manages to pack in plenty of nifty details, from an uncredited Tharpe himself playing the killer, to an asylum door portal that was actually cut out of a cardboard box. This segment is a good complement to the commentary by Tharpe and several of his crew, which contains nothing too suprising or revelatory, but still contains enough intersesting stories to be a worthwhile listen.

FREAK is a low-low budget film about two sisters on a trip / move to Virginia from Indiana. Along the way, the two bond and enjoy the rural landscape. Meanwhile, a murderous maniac escapes his transport van, kills a man and wife, and steals their pickup truck. Fate and destiny intervene to bring the sisters and FREAK together for a creepy climax. I really liked this movie. It's a throwback / tribute to early 70s horror (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, HALLOWEEN, etc.). While simple and fairly non-gory (except for the horrific prologue), FREAK manages to maintain an atmosphere of dread throughout its running time. I get the same feeling from this film that I get from MALEVOLENCE. As for the bonus feature, HEADCHEESE, I enjoyed the first half or so. The rest had its moments, but I found it taxing to watch...

Tyler Tharpe's 1999 indie effort Freak resides in that cinematic limbo plane of horror I like to call Not Great but Not Too Bad Either. The storyline isn't all that original, the acting is average, and the "scary" scenes are few in number, yet the movie does possess a certain atmosphere that makes it effective in a B-movie sort of way. I think the moral of this story is: if you are going to have a dog-faced child and keep him locked up all the time inside the house, it would be in your best interest not to scream at and threaten him all the time. Mavis Keller, whose last act on earth involves tossing out a newborn baby (I don't even want to think about how this wholly unattractive woman got pregnant again) learns this lesson the hard way, as we see in the film's prologue set seven years in the past. In the here and now, the Keller boy sits in a mental institution, his head permanently wrapped and hidden by his own demands. The folks in charge have obviously never seen a horror movie before; they are blissfully unaware of the fact that every time you transfer a mentally deranged person for apparently no reason, especially a patient deemed to pose "no danger whatsoever," somebody always ends up dead. An orderly and well-known slacker named Jason (Travis Patton) gets the job of driving Keller to his new home. I suppose I don't even need to tell you that the freak escapes. While all of this is going on, a pair of sisters is traveling from Ohio to Virginia to begin a new life after the death of their parents. The younger sister is - surprise - adopted and - surprise again - about seven years old, and Staci spends much of the trip attempting to bond with this youngster who doesn't want to move in the first place. Naturally, all of these wacky characters get together in the end to take part in Keller's surprise homecoming. Fortunately, the conclusion is a little bit surprising; unfortunately, what makes it so surprising is its total lack of any surprise whatsoever. Plot elements that I took mental note of early on, thinking they were surely important, are pretty much overlooked and forgotten, and that is probably the biggest weakness of this film.

Don't expect any blood and gore; there is little killing to be found in this film, and most of what does take place happens off-camera. There are a couple of nice moments set in the dark and brooding house during the climactic crescendo of the movie, our hero and her sister aren't bad screamers, and the Freak (played by the film's director Tyler Tharpe) does have a presence of insane malevolence about him. This isn't a movie I would urge B horror movie lovers to rush out and watch, but it's worth taking a look at if you happen to come across it somewhere.

Eschewing the familiar clichés of the usual psycho-on-the-loose fare, FREAK is an intelligent attempt at revitalising the horror genre. The characters are especially well developed and credit goes to director Tyler Tharpe for eliciting excellent performances from both Paliganoff and Patton who bring emotional depth to their roles, revealing subtle clues from their past that enable us to understand why they do the things they do. The story is a little contrived in places; I find it hard to believe that all the characters cross paths at the times they do; or that a woman petrified of ferrets can find the courage to confront a masked lunatic, but hey, synchronicity does occur in real life, and I guess it's not my own step-sister... The cinematography is great and accompanied by a low-key soundtrack provided by John C. Hermes that effectively conveys the rural menace of the Midwest states, with their lonely farmsteads, barren winters, willowy woodland and beaten dirt tracks that lie miles from the major towns. This combination help build a steady, but suspenseful horror yarn without relying on gratuitous gore for a pay-off.

Recently released on DVD by Shock-O-Rama, this fine effort bodes well for the director's follow-up feature FLICK 2, which is in production now.

After years of seeing rip-off after rip-off, Freak takes the typical Halloween/Friday the 13th storyline and somehow manages to make it original and entertaining.

Freak is the story of a young, deformed boy who lives with his not-quite-right-in-the-noggin mother out in the middle of nowhere. The boy wears a cloth mask over his head to hide his deformity. After a series of weird and disturbing events, we see the boy murder his mother. Flash forward nine years: the boy is now in a mental hospital. After no success with rehabilitation, his doctor decides to send him to another hospital. Jason, a patient transporter (or something), is chosen to drive the now-grown "freak" to his new "home." Needless to say, the masked man escapes the Econoline van en route and havoc ensues.

What sets this movie apart mainly is the small amount of characters in the story. We have the aforementioned Jason, Mr. Freak of course, and our only two other main characters are Stacy and Jodi.

These two girls have a little drama of their own going on as our film starts. Stacy's parents adopted young Jodi (played very well by little Andrea Johnson) and then tragically died, leaving Stacy to care for Jodi, her newfound sis. Stacy decides to sell her parents' house and move to Virginia. Jodi is not happy about this decision, but goes along with it because obviously she has no choice in the matter. Along the way cross-country, guess who cross paths? Shortly after Jason realizes his passenger is missing, Stacy and Jodi's old, orange VW Bug chugs into the same town.

Soon something bad happens (I won't spoil it for you) and the movie twists and turns (well, maybe just twists), finally ending up, to quote the DVD case "at the freak's abandoned childhood home for the final confrontation...and he has enough gruesome memories to fuel his insane bloodlust." Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but I could think of worse ways to waste an hour and a half.

Like I said before, this movie feels fresh and original, but it's not perfect. There are a *few* too many similarities to the basic plotline of the first two Halloween movies. Aside from that, gorehounds will be disappointed as there are only a small handful of killings and there is nothing too nasty to feast your eyes on, if that's what you are looking for. Also, there are a couple plotholes where they seem to be setting the viewer up for a few MAJOR revelations, but then they never reveal them. Oh well. There's always Freak 2: Cruise Control to look forward to.

As for the DVD presentation, it's just fine. The film is presented full-screen, which I think is safe to assume as the proper aspect ratio. Extras include audio commentary by the director, Tyler Tharpe, behind-the-scenes hijinks, and a blooper reel.

The MAJOR extra on this DVD, however is the short film "Headcheese", which was filmed by Justin Meeks and Duane Graves in many of the same locations as the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this film as it is a bit too mysterious for my tastes. After a lengthy, and somewhat promising prologue (which makes up about a third of the films scant 20-minute running time), Headcheese just gets weirder and less entertaining as it goes on. It's about a guy who is alone out in the middle of nowhere and is trying to rid himself of his inner demons. That's about all there is. The directors' audio commentary sheds *some* light on just what the heck is going on on-screen, but a film shouldn't need the director to sit there explaining everything to you as the film progresses. I commend the duo for trying, but to me, it just didn't work.

Everything else aside, the DVD is worth purchasing for "Freak" itself if oddly original slasher flicks are what you crave. As for "Headcheese," if you get the DVD it's worth at least watching once (it does have some commendable gore effects).

Every so often one catches a relatively unexposed underground short that reeks of talent. Sharing the DVD with "Freak" is HEADCHEESE, directed by Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, and it is quite astounding. Filmed on both 8-mm and 16-mm black and white film stock, this 22 minute observation of a schizophrenic serial killer, wandering desolate Texas backwoods and farmland, combines the visual excess of underground classics such as Richard Kern's SUBMIT TO ME (1985) and FINGERED (1986) and thematically resembles Nico B and Rozz Williams' PIG (1988) another movie exploring the tortured mind of a serial killer and his spiritual quest for truth.

We are introduced to side-burn sporting nomad, Legion (Justin Meeks), who wanders into a garage to buy some beers, and shades (that grant him an uncanny resemblance to Elvis just before he went on to find peace in the valley) before setting out on head trip that sees him kill an unsuspecting driver who picks him up, and traverse the barren fields, accompanied by grim voice-overs that have our psycho plead forgiveness for his crimes and launch into a series of surreal masochistic tortures (imagined and enacted) involving bondage with chains, impalement, and disfigurement via assorted objects found on the way.

The violence is conducted ritualistically and at times resembles a bizarre mix of tortures as visited upon Christ in the Chapters according to St. Luke (an excerpt of which opens the film), Satanic worship, and Elvis stage act (the scene where Legion drapes an animal skull round his shoulders and starts a bout of karate poses atop a burned out car, parodies the Memphis legend wonderfully) and is beautifully staged against the foreboding Austin lots that featured prominently in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

It comes then as no great surprise that Graves and Meeks were students on TCM writer Kim Henkel's screenwriting and film production courses, and that Henkel is the producer. In the liner notes accompanying this Shock-O-Rama DVD Henkel praises the directors talents; "those boys are going places". I couldn't agree more, and all fans of cutting edge cinema should rush out and get hold of this excellent double feature presentation pronto!

stupid me for reading the covers. should have known that being released by shock-o-rama that this movie would be a complete piece of junk. terrible movie about a guy escaping from a van thats escorting him to another mental institution. the guy is all bandaged up but they never even show his face like they do on the cover, go figure! anyways the guy kills like one or two people, not even good deaths, in fact i don't think they really show him killing anybody if i remember right. no thrills, chills, or scares to be had. just a waste of time! the people that gave this movie good reviews had to have helped make the film, sorry but theres no other explanation, just terrible.

The movie "The Mighty" is about a 7th grade boy, Max Kane, who has been left back twice. He's very large and gets made fun of. They say that he has no brain. Max believed that he had no brain until Freak came along. Max lives with his grandma and grandpa because his mother is dead and his father is in jail for killing her. One day Freak moves in next door. Freak is smart, imaginative and outgoing. However he has a severe disability walking. Max meets Freak when Freak is assigned to be Max's tutor. Freak pays Max $5.00 to take him to see the fireworks. At the fireworks Max picks up Freak to see the fireworks. Max becomes Freak's legs. They called them selves "Freak the Mighty" and they go to lots of adventures. Max becomes very brave.

There are many similarities between the book and the movie. In both the book and the movie Freak taught Max everything. Through their friendship Freak became Max's brain. Another example is Max's dad was in jail for killing Max's mother. Max now had to live with Gram and Grim. Also, Max has a learning disability (L.D). Max is unable to read and got left back twice. Lastly, Freak makes up a story and tells Max that he will get a new, healthy body.

There are many differences between the book and the movie. In the book, the story takes place during the summer and in the movie it was during the school year. Another difference is in the book Max was the bully and in the movie he was the one getting bullied. The next difference was in the book Max didn't have a tutor but in the movie Freak was his reading tutor. Lastly, in the movie Max's doesn't stick up for himself. He is very quiet and does not want to cause any trouble. He even takes the blame for knocking down Kevin or Freak. In the book, Max is tough. He is even called Kicker.

I give this movie 5 stars. I think it deserves 5 stars because it tells a story of helping each other. Freak helps Max and Max helps Freak. The story is very sad because it tells about disabled people getting bullied at school.

These two films are the most god awful peices of trash you will ever see in your entire life. There is not a single moment in either Freak or Head Cheese that even comes close to being entertaining. Freak is about a Mental patient that escapes from a "maximuim security" insane asylum(that looks More like the director's House)and goes on a killing spree where he kills two people(they don't show the murders either). The Freak is then killed Rather anticlimaticlly by a axe blow to the head. Headcheese is some lame art students excuse for filming himself drinking and smoking and playing with skulls. Don't get me Wrong i am a fan of grade C Horror films like Skinned Alive and Zombie Doom but Freak and Headcheese are not violent movies. I feel that shock-o-rama Should be Ashamed for releasing these films because in the past i have always been pleased with their work but they dropped the ball this time. In closing if you see this dvd on the street and you would have to bend over to pick it up, don't it is not worth it.