Synopsis
A thinking man's stupid comedy.
A vain actor, his best friend, and an activist end up at a mutant freak farm run by a weirdo scientist.
1993 Directed by Alex Winter, Tom Stern
A vain actor, his best friend, and an activist end up at a mutant freak farm run by a weirdo scientist.
Michael Hilkene Gary Gegan Kevin Hearst Matthew Iadarola Jeff Rosen Tim Philben John O. Wilde Brion Paccassi Kelly Tartan Wolf Schmidt
Hideous Mutant Freekz, Freak Show
Like the cinematic equivalent of the Butthole Surfers signing to Capitol or Something Weird Video winding up on the USA Network, a true freaks-running-the-asylum moment of desperation from a major studio wanting to cash in on a youth movement that it didn’t understand. I know the temptation is to compare this to Browning’s Freaks, but it feels so much closer in spirit to Dave Friedman’s love-letter to the carny life, She-Freak. If that film was a girlie show disguised as the kiddie matinee, then this is the entire midway, all smashed and smeared together like David Daniels' incredible stratacut title sequence. This, along with films like Serial Mom and Basket Case 2, feels so informed by Something Weird, Sinister Cinema,…
Oozing slime and gushing '90s vibes, rapid fire jokes and non-stop laughs, incredible make-up, puppetry, and creature designs; including work by Screaming Mad George. Co-directed and co-wrote by Alex Winter, (Bill S. Preston of Bill & Ted) Winter also stars as the protagonist and is reunited with Keanu Reeves, who plays Ortiz the Dog Boy. There's several other memorable characters, as well, such as: Cowboy, Worm, Sockhead, Nosey, and the freak show proprietor Elijah C. Skuggs.
Starting with a title track wailed by Henry Rollins that sets the bizarre and manic tone for what's to come and triggers joy and nostalgia, this is an amusement ride featuring hideous mutant freaks, really big shoes, psychedelic claymation, projectile vomit, and giant rastafari eyeballs;…
Keanu Reeves is such an amazing actor that he played a dog in this movie just to prepare to lose one in John Wick 21 years later.
stern and winter bring some of that smart dumbguy comic absurdity of bill & ted (including an incredible uncredited performance by keanu!) to an endearingly vulgar, moronic and punk rock update on freaks for the 90s weirdo youth. it’s so evident in the consistently inventive, anarchic visual style (that’s an overdosed merging of mad magazine, monty python, mtv and the marx/zucker brothers) that it was made by a bunch of friends throwing every stupid, ambitious gag they had at the wall and not only does it stick way more than it should they got corporate money to do it. it’s insane. kids getting sucked out of airplanes, giant uzi-wielding eyeball guards, what exactly did fox execs think they were getting here beyond…
“….Styrofoam CUP?”
I adore every oozing insane moment of this movie. Sure some of the jokes are 90’s dated but it’s one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, like TOP SECRET crashed into EVIL DEAD 2 and a Butthole Surfers/GWAR video shoot. Some of the best practical effects in cinema, one of the craziest casts ever assembled and possibly Randy Quaid’s best role (until his real life took over).
How this was made as a Fox theatrical film (at first, then got dumped to video) is beyond me.
Really hope that proposed special edition happens someday soon.
Ricky Coogan forever.
My attitude towards this movie is too caught up in a specific feeling of nostalgia to give it an "adult" analysis. My little sister and I taped it off of cable (I was probably 13, her 7), and it became our favorite movie. We watched it over and over, memorizing every gag and every line. Just a few hours ago, I told her that I was watching it in a theater with Alex Winter in person, and she confessed to me that once she tried to type out the entire movie from memory on our old Tandy 2000 computer.
The movie itself is the product of the same "alternative" culture zeitgeist corporate buying spree that landed The Boredoms and The…
Yup, that sure is the cinematic follow-up to a single-season sketch comedy show! 110% committed to it's relentlessly stupid intentional version of what Nothing but Trouble achieved on accident. A lot of this misses for me, but it's always working extra-hard to take advantage of their million-to-one shot at making a movie like this at a major studio. Good for them! This is a lot of fun! Seeing this at a sold out movie palace w/ the cast and crew in attendance for a night of shenanigans like holographic Henry Rollins, novelty styrofoam cups and live guitar from Paul Leary was almost certainly the best possible way to see this wacky thing. Randy Quaid MVP.
ENCOURAGED BY Fred
So what will you know? Alex Winter co-wrote/co-directed a bizarre crossover of Freaks and Society. And its as bonkers and insane as you would expect.
Just like I said on my review for The Legend of Billie Jean on how that was the most 80s movie my eyes have ever witnessed, this one probably takes a major part of the cake for the wildest 90s film out there. Like Jesus H. Christ! That opening credits alone screams 90s like if its life depended on it; while it also captures most of the frantic and weird nature of the film, which at times becomes very self-referential and meta (the Brooke Shields comment for the sequel of Blue Lagoon…
"I like your spirit." - Dick Brian,
Stuey Gluck is a freaking hero. Alex Zuckerman deserved an oscar nom for that role.
Offensive and gross in a way that is satisfying when you are down for a film that is offensive and gross. I wish that Alex Winter got more acting work because he so great in comedy stuff. All the practical effects are fun to look at and the film is filled with moments that are weird comedic gold. Not all of the humor worked for me and the film's pacing feels off a little at times but I still had a really great time.
Yes.