'Freaks' is the 1932 controversial Pre-code horror film directed and produced by Tod Browning, who successfully directed 'Dracula'.
"A
circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra, takes an interest in Hans, a midget who works
in the circus sideshow. Her interest however is in the money Hans will be
inheriting and she is actually carrying on an affair with another circus
performer, Hercules. Hans's fiancée does her best to convince him that he is
being used but to no avail. At their wedding party, a drunken Cleopatra tells
the sideshow freaks just what she thinks of them. Together, the freaks decide
to make her one of their own."
Upon research it has been said that the original version of this film was too shocking and controversial to be released. Some parts of the film are thought apparently 'lost', though it hasn't been definitively proven. Even so, the film was still negatively reviewed and made a loss of $164,000 (approxiamately £106,168.33). As the film was thought to be overly exploitative it had been banned in the UK for 30 years.
The film found its controversy not only to the topic this looks upon but to certain scenes. For example, the character 'Hercules' was shown in the original ending to be castrated. The other character 'Cleopatra' "becomes a grotesque,
squawking "human duck". The flesh of her hands has been melted and
deformed to look like duck feet, her legs have been cut off and what is left of
her torso has been permanently tarred and feathers."
- (description from wikipedia)
- (description from wikipedia)
At the time the film was released many reviews stated that the film did not appeal to anyone, ergo its failure as a movie. This being said, a person has to consider whether if the film would've had more success if it were a modern film. The topics in this film would have more of an impact to the asynchronous viewers than to the contemporary viewers as people with disabilities was not something of the norm in the era this film was made in.
