Year: 2009
Reviews / Author Comments due: 22/12/2012
Reason for Inclusion: Violance, Misogyny, rape, unsimulated sex... and passed uncut by the BBFC.
BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 2009
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Freaks - Lisa's Review
*** SPOILERS ***
Here we are on the first week of our 'Beyond Nasty' launch. Fresh from the accomplishment of completing the 72 'Nasties' List, we're pushing on to other movies in a similar vein.
This weeks offering is 'Freaks'. I knew nothing of this movie when I started to watch it, so was surprised that it was made in 1932!! That probably makes it the oldest movie I've ever seen. From a bit of background reading I find out it was made with actual real-life circus performers who had deformations or where seen as 'freaks' at the time. It was commonplace to use makeup and costumes to achieve this look, so the use of real people caused a bit of a furore at the time, consequently leading to its banning for 30 years. I don't see the problem. Surely if you want to see these people as equal to us (which they are), then they should be able to make a bit of money from the situation, rather than a role go to a much less suited actor? Anyways...
I loved the style of this movie. It was indeed very odd, but captivating at the same time. I found the story pulled me right in and kept me transfixed all the way through. It didn't feel like I was watching out of any sort of morbid curiosity, but because the characters were real, the story interesting and I simply wanted to see how it all panned out. Another aspect I loved was the musical score in the movie. It reminded me of really old cartoons.
Our storyline here focuses around Hans, a midget from the circus the movie is set around. He is engaged to an absolutely adorable woman (also a midget) called Frieda. We learn that Hans seems to have a bit of a crush on a normal sized trapeze artist Cleopatra (a nasty cow). For some unknown reason he wants to be with Cleopatra and leaves Frieda for her. Baaaaaaad move for every reason possible. Why you would want to leave a woman like Frieda is anyones guess. Frieda, even after losing her Hans, begs Cleopatra to leave him alone and accidentally lets slip about an inheritance he is coming into. This plants an idea in Cleopatras head and she marries him planning to poison him, pocket his money and live happilly ever after with her boyfriend Hercules, the circus strongman.
The Wedding reception is definately the oddest you would have ever seen. Cleopatra gets rather inebriated and is rude and obnoxious to all the other performers. She openly snogs her boyfriend Hercules at her wedding reception and mocks Hans for getting jealous. The guests however seem to accept her and chant 'One of us, One of us' in a rather menacing way.. along with some gobble gobbling???
What follows is the discovery that Cleopatra is slowly poisoning her husband. She does it for the first time at the reception and proceeds to continue administering poison as she supposedly cares for him and gives him medicine. However another circus performer overhears Cleopatra and Hercules discussing the plot and tells Hans and all the other freaks. They plan revenge! The film culminates in the freaks attacking them, this isn't shown in any real graphic nature, but still manages to be frightening and ominous. I loved the scene of all the 'freaks' closing in one Hercules. Fantastic stuff!
We end the movie going back to a scene that was briefly shown at the start where a circus master is showing a group of punters into a pen where a previously beautiful trapeze artist has been horribly disfigured. We finally get a peek into the pen and see Cleopatra squalking like a bird. She seems to be without legs and has feathers all over her torso. Her face is also disfigured.
The movie ends sadly with Hans in his newly aquired mansion. Frieda comes to see him with 2 of her friends from the circus. He is angry at them for coming to see him and he is still grieving for his situation with Cleopatra. After everything that's happened, the movie ends with Frieda holding Hans as he cries. He doesn't deserve that woman!
I enjoyed this movie. It was poignant, odd, quirky, interesting, moving and different to anything I have ever watched before. I would definately recommend it.
Thumbs up from me.
Freaks - Will's Review
Sadly, the directors cut of Freaks no longer exists; 30 mins or so were cut after a disastrous test screaming... One woman even threatens to sue MGM claiming that the movie caused her to miscarry!
Whether that's why the version that exists today seems a little oddly passed in the middle is hard to say; many films from that era seem to be missing a middle segment (how did they get King Kong back to New York anyway?) so the jump from flirtation to wedding may possibly have always existed.
What we do know that we are missing is an extended 'revenge' sequence, which originally included a castration!
In any case, Freaks, in it 63 min version was STILL banned in the UK for 30 years!
The most striking thing about the movie, is where it's sympathies lay: dislike it's sensationalist title and tag line ("Can a full sized woman ever truly love a MIDGET?") from the opening crawl the film sides firmly with the eponymous sideshow workers.
***Spoilers for an 80 year old movie follow***
The moment when the freaks descend upon Cleopatra remains suspenseful to this day, and it's easy to see why it would have disturbed an audience back when movies were still so young (this was one of the very early 'talkies' remember).
The revenge of turning a woman into a chicken-beast feels slightly at odds with the rest of the movie to me, implying some supernatural ability on the part of the carnies.
Brownings direction is superb, possibly his best (it's a shame then, that this movie all but ended his carrier), the cinematography is superb (although there was no such thing as a DP back then, so browning gets the credit for that too).
The only real problem is the sound; but again, sound design wasn't a thing in 1931 either, so the sound problem is just one if those things that you have to put up with when you watch movies as older than your grandparents.
An excellent and quirky little film, that deserves a watch.
Whether that's why the version that exists today seems a little oddly passed in the middle is hard to say; many films from that era seem to be missing a middle segment (how did they get King Kong back to New York anyway?) so the jump from flirtation to wedding may possibly have always existed.
What we do know that we are missing is an extended 'revenge' sequence, which originally included a castration!
In any case, Freaks, in it 63 min version was STILL banned in the UK for 30 years!
The most striking thing about the movie, is where it's sympathies lay: dislike it's sensationalist title and tag line ("Can a full sized woman ever truly love a MIDGET?") from the opening crawl the film sides firmly with the eponymous sideshow workers.
***Spoilers for an 80 year old movie follow***
The moment when the freaks descend upon Cleopatra remains suspenseful to this day, and it's easy to see why it would have disturbed an audience back when movies were still so young (this was one of the very early 'talkies' remember).
The revenge of turning a woman into a chicken-beast feels slightly at odds with the rest of the movie to me, implying some supernatural ability on the part of the carnies.
Brownings direction is superb, possibly his best (it's a shame then, that this movie all but ended his carrier), the cinematography is superb (although there was no such thing as a DP back then, so browning gets the credit for that too).
The only real problem is the sound; but again, sound design wasn't a thing in 1931 either, so the sound problem is just one if those things that you have to put up with when you watch movies as older than your grandparents.
An excellent and quirky little film, that deserves a watch.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
WEEK 82: Freaks
Alternate Titles : Forbidden Love, Natures Mistakes, Tod Browning's Freaks
Year: 1932
Reviews / Author Comments due: 15/12/2012
Reason for Inclusion: Banned for over 30 years.
BBFC Status: Most recently, passed uncut rated 12 in 2001.
DVD: LINK
Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.
Zombie Flesh Eaters - Lisa's Review
*** SPOILERS ***
So the last on our Nasties List. Taaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Another Fulci offering. I've enjoyed his other offerings on the list and this is one of the hubbys favourite zombie movies, so I looked forward to watching this one. He even sat through one with me for a change!!
So the last on our Nasties List. Taaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Another Fulci offering. I've enjoyed his other offerings on the list and this is one of the hubbys favourite zombie movies, so I looked forward to watching this one. He even sat through one with me for a change!!
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Zombie Flesh Eaters - Will's Review
What to say about our last movie?
Well, its a Fulci, with all that entails; multiple plot threads, hyper-realism, gore and an eyeball getting graphically damaged.
It also contains what is probably Fulci's most famous scene - the underwater fight between a shark (2 sharks actually, but probably both 'played' by the same shark) and a Zombie!
Well, its a Fulci, with all that entails; multiple plot threads, hyper-realism, gore and an eyeball getting graphically damaged.
It also contains what is probably Fulci's most famous scene - the underwater fight between a shark (2 sharks actually, but probably both 'played' by the same shark) and a Zombie!
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Week 81: Zombie Flesh Eaters
Alternate Titles : Zombie, Zombie 2: The Dead are Among Us, Zombi, Zombi 2, Island of the Living Dead
Year: 1979
Reviews / Author Comments due: 08/12/2012
DPP Status: Successfully prosecuted
BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 2005
IMDB: LINK
Wikipedia: LINK
DVD: LINK
Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)