FREAKS (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

freaks (2019) movie

Genre           |   Science Fiction Thriller

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   105 minutes

Released         |   12 September 2019

cast

Emile Hirsch ... Dad
Bruce Dern ... Mr. Snowcone
Lexy Kolker ... Chloe
Amanda Crew ... Mary
​Grace Park ... Agent Ray

director

Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein

writer

Zach Lipovsky
Adam B. Stein

cinematographer

​Stirling Bancroft

music

​Tim Wynn

film editor

Sabrina Pitre

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​335,050

Australia                 $​​5,784

North America       $​276,591

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movie minutiae

​A promotional poster for the film features a street sign with a one eye logo and a phone number to call to report "abnormal activity". The number is 1-800-517-5890 and when called, a recorded message with a woman's voice would say, "Thank you for calling the abnormal defense hotline, provided by the Department of Homeland Security." The recorded message at first urged others to be on the lookout for "freaks" and it said that you can leave a message to report any abnormal activity from freaks. A few days later, the recorded message was changed to warn others to stay away from an upcoming San Diego Comic Con "free underground prescreening of Freaks" on July 18, 2019.

​The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.

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related movies

CHRONICLE (2012)

FREAKS (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

Images

Posters

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Posters

FREAKS (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Kept locked inside the house by her father, 7-year-old Chloe lives in fear and fascination of the outside world. It's a place where Abnormals are a constant threat -- or so she believes. But when a mysterious stranger offers her a glimpse of what's really happening, Chloe soon learns that the truth isn't so simple -- but the danger is very real.

FREAKS (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 9 September 2019

​​Pop Movee Rating

Every year, there’s a genre film that takes the audience by surprise, offering up something new or different, reminding cinemagoers that a good story with solid production value can trump even the biggest blockbusters… It would seem the unusually titled FREAKS is the 2019 version of the “genre surprise”.

From the minds of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, FREAKS is best described as a story about a little girl who desperately needs a Mother because left with just her Father, she will not get the balanced love and support she needs to mature along life’s journey…

Sounds a little melodramatic, but it’s not.

Lipovsky and Stein, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, don’t feel any pressure to lay their cards out on the table from the get-go. Instead, they take a more subtle approach, building both mystery and atmosphere. The film’s First Act is a slow-burn reveal. Characters appear and disappear with no rhyme or reason and the viewer is left to wonder what the hell is going on.

At times, it feels like Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole and isn’t coming back any time soon.

Those who have no knowledge about the story entering the cinema could not be blamed if they thought FREAKS was a version of the 2015 Brie Larson film ROOM jacked up on a cocktail of illicit pills...

Fanning the flames of weirdness is Emile Hirsch is “Dad”, an over zealous parent whose desire to control his seven year old daughter’s interaction with the outside world is bordering on psychotic. Desperate to make sure young Chloe (Lexy Kolker) has as little contact with humanity as possible, “Dad” has barricaded their home and made it almost impossible for his daughter to leave their domestic fortress.

Audiences could be mistaken for thinking that Hirsch is a slimmed down version of Jack Black with much-improved dramatic skills. He’s a character actor who’s been around a long time, starting out as an actor when he was just 11 (back in 1996) and, every now and again, he gets top billing in a movie like FREAKS because he has just enough name recognition to have a fan base who turn up to see whatever he’s appearing in at the time.

That’s said with no disrespect intended…

In FREAKS, Hirsch puts in a solid performance and he’s a big part of the reason why his on-screen daughter comes across as so convincing...

Relative newcomer Lexy Kolker performs well beyond expectations as Chloe. Kolker may be vaguely familiar to AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. fans, having done a six episode stint in the 2017-2018 season of that show. Her performance in FREAKS is akin to that of Dafne Keen, who played Laura alongside Hugh Jackman in LOGAN (2017). She’s a young girl with extraordinary gifts and not everyone has her best interests at heart...

“Dad” tells Chloe that she has to always be ready because people outside of their home are ready and waiting to kill both her and him.

Events begin to unravel when Chloe starts to have terrifying visions of a woman shackled in an upstairs room of their home…

Even more disturbing is Bruce Dern as Mr.Snowcone.

Dern’s character is a lingering presence throughout the first part of the film making the viewer uneasy about what his interest in young Chloe might be. 

In recent high profile roles, especially Quentin Tarantino’s THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) and ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD (2019), Dern seems to be a curmudgeon for hire. To an extent he plays a similar role in FREAKS, but there’s more to his character than first meets the eye and his surveillance of the young girl is motivated by the story’s greater purpose but his actions are highly questionable.

By the time viewers get acquainted with the three main characters, it pretty clear FREAKS is not your run-of-the-mill science fiction film. Lipovsky and Stein strike a really good balance between the strange events unfolding in the present and a breadcrumb trail of clues that hint at what has gone on beforehand that might provide some explanation about what is going on.

There are a number of really great independent films and TV shows that FREAKS borrows from…

The English science fiction series MISFITS comes to mind, along with the 2012 Josh Trank found footage superhero film CHRONICLE. There’s also parallels of tone and style with films such as COHERENCE (2013) and THE ENDLESS (2017).

All of these influences possess an air of the off-beat  and other-worldly, but they all make their characters the priority ahead of plot and action. FREAKS is no different.

Lipovsky and Stein’s screenplay continues to introduce new characters to help drive the story right the way through the film and, only in the last twenty minutes, do they revert to action-driven writing to bring their story to a close…

There is something of a sense about the film’s ending that feels like the pair wrote themselves into a corner, but their way out is not so horrible than it ruins the film.

The biggest problem with their screenplay is the Second Act. There’s just a bit too much padding and the back and forth “I hate you! No, I love you!” between “Dad” and Chloe is overdone.

The story ticks up a beat with the introduction of Grace Park, best known as “Boomer” on the reimagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series, playing government Agent Ray. Her character is trying to get to the bottom of who Chloe actually is and why she’s so important, but, like all characters of this type, her efforts are thwarted at every turn and she becomes increasingly desperate to “crack the case”.

There’s a lot to like about FREAKS.

It’s an intriguing story; especially the first half, which is an absolute stand-out. Audiences will think they’re watching one kind of film only to find they’re being treated to something else entirely.

The production value is really good. This is a small budget movie that feels like it has scale. Clever use of sets and location filming create a sense that the story is always on the move, but the reality is FREAKS is quite confined. If it were made for television it could almost qualify as a “Bottle Show”, where nothing but the show’s standing sets are used, as most of the film takes place in the house where “Dad” and Chloe live.

Along with Lipovsky and Stein, Cinematographer Stirling Bancroft also deserves a mention for his work on the film. Much of the film’s “strangeness” is achieved through unusual shots and lighting effects. His work is as much to do with the success of FREAKS as the film’s two most important creative contributors.

Much like its title, FREAKS is a deceptive film that plays a sleight of hand on the viewer, revealing itself as something bigger and better than first impressions might otherwise create.

FREAKS MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Freaks (2018 film) - Wikipedia
Freaks (2018) - IMDb
Freaks (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes
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