Freaked

Freaked is probably the funniest movie of the grunge generation. It combines an excellent story line of corporate greed, a mad scientist/freak sideshow manager, and a bunch of people who become the guinea pigs in the new developments of freakhood. This, mixed with some very excellent animation reminiscint of the old Bubble Tape commercials ("six feet of bubble tape for you, not them") or Peter Gabreil's "Big Time" video. It is non-stop humor from beginning to end. Pretty boy teen star is going to be the spokesman for some kind of toxic fertilizer in San Flan (a toast to the Saints of Dairy Desserts). There, he gets sidetracked by a blonde protestor who encourages him and his traveling buddy to go visit a freak show. And they're, they meet the crazy Eli Skuggs, who transforms them into freaks. They team up with a bunch of other freaks to try and escape. It's got excellent stupid-humor. (I particularly like when Brooke Shields asks Winter what he watched on the plane and he says, "Return to the Blue Lagoon" and she says how was it--keep in mind that she was in the original--and he says "oh, it sucked!"). Everyone is terrific. And it even has a hot soundtrack with contributions from my all-time favorite, The Butthole Surfers. You won't be disappointed with this off-the-wall comedy. I garuntee!

I was part of a test audience for this movie. I thought that the version that they showed us was MUCH better than what was actually released. Unfortunately, they must've changed it based on the comments of the oh-so-intellectual psychology grad students sitting in front of us. I rolled my eyes as they talked about the immaturity of the film and sight gags. Hello? If the movie is titled "Freaked" (or at the time "Hideous Mutant Freaks"), it's not going to be a historical drama. Gimme a break, this movie was full of funky good/bad jokes which had me howling! It's really too bad that this movie wasn't released a few years later, given the success of Dumb & Dumber, et cetera. It is good for what it is, a movie for people with warped senses of humor.

I have never laughed so hard at another movie. Alex Winter is just brilliant as an overly cocky star who is about to get freaked by an evil scientist (Randy Quaid). The story and jokes are just outlanidsh (in a good way)from the start and they never let up. Throw in Mr. T, Bobcat Goldwaithe, William Sadler, Brook Shields, etc., and you have a crazy assortment of talent firing at their comedic best. Not sure how this missed out on mainstream success, but it is destined to be a cult classic. I defy anybody to watch this whole movie with a straight face. If you can, you must be coming back back from a funeral.

I can't give this movie a high enough rating! I was a fan of Alex and Tom when they did the show "The Idiot Box" on MTV (one of the few who saw this), and this movie was just a natural extension of that show. If you have never seen this and have a twisted sense of humor like I do, you will love this movie. I won't rehash the plot, but I think that for me, every joke works and this is one of my all-time favorite cult movies. Randy Quaid is brilliant as Elijah C. Skuggs, the redneck proprietor of Freekland. And Alex Winter turns in a great performance in his last starring role. Thankfully "Freaked" is going to be released on DVD on July 12th. Thank you Anchor Bay! So, if you haven't been able to find this movie or catch it on cable, you will have your chance soon enough and I highly recommend it. Oh yeah, how many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb? TWO: One to screw it in and one to ride my RODNEY!