Underplayed Gems

Freaked (1993)

Freaked poster
Directed by
Tom Stern, Alex Winter
Genre
horror film, science fiction film, science fiction comedy
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 26m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.2 of 10 from 185 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A former child star takes a job promoting a toxic fertilizer and ends up at a sideshow run by a mad scientist. The scientist turns people into grotesque mutants for his freak show. The protagonist must find a way to escape before he gets mutated too.

surrealdarkly comiccampywhimsicalabsurdoutrageouszanylow-budget

What happens

Freaked is a 1993 American black comedy film directed by Tom Stern and Alex Winter, both of whom wrote the screenplay with Tim Burns. Winter also starred in the lead role. Both were involved in the short-lived MTV sketch comedy show The Idiot Box, and Freaked retains the same brand of surreal humour. Freaked was Winter's last feature film before he shifted to cameo and television films for two decades until 2013's Grand Piano. Originally conceived as a low-budget horror film featuring the band Butthole Surfers, Freaked went through a number of rewrites, eventually developing into a black comedy set within a sideshow, which was picked up by 20th Century Fox for a feature film. After several poor test screenings and a change in studio executives who then found the film too "weird", the film was pulled from a wide distribution (except for Australia and Japan) and only played on two screens in the United States. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, but it has since gained a cult following. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.