Freaks

Freaks is a mind-bending thriller that is subversive enough to be rebellious, and in this era of CGI superhero cinema, the revolution is welcomed.

The film shrewdly keeps us inside Chloe’s head, filtered through her very limited comprehension of her burgeoning and truly awesome abilities.

Although in the early going the convoluted plot sometimes struggles to maintain interest, Stein and Lipovsky have such a clear vision that they keep developments confidently on track until subsequent revelations engage in full-throttle action mode, leading to a climax suggesting they likely have future plans for these characters.

Appealing, partly because it’s so unembarrassed by its genre's done-to-death social-injustice themes, this undercooked blend of science fiction and family drama virtually dares you to turn up your nose.

The only problem is that it’s easier to be impressed by the ingenuity of the staging and the architecture of the screenplay than it is to stay invested in the characters.

Half-nifty, half-cheesy.

This is clearly a film that favours concept over narrative expansion, and it suffers for this.

This is my 2019 #1 movie of the year. I cannot believe it was not a bigger hit. For the best experience, don't read anything about it just see it, it's the strongest emotional impact I have had since The Sixth Sense.

Pretty mediocre movie overall. It was a decent premise but I feel like they didn't really do enough with it.

This was a compelling chore to watch. It starts out interesting and then lurches through scenes inconsistently, a random mix of slow, perplexing, riveting, simplistic, dull, overwrought, pretentious, and explosive. The concept and writing may have been better than the final presentation, and since the actors were mostly good, I'll have to pin my eye rolling on the director. This really should have been better, but unfortunately it probably took the perspective of the child to an overly-technical degree, and it comes off as childish when it should have been intriguing. I suppose audiences these days aren't given much meat to chew on anymore and so can overlook a lot of cheesy fluff. I need something with a little more intelligence and depth, so I'm not caring to look forward to any apparent sequel.

(Mauro Lanari) #metoo mutants, recommended for males only if they consider themselves expendable.

Interesting idea, bad execution. The girl so incoherent and irrational, the mother useless until the end. The father did everything and suffered throughout the whole movie, he was even tortured by his own daughter several times, in the end he dies and they just ignore him and leave. The grandpa also dies in vain and is ignored. I thought that at least the mother would come to save them all, but she did nothing at all, she was useless. This is the example of how to have a good premise and do everything wrong.