Search - Freak on DVD

A nice little horror movie

Brett Heitkam | Lena, IL United States | 02/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After years of seeing rip-off after rip-off, Freak takes the typical Halloween/Friday the 13th storyline and somehow manages to make it original and entertaining.Freak is the story of a young, deformed boy who lives with his not-quite-right-in-the-noggin mother out in the middle of nowhere. The boy wears a cloth mask over his head to hide his deformity. After a series of weird and disturbing events, we see the boy murder his mother. Flash forward nine years: the boy is now in a mental hospital. After no success with rehabilitation, his doctor decides to send him to another hospital. Jason, a patient transporter (or something), is chosen to drive the now-grown "freak" to his new "home." Needless to say, the masked man escapes the Econoline van en route and havoc ensues.What sets this movie apart mainly is the small amount of characters in the story. We have the aforementioned Jason, Mr. Freak of course, and our only two other main characters are Stacy and Jodi. These two girls have a little drama of their own going on as our film starts. Stacy's parents adopted young Jodi (played very well by little Andrea Johnson) and then tragically died, leaving Stacy to care for Jodi, her newfound sis. Stacy decides to sell her parents' house and move to Virginia. Jodi is not happy about this decision, but goes along with it because obviously she has no choice in the matter. Along the way cross-country, guess who cross paths? Shortly after Jason realizes his passenger is missing, Stacy and Jodi's old, orange VW Bug chugs into the same town. Soon something bad happens (I won't spoil it for you) and the movie twists and turns (well, maybe just twists), finally ending up, to quote the DVD case "at the freak's abandoned childhood home for the final confrontation...and he has enough gruesome memories to fuel his insane bloodlust." Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but I could think of worse ways to waste an hour and a half. Like I said before, this movie feels fresh and original, but it's not perfect. There are a *few* too many similarities to the basic plotline of the first two Halloween movies. Aside from that, gorehounds will be disappointed as there are only a small handful of killings and there is nothing too nasty to feast your eyes on, if that's what you are looking for. Also, there are a couple plotholes where they seem to be setting the viewer up for a few MAJOR revelations, but then they never reveal them. Oh well. There's always Freak 2: Cruise Control to look forward to.As for the DVD presentation, it's just fine. The film is presented full-screen, which I think is safe to assume as the proper aspect ratio. Extras include audio commentary by the director, Tyler Tharpe, behind-the-scenes hijinks, and a blooper reel. The MAJOR extra on this DVD, however is the short film "Headcheese", which was filmed by Justin Meeks and Duane Graves in many of the same locations as the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend this film as it is a bit too mysterious for my tastes. After a lengthy, and somewhat promising prologue (which makes up about a third of the films scant 20-minute running time), Headcheese just gets weirder and less entertaining as it goes on. It's about a guy who is alone out in the middle of nowhere and is trying to rid himself of his inner demons. That's about all there is. The directors' audio commentary sheds *some* light on just what the heck is going on on-screen, but a film shouldn't need the director to sit there explaining everything to you as the film progresses. I commend the duo for trying, but to me, it just didn't work.Everything else aside, the DVD is worth purchasing for "Freak" itself if oddly original slasher flicks are what you crave. As for "Headcheese," if you get the DVD it's worth at least watching once (it does have some commendable gore effects)."