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Freaks came out in 1932 and is more complex (and horrifying) than most modern horror films. The film tackles themes that feel at home in A24's modern works, with an absolutely brutal and horrifying ending. Freaks went through critical reappraisal many times over and remains one of Hollywood's most unsung horror classics.

In the annals of cinematic history, Tod Browning remains a major figure in the early days of the horror genre. After working in the circus as a performer and shifting into a role as an on-screen actor, Browning eventually became a director during the silent film era. He thrived in this role in the years that followed the introduction of sound, helming many successful movies that pushed unexpected boundaries. Perhaps his most recognizable contribution to pop culture was 1931's Dracula -- which introduced audiences to Bela Lugosi's iconic take on the classic vampire.

After the massive success...

The three films included on the Criterion Collection’s Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers collectively suggest a miniature narrative of Browning’s evolution as a filmmaker. Though this two-disc set offers but a dip of the toe into Browning’s work, it’s governed by a persuasive through line. Here we get a film, 1925’s The Mystic, that’s rich in promise and less personal than the other two, one a perverse masterwork, 1927’s The Unknown, that’s criminally underseen by contemporary audiences, and the other a cult classic, 1932’s Freaks, that’s too often discussed in terms of its notoriety. Watching these films together offers a sketch of an artist’s sensibility reaching fruition, as a fine-grained empathy rises to the fore.

Browning’s affinity for outcasts has been well-documented and is discussed at length in the supplements included with this set, particularly in a new interview with author...

[Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 in a four-part series on disability and horror.]

“Watching horror films is a disabling experience,” Angela M. Smith, Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies for the University of Utah and author of the book “Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema,” said. “It’s a controlled encounter with discomfort, with the vulnerability of our minds and bodies to images and suggestions that opens us to unwilled transformations.”

The horror film revels in the world of deformity and grotesqueness and, to a disabled viewer, that can be confusing in how relatable it is. For many, to be disabled is also to look different, so how does a person with a disability approach the horror genre when the presented thing to fear is themselves?

Smith said people weren’t ready for “Freaks” in the 1930s, and she’s absolutely correct. “Freaks,” for better and worse, remains one of the only U.S. features to have a predominately disabled...

Attention classic movie freaks – Set your DVR for this Monday!!!!

Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the first sound version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in 1931, Browning made his mark on cinema in the silent era with his extraordinary 10-film collaboration with actor Lon Chaney, the ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’. Despite the success of Dracula, and the boost it gave his career, Browning’s chief interest continued to lie not in films dealing with the supernatural but in films that dealt with the grotesque and strange, earning him the reputation as “the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema”. Browning...

“Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us.”

Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7:30pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman. Ticket information can be found Here

Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though...

“Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us.”

Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman

Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the...

Freaks

Written by Tod Robbins

Directed by Tod Browning

USA, 1932

“For the love of beauty is a deep-seated urge which dates back to the beginning of civilization. The revulsion with which we view the abnormal, the malformed, and the mutilated is the result of long conditioning by our forefathers.” – Introduction, Freaks

Tod Browning’s cult film depicting the terrors of sideshow performers, both how they are perceived by the public and the acts of violence they are driven to commit, sets an unusual and intriguing precedent for future horror cinema tropes.

Freaks initially portrays the titular troupe with unique deformities as unsuspecting prey to two of the carnival’s “normal” performers and lovers, Cleopatra the trapeze artist (Olga Baclanova) and Hercules the strong man (Henry Victor). Cleopatra’s plan to marry and murder Hans the dwarf man (Harry Earles) for his large inheritance victimizes the condition of the “freaks,” placing...

Freaks (1932)

Directed by Tod Browning

Written by Willis Goldbeck & Leon Gordon based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins

Starring Wallace Ford (Phroso the Clown), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Henry Victor (Hercules), Harry Earles (Hans)

Director Tod Browning grew up in the circus – under the big top – amidst manic clowns, hairy women and human deformity all lined up for our entertainment. These were his people. Roll up, roll up.

Roll up, roll!! Dare you see Freaks: the controversial classic, banned in the UK for 30 years!! Gather round and gasp at these misshapen misfits. Dance with the Pinheads; lust after sexy Siamese Sisters; be confused by Joseph/Josephine the half man, half woman; and cower at the murderous Code of the Freaks!!!!

“Gooble-gobble, Gooble-gobble,

One of us, one of us!”

It was made in 1932 and has gathered a reputation as a perverse masterpiece. People cower at its name,...

Harry Connick Jr.’s name is pretty much synonymous with his hometown New Orleans, which is why American Girl, the popular doll and book series now celebrating its 25th anniversary, reached out to him to pen the first original tune associated with the brand. “A Lot Like Me” is inspired by American Girl’s two new colorblind characters from 1850s New Orleans, Cécile and Marie-Grace. Even better, Connick’s 13-year-old daughter Kate sings the song, which is available exclusively on iTunes, and all proceeds from downloads go to benefit the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, which opens Aug. 25 in the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village,...

Some films make controversy, some films achieve controversy, and some films have controversy thrust onto them. With Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) it had been all three.  Freaks tells the story of a beautiful but selfish trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), who seduces and then marries side-show dwarf Hans (Harry Earles) after learning of his large inheritence. Cleopatra then starts to slowly poison Hans, hoping to kill him so that she run off with his money and marry the traveling carnival's handsome strongman Hercules (Henry...

Hey, it’s time for another installment of the science fiction universe’s favorite entertainment journalism game of strategy and error, Freelance Writers Say The Darnedest Things! Yes, it’s true—editors, publishers and publicists do, too. We’ll get to them at other times. Plenty of embarrassment to go around!

This, in fact, is a Sequel to an earlier entry. You might recall a freelancer who interviewed a writer in his late 50s and cluelessly asked if he had ever met his just-revealed influences (all authors dead long before his birth). See here for the sad tale.

As I said, that freelancer never sold us another story. But he Tried. In fact, he called my colleague Tony Timpone, Editor of Fangoria, in the late 1980s to pitch an interview he had in mind. Tony related this incident to me and I detailed it in print once somewhere years ago.