Freakshow

I wound up watching this film after one of the most horrible days at the office I'd ever had, reasoning that nothing could scare me after that. Guess what - it did. And I'm not an easy scare.

A cynical teenage boy takes a girl he's just met into a carny sideshow, much like the ones I and many others visited at traveling carnivals when we were kids. (Remember Lobster Boy? The Half-Girl? The Bearded Woman?) However, the exhibits in this sideshow are more horrifying than the ones we saw as children, and the stories behind them are chilling. Of course, we wonder what it will take to impress the cynic... and whether we were right in convincing ourselves that the sideshow exhibits were fake.

I found this for 4 bucks at a Pharmor when visiting some friends up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the time I pondered two things. 1.) How do cheap, made-for-video horror films end up in a pharmacy? 2.) Would the movie be worth my four bucks? Since that's about the price of a rental, and since I'm an avid fan of horror films and would probably rent it anyway, I figured "Why not?" I also noted that Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface from the original Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE) and former Hammer starlet Veronica Carlson starred.

I suppose it was worth four bucks, but this is uneven, and at it's worst, flat-out unwatchable. The worst story (the first) is about a woman (Jennifer Peluso) who gets revenge (using witchcraft) after a cocky jerk drives her pregnant sister to suicide. The last tale is equally lame, about a man who trades bodies with a grotesquely deformed carnival freak for ten thousand bucks (!?!?!?!). Thankfully the middle segments are more successful, including a terrific tale about the ghost of a mummy wreaking havoc at a Halloween party via 1890. This is where Carlson comes in, and she gives a refined, strong performance as the bitter Grace Harmsworth. In worthless linking segments, Gunnar Hansen is around trying to scare a teen couple with the aforementioned tales. He just isn't as menacing without his Leatherface mask on.

I first saw this movie in the mid 90's right after it released to movie rental stores. I would always rent this and eventually buy it.

This movie proves you don't need a $100 million budget to make a excellent movie. VERY original stories and presentation. Teens go to a carnival and hear stories from the "Freak Master" in the freak show attraction. The movie is split up into different stories told by the freak master.

The baby with the teeth is really scary, you will know what i mean...hehe. Lyman the unspeakable is my favorite story in this movie.

I got this anthology after a very long research, but it wasn't definitely worth my time and money. Four really poor horror tales (but they couldn't frighten a nun)are linked by Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in the original Tobe Hooper masterpiece)as the Freakmaster, the owner of a freakshow carnival trying to convince his audience (a couple of teenagers) that his goods are real and not fake. Veronica Carlson, old but still attractive Hammer icon, is really wasted in a such a terrible way to pass one hour and an half. It is better to rent some old Amicus anthology or even watch Tales from Crypt if you want to have some fun from short horror stories.