Freak Out

Wow. This is the first indie movie I've ever seen, so I didn't know what to expect, but wow. This is one crazy ride of a movie. Some bits are absolutely hysterical, some just plain weird, some unneccesary. The plot is bizarre, production values as low as you'd expect (but creatively used!). On the whole, I'd give it about 7.5, because of the extent to which it made me laugh out loud.. not a lot of films can do that really. Anyway, if they tidied it up, trimmed the fat, I'm sure it would appeal to many. You just have to forget about things like logic.. who needs that anyway! One thing's for sure though, this film is about 4 million times more funny than Johnny English!

Marv, a horror movie loving nerd and his somehow geekier best friend Onkey decide to help a hapless and downright sad wanna be serial killer in order for this pathetic fruity lil' escaped mental patient to be transformed into a manly, well thats not the right word... ruthless brutal killing machine so that he can take revenge on the humiliation he had in school thirteen years back. So many nods to classic horror films, so many cheap sight gags, so many gay jokes. This little independent film from the UK manages to be better than all 4 "Scary Movie" films combined and then some. It was a real treat indeed. The humor is hardly brilliant or mature, yet the film is just so damn fun. And you WILL find yourself laughing out loud quite a few times. Kudos to Chistian James, Dan Palmer, and everyone else involved in this insane hilarity.

My Grade: B+

Freak Out is a low budget horror spoof hailing from the UK. And it is a damn fine one.

While Shaun of the Dead tackled zombies into the comedy realm, Freak Out takes down the well worn slasher icon formula, and makes one of the best parodies I have seen. When two horror geeks find their own escaped mental patient, they of course decide to make their own mass murderer. The twist is that "Looney" is just a big happy kid. Hysterics ensue while watching Merv and Onkey deck their silly insane friend out with masks chains, saws and all kinds of great things. The movie even includes plenty of gore to make the horror freak happy.

If you haven't seen Freak Out, get the freak out to your local Best Buy and pick up a copy. I recommend the 2 disc.

I may have a funny surname (and some say I have a dumb Christian name) but I'm pretty serious when it comes to movies especially comedies. So, imagine my surprise when I caught this movie at a festival on the off-chance. I thought it would be a load of rubbish. I couldn't really care that much about the fact it has no budget behind it and no stars in it - did it entertain me - that's all that matters. Well, it did. Yeah, it's dirt cheap and no frills but still about 1000 times funnier that a load of the sub-standard 'funnies' Hollywood (and dare I say it, Britain-wood) churn out. It's silly, immature, dumb, strangely engaging - worth a good look. Can't wait to see the DVD with all those lovely extras.

I saw this movie when it was screened at Oxford University yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised. Freak Out kicks off with a black and white sequence of a kid being bullied at his primary school, who then swears he will return in 13 years are wreak his revenge... well, some unexpected events occur which prevent him from doing that, so when he turns up at Merv's house - Merv and his wacky friend Onkey decide to train him into a real serial killer using their incredible knowledge of horror movies.

This movie has some really funny moments, and there are times when you forget that it was made for only £30,000. Obviously, there are times when you don't, but if you go into this accepting that it was made by college students for college students, I think you'll enjoy it.

My favourite thing about Freak Out was all the movie references and quotes they spread through it. Overall Freak Out is a fun movie that could become a cult classic. I gave it 9/10.