Freaks is a singular horror film written and directed in 1931 by a former circus artist, Todd Browning, who made a name for himself as the director of several films starring Lon Chaney Sr.
Born in 1880, he had frequented the circus environment as a child, whose main attraction at the time consisted of performances by "freaks” and “monsters,” cruel words for people with disabilities. As the era became more progressive, mentalities changed and the freakshow came to be considered immoral and discriminatory, eventually disappearing from shows.
Browning innovatively frames the “freaks” as everyday people who have adapted to their disabilities and have the same thoughts and feelings that anyone would have. The real monsters are those "normal,” able-bodied persons who are insensitive and evil, treating the disabled performers as inferior or worse, subhuman.
Freaks is a much more complex and multifaceted film than it seems, with a healthy streak of humor to balance the darker elements. Through the clown, Phroso, one of the few able-bodied performers who treats his colleagues with respect, Browning reveals how laughter and taking an interest in others unites us all no matter what we look like.
We are shown the hypocrisy with which some of the colleagues treat their disabled co-workers. Cleopatra is furious when the community of “freaks” gathered for the wedding defines her as "one of us.” In a world full of hostility, the marginalized circus phenomena create a community in which humanity, solidarity, and respect reign, distinguished from the world of “normal” people who are marred by judgment and presumption.
To achieve a sense of realism, Browning cast circus actors, enlisting the Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, the"human trunk" Prince Randian, the "armless wonders" Martha Morris and Frances O'Connor, the hermaphrodite Josephine Joseph, the legless man Johnny Eck, the microcephalus Simon "Schlitzie" Meck, and others, including some dwarves, such as Harry and Daisy Earles.
The plot revolves around a dwarf Hans who falls in love with the trapeze artist Cleopatra (played by a very sensual actress, Olga Baclanova, who made affectionate friendships with all the disabled actors on set). Cleopatra pretends to love him to steal his savings, plotting with the strong Hercules (played by the bodybuilder Henry Victor) to murder him.
When their plan is discovered, the freakshow performers enact terrible revenge, killing Hercules and mutilating Cleopatra to make her a deformed “hen woman.”
MGM producers, who had already started a very impressive advertising campaign (the making of the film was kept secret and no reporters had access to the set) to present what they thought was a conventional horror like the Dracula Browning had directed previously.
They almost had a stroke when they viewed the original, more graphic, version proposed by Browning. The test audience apparently felt sick to the point of requiring the intervention of a doctor (an urban legend, not confirmed, even refers to a pregnant woman who had a fright abortion).
MGM first tried to withdraw the film, but since expectations were already built, they sent it to theaters in an altered version with over half an hour cut (shrinking the film from 95 to 64 minutes).
This version removed a scene of Hercules being castrated, leaving his fate unseen. A sequence where Cleopatra's legs and arms are torn apart while imprisoned by a fallen tree, and then tarred and feathered, was completely erased.
These minutes of the film were destroyed, so it is no longer possible to view them even if you wanted to. Even with these cuts, several American cities banned its screening. It was not screened in Germany until 1945, Great Britain until 1954, and Italy until 1983.
After the Freaks scandal, Browning was banned for a few years by all the Hollywood film majors, before being recalled to direct second-rate films. However, he still managed to score a great success, with the original and brilliant horror The Devil's Doll.
Freaks has been rediscovered by both the public and critics and is now considered one of the most celebrated cult movies.