Label: Well Go USA
Region Code: A/1
Rating: Unrated
Duration 108 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, Lexy Kolker
I think Freaks (2018) would be a hard film to discuss without spoiling it a bunch so fair warning that I will definitely be getting a bit spoilery with this review, but I think it's a film worth watching without knowing too much about it, so I think it would be best to skip this review till you've seen the film if you're wary of being spoiled even a little bit.
This sci-fi thriller opens with a father named Henry (Emile Hirsch, Lords of Dogtown) and his 7-year-old daughter Chloe (Lexy Kolker, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) living inside a squalid-looking house, the curtains are always drawn closed and there are all sorts of stains covering the walls, it just doesn't feel like a happy home. The father continually fills his daughter's head with what seem like paranoid fantasies, telling her that if she ventures outside or is seen peering through the window that she could be killed by the bad people. He also tests her by bombarding her with questions designed to keep her identity a secret, to make her seem "normal". It's all very strange and claustrophobic, with these early scenes having a certain surreal quality to them. The film sort of begs the question, is her father a paranoid nut, or is there something more happening here?
Chloe is a smart young girl who clearly craves a normal life, often pushing boundaries by disobeying her father's strict set of rules, such as peering through the windows to observe what looks to be a normal suburban neighborhood that is just out of her reach. She often sees a peculiar old man known as Mr. Snowcone (Bruce Dern, The 'Burbs) who comes around her street serving ice cream to the other neighborhood kids from his van. It's during one of these observations that Chloe sees a young neighbor girl that she somehow force-wills into delivering an ice cream cone to Chloe's front door, so apparently there is something special about this young girl after all, maybe her father is not so crazy as it first appears. As the film plays along we discover more of what is really happening, and there's definitely more to it than at first meets the eye.
It takes a bit to get to the backstory and world-building but the film eventually does just that, establishing a new breed of people who have manifested special powers that the world at large deem to be a threat, and not without good reason, establishing a mass-casualty tragedy that occurred in Dallas, TX some years earlier with long-lasting implications. Without getting even more spoilerly than I already have the film absolutely brought to mind a mutant superhero story like the X-Men with mutants being perused by government agents, or the film Firestarter (1984), with young Lexy Kolker at times bringing to mind a Drew Barrymore from that film, Kolker seems whip-smart and I wouldn't be surprised to see more from this gifted young actress in the very near future.
The film looks great, it manages a lot on what was probably not that much as far as production budget goes with modest special effects that don't overstep their limitations but are just enough to push the sci-fi elements of the film convincingly. Aside from the excellent cast a lot of credit must go to co-writer/directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein who turn is a well-crafted and thoroughly intense sci-fi thriller.
Audio/Video: Freaks (2018) arrives on Blu-ray+DVD Combo from Well Go USA framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. It's a solid looking presentation overall but the dark and dingy confines of the interiors can be a bit murky, but things improve well in the exteriors under the sunlight.
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround mix that replicated dialogue clean and crisply, there is some nice atmospheric use of the surrounds at times but I didn't find this to be the most surround-active experience. Optional English subtitles are provided.
Extras come by way of a commentary from the directing-duo, a 16-min behind-the-scenes featurettes, plus a teaser and theatrical trailer for the film, and a small selection of Well Go USA trailers.
The 2-disc DVD+Blu-ray Combo arrives in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, both discs inside feature different artwork.
Special Features:
- Directors' Commentary
- Behind the Scenes (15 min)
- Trailer (2 min)
- Teaser Trailer (2 min)
- Well Go USA Trailers: Abigail (3 min), Fist Love (2 min), The Divine Fury (2 min)
Freaks (2018) is a sci-fi thriller that has plenty of tension and surprises throughout, I kept wondering where it was all going and it exceeded all my expectations by the end. This one comes highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of sci-fi, superhero origins adjacent stuff like the kindred Firestarter (1984), The Fury (1978) or Scanners (1980).
