Photo by Alin Surdu on Unsplash
By Dakota Hornak, Staff Writer
Spoilers below:
Sci-fi thriller film “Freaks,” released in 2019 and directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, tells the enthralling childhood of 7-year-old Chloe, played by Alexa Kolker.
Chloe lives in an abandoned and completely barricaded house with her father, who often warns of the outside world and the “bad people” in it. Viewers watch as he teaches her not to react to yelling and to stay away from the entrances, all while seeing odd surges in scenes that show something supernatural. As we learn more about her life and her father, who seems to be a little off, it becomes clear that something is wrong, and her father knows exactly what it is.
When nighttime falls, Chloe opens her closet to find different women inside at different times, almost like a portal. It only gets weirder when one day she receives a storybook in the mail about an ice cream man, and then he appears outside.
As the story progresses, we find that Chloe’s father is a “freak” or someone with supernatural powers, such as stopping time. The ice cream man is her grandfather who can disappear, but Chloe’s power is far too evolved to understand fully, even after watching “Freaks.” At this point, the audience realizes that they have been revealed as freaks to the world and are in hiding, allowing us to make sense of Chloe’s odd upbringing.
This type of in-depth science fiction concept was fairly hard to follow and grasp at times, especially because of the intentional confusion in making the father seem like the villain. However, once viewers make it past the midpoint of the movie where everything starts to come together, it is impossible to stop watching. The expressionism of the cast is incredible, especially the performance by Kolker.
For someone who was only 9years-old at the time of filming, the amount of passion and emotion she has to portray in these scenes, especially revolting against her dad, and ultimately, fighting the people who are out to get them, is astounding. The idea of the film overall is such a unique and mentally exhausting one that seeing someone that age star as a lead role made the film even more real and engaging to the audience.
The editing and cinematography also played a huge role in the suspense within the plot. Quick moving shots and different uses of light and sound add impact to the scenes and build thrills in the perfect places for a quick scare. When the plot becomes more upsetting toward the end, the suspenseful shots become softer and allow the scenes to flow. The way in which the producers and editors used effects elevates the entire film even more.
For any and all supernatural film fans, I highly recommend “Freaks,” available on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
