Video Reviews
Freaks
directed by Tod Browning, MGM/UA Home Video, 1932
Like platform shoes, freaks have gone in and out of fashion a few times in the 20th century. Though side shows have been part of society's live entertainment for ages, this 1932 Metro Goldwyn Mayer film may be one of its earliest forays into pop culture’s media mainstream. The ’30s was the era of classic horror films, and to MGM a picture featuring a cast of real side-show freaks might have seemed like just a twist on a popular genre. Indeed, the direction was handled by Tod Browning, director of the original Dracula. However, Freaks proved to be more of a horror show than most audiences of the time cared for. Rarely seen after its release, it was even banned in Britain for 30 years.
But in the non-conformist-loving ’60s, Freaks achieved cult status. And why not? Those hippie-freaks were freakin’ out and lettin’ their freak flags fly. Zippy the Pinhead was born in underground comic land... Fast forward past the ’70s/early ’80s (Awwww Freak Out! Le Freak - se chic!) to the alternative-loving late ’80s/’90s and you’ve got lurid side-show graphics showing up in music videos, on post cards and other products in hip gift shops; tattoos and body piercings become stylish for rebellious youth; Siamese twins, transsexuals and other curiosities are popular guests on trash-talk TV shows. The Jim Rose Side Show tours with Lollapalooza and shows up on the "X-Files"... and everything old is new again. But after all this, watching Freaks is still a bit shocking because you can’t help thinking, "This was made in 1932!" The cast includes your standard dwarfs and bearded ladies, but also pinheads, Siamese twins, people missing both arms, both legs and one sausage-shaped man missing all four. The muffled sound, stiff acting and simple plot cease to annoy you once the action heats up. In this moralistic tale, the normal people turn out to be the true monsters, plotting to kill a dwarf for his inheritance. But when the freaks turn the tables on the bad guys and join together to fight back, they create some pretty frightening images. Not a family film. --A. H.
House of the Rising
directed by Timothy Hines, Troma, Inc., 1995
Director Timothy Hines has taken the constant camera wanderings of Linklater's Slacker to a ’60s retro party in the ’90s and stranded it there. The result of that technique (moving from character to character) is not at all uncomfortable and even innovative. Of course it gives the viewer a feeling of constant action -- the party goes on beyond and around the main players. It creates a kind of dianetic awareness of the "now" that reveals the bickering couples and old friends’ journeys through the evening and their tattered pieces of relationships. The insight I got from the film was how the sentiment of the ’60s party and the cultural themes of free love, understanding, and tripping on mind-altering drugs are splattered with characters who wallow in the complexities, hopelessness and despair of modern relationships. In a way, it turns those "romantic" ’60s elements into the ’80s/’90s corruption of them: drug use, promiscuity, infidelity -- even down to the crappy live band. And though the predictability level in some points is high, the intrigue of the action, characters and dialogue more than compensates for the weaker plot points. An enjoyable film. --Phil Ford
Harriet the Spy
Paramount/Nickelodeon, 1996
That great and geeky heroine of children’s literature, Harriet M. Welsch, is back, courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. The 1996 film stars Rosie O’Donnell as Golly, a much-cooler-than-Mary Poppins nanny, and Michelle Trachtenberg as a very well-acted, genuine and endearing Harriet. "I write down everything I see. Golly says if I want to be a writer then I better start now, which is why I am a spy." So writes Harriet M. Welsch in her PRIVATE notebook. From the bright orange color of the cassette tape and neon green "bee kind -- rewind" sticker (complete with bumblebee clip art picture), all the way to its uplifting and cheesy happy ending, this movie is a treat -- especially so for anyone who remembers the book fondly (even though the story has been slicked-up for today’s kids). While the plot is, for the most part, true to Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 children’s novel, atmospherically it takes a turn.
Harriet is an imaginative, spirited 11-year-old aspiring writer. But she and her friends are a little too hip, a little too sophisticated or maybe just a little too fashionable. And the coming of age is given a cynical cast. Parodies of sex-Ed films titled "Girl to Woman" and "Boy to Man" play in the classroom while Harriet and her friends sit bored, Ferris Bueller-style -- which would be fine if they were in high school, but they’re only in 6th grade. It also gets a bit more intense than the book. Harriet’s ostrasization after her friends read her comments about themselves in her secret notebook is downright scary. As one viewer put it, "This is worse than Welcome to the Dollhouse." And Harriet’s revenge approaches heinous. Despite the heavy ’90s MTV update, Harriet The Spy is well worth the time and bucks to rent. As a bonus there are some really great feminist details thrown in like The Femme Fatale Movie Festival Golly takes Harriet to and a mold experiment involving an exploding bra. If you have a young femme fatale in your life, buy her the book and then watch the movie with her. --Kara West
Suspiria
Suspiria is a film I’ve had from the video store way too long -- I owe many day’s fines. I couldn’t watch it all in one or two or three days. If you’re looking for an "intellectual" horror movie with an avant-garde European noise soundtrack in letterbox with lesbian overtones, then this is the movie for you. Premise: Innocent American girl goes to Austrian ballet school (could be Italian ballet school). Arrives on cold and rainy night. No answer at door. Drives away in cab. Sees girl running through woods. Woods girl screams, "The secret is the Iris." Rest of movie leads to Innocent American girl finding the Iris on the wall which opens secret passage leading to evil Vampire School Directress whom she kills. Three great things about this movie: Innocent American girl is wimpy throughout the movie but after she kills the evil Directress, she saunters out into the rain like John Wayne and goes about her life while the oppressive, murderous school collapses behind her. The other great thing: Dark, shadowy red lighting throughout. The other great thing: a torturous barbed-wire death scene. --K. W.
Revelations
written and directed by Timothy Alan Richardson, independent, 1997
This film was shot on VHS color video last summer at the University of Indiana in South Bend. It opens on a very realistic looking World War II battle scene and Adolph Hitler shooting himself. It then moves to the present in Indiana where a confused little alternateen for some reason helps his bully brother’s band (portrayed by real-life band Absinthe) get a gig at the local cafe. The cafe owner is secretly Lucifer, almighty Satan. From there, Jeremy the alternateen gets drawn into a Biblical plot concerning the Apocalypse. While the sets, the framing of shots, and the filming itself looks great for VHS and zero budget, nothing can save Revelations from its Jack Chick pamphlet/Christian conspiracy story and dialogue. Unfortunately, it moves so slowly that it lacks basic suspense. I think the 700 Club may have sponsored this. If you are still intrigued, you can order this straight from the source. (53947 Fir Road, Granger, IN 46530, trichard@sun1.iusb.edu) --Scott Burger
