She Freak

Starring:Claire Brennen
Director: Byron Mabe
Studio: Cheezy Flicks
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Four very different movies, with great extras

The Freak Show Box Set (Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks / She Freak / Blood Freak / Basket Case)
Starring: Frank Henenlotter , Kevin Van Hentenryck , Terri Susan Smith , Beverly Bonner , and Robert Vogel
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00016RNNA
Release Date: 2004-02-03

Description

Step right up, folks, and feast your eyes if you dare on the freakiest, creepiest show on earth! It's a four-ring circus of sideshow scares straight from the Something Weird vaults, bound to keep you gasping, screaming, and squirming! First up is the ultimate midnight movie cult classick, Basket Case, the tender story of young Duane exploring sleazy Times Square with his mutant Siamese twin brother stuffed away in a basket! Packed with gore and giggles, this unspeakable ode to brotherly love will have you coming back for more. And you'll swear you're hallucinating when you see the Blood Freak, a killer Turkey-Man who drinks the blood of drug addicts with his beak! It's a monster movie unlike any other, the world's only bloodthirsty-gobbler/anti-drug/pro-Jesus epic. But if you want something a little more feminine, get a load of She Freak, a colorful and kooky carny-noir from producer David F. Friedman (Blood Feast) in which a gold-digging hash slinger finds out the hard way that a midget scorned is a very scary thing. Then take a trip up to Frankenstein#s Castle of Freaks, where the crackpot doctor (Rossano Brazzi) unleashes monsters Goliath and Ook for a monster rumble to top them all. Come on, come all, come scream!

Customer Reviews:

Four very different movies, with great extras.......2004-07-08

For those unfamiliar with Something Weird Video, they specialize in releasing forgotten low-budget movies; their DVD's feature a plethora of bonuses that will keep collector geeks amused for hours on end. If your idea of horror is big-budget CGI-fests like Underworld and Freddy vs. Jason, you will be well advised to skip this box set. If you're a drooling low-budget horror fanatic like myself, read on! But as the package says: "Warning: Contains Graphic Violence, Nudity and Killer Turkeys."

The best known and, in my opinion, best movie in the set is Basket Case, written and directed by Frank Henenlotter. It's about Siamese twins who are separated shortly after birth: as an adult, the normal-looking Duane carries around his hideously deformed evil twin Belial in a large, padlocked basket. Equally gruesome and funny, this cult film truly deserves its reputation. Fans will oooh and aaah at the generous extras included, especially the outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, and the video short "In Search of the Hotel Broslin," in which Henenlotter re-visits the Times Square locations where he originally shot Basket Case. Hilariously, the people who run the hotel now refuse to let the video crew into the lobby to film! Just goes to show ya, outside of the horror conventions a low-budget filmmaker gets no respect.

Next, we have the Italian release Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks. I would recommend a six-pack of your favorite cold beverage to accompany the viewing of this one, mainly due to the large amount of unintentional laughs. Picture the usual Frankenstein antics with a couple cavemen thrown in, and you've got the general idea. Don't expect lots of blood and gore, but you do get some good nude scenes, one a memorable mud-bath where the girls are spied upon by a voyeuristic dwarf. Something Weird continues along these lines with the inclusion of the short subjects "The Monster and the Maiden" and "Frankenstein and the Naughty Nurse," both of which feature a Frankenstein monster and a stripper.

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for writer/producer David F. Friedman's She Freak! This 1967 film made the most of its carnival/sideshow location shooting, or as the poster said, "filmed on actual locations where it COULD have happened!" Storywise it's a semi-remake of Tod Browning's classic movie Freaks, but not nearly as creepy. The main character is the hateful Jade Cochran, a small-town waitress who decides to join the carny lifestyle and claw her way up the ladder. There's lots of outrageous trashy dialogue, and as a fan of old-school carnival/sideshow stuff I enjoyed the colorful setting. The main complaint I have with this movie, or rather the packaging: the DVD cover and the main DVD menu both give away the big "shocker" shot which is the climax of the film. The original trailer, included here, gave it away too, though, so I guess it's that old exploitation way of bringing in the paying customer by whatever means necessary. It's still a fun movie, and there's great old newsreel footage included of sideshow attractions like Siamese twins and a pinhead!

Finally, we come to (shudder) Blood Freak. Do you pride yourself on being a huge fan of such low-budget campfests as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Blood Feast? Me too, but that doesn't mean you are adequately prepared for 1972's Blood Freak, "the world's only turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus gore film!" Plot: guy gets hooked on marijuana, eats some turkey meat laced with an experimental drug, and becomes a monster with a giant turkey head that drinks the blood of drug addicts. Ah yes, it's as bad as it sounds. Bizarre, funny at times, includes a couple (inept) gore scenes, but painful....oh so painful. Fortunately, there's a cornucopia of special features, lots of trailers, a gallery of old comic cover art (very cool), and five, count em, five short films! These include "Beggar at the Gates," which is a bizarre Mondo-type overview of American religious sects of the 60's, the anti-drug classic "Narcotics, Pit of Despair," and the self-explanatory "Brad Grinter, Nudist." By far the weirdest of the short films is the soft-core porn "The Walls Have Eyes," starring Steve Hawkes, star/co-writer/co-producer/co-director of Blood Freak. This sleazy little film features a girl shooting up and voyeurism, and definitely gives you a taste of what was playing on 42nd Street in 1969. These copious DVD extras help to compensate for the agony of the featured film itself.

Description

Claire Brennen stars as a discontent waitress working in a small-town greasy diner, and looking for something more. When the circus comes to town, she finds herself attracted to it's excitement - and secures a job with the traveling show as a food service worker. As the circus moves on, and she with it, life seems to be going well - new friends, steady work, a romance or two, and eventually a new husband - but she discovers that she despises the freaks and human oddities of the side shows, and uses her marriage to the Circus' owner to take control of the carnival. Now she must strike a balance between profit and patience, as the carnies and side show freaks set out to exact revenge.

Average customer rating:

Freaks Lite
"There are two kinds of freaks, ladies and gentleman...those created by God and those created by man."
Tod Browning, Where Are You?
A "Freaks" remake without freaks?
Exploitation - Sideshow fans rejoice!

She Freak
Starring: William Bagdad , Irving Berlin (II) , David Boudrot , Claire Brennen , and Lynn Courtney
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305836957
Release Date: 2000-05-09

Description

In this creepy carny-noir, horror lurks behind the cheerful facade of a traveling carnival. Fed up slinging hash at a roadside dinner, slinky Jade Cochran (Claire Brennen) takes a job with a passing show and soon sinks her ambitious hooks into Steven St. John, owner of the sideshow exhibit, and marries him. In the meantime, she has an affair with Blackie, the Ferris wheel stud, and makes life miserable for Shorty, the sideshow midget. But when Blackie kills her hubby and Jade inherits the sideshow, Shorty and his fellow "oddities" seek revenge...An affectionate reworking of the classic "Freaks" from producer David F. Friedman (who plays the sideshow barker), "She Freak" also features another bizarre makeup creation by Harry Thomas, who designed some of Hollywood's looniest monsters (Frankenstein's Daughter, House on Bare Mountain).

Customer Reviews:

Freaks Lite.......2007-06-21

This reinterpretation of Tod Browning's wonderfully transgressive "Freaks" is not one of David F. Friedman's better films, although it is his personal favorite for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with his career. Something Weird mutants expecting gore-n-gals are barking up the wrong tree here, as "She-Freak" is strictly a general release picture, and quite tame even by those standards (Dave explains why in his commentary). The closest thing to skin is a fully clothed striptease by Lynn Courtney, and the only gore is a screwdriver through the hand bit on the illustrious Bill Bagdhad (Astro-Zombies).

You've seen "Freaks", right? Then you know the story...just substitute a waitress for the acrobat and a sideshow owner for Hans. Unlike "Freaks", "She Freak" is vibrant and colorful, and the shots taken from the California State Fair are some of the most impressive carnival footage yours truly has ever seen. In fact, they've been sold as stock to many other producers over the years. With the exception of a lone midget, there are no real human oddities in the film. Friedman was constrained by a California state prohibition on the exhibition of 'freaks' for profit, so rather than pack up and film somewhere else, he decided to have Harry Thomas create some monsters for him. Even those faux deformities only appear at the very end.

As I said, not one of Dave's better films, and sadly, not one of his better commentaries either. Mister Friedman has set the standard for the audio commentary medium, always entertaining and full of stories, but here he seems less lucid, and makes a surprising number of factual errors. Even so, the history of the American carnival business and the primer on carney talk make this worth a listen, even if you've heard the same bits about Lee Raymond and Byron Mabe before.

SWV transfered "She Freak" from the original negative, and does it ever look amazing compared to the older VHS versions with faded colors and an improper aspect ratio. Proof positive of the wonders of DVD...long unavailable, word-of-mouth exploitation films are only a mouse click away, and presented in such amazing condition that those of us raised on murky looking video cassettes are just aghast. The only bonus features beside the commentary are a trailer and an eight minute reel of carnival footage from the 1930s with the Hilton sisters (Freaks, Chained for Life), pinheads, talkers, sword swallowers, the whole bit. Not a bad purchase, but not the first purchase if you haven't seen the original Freaks, or the Blood Trilogy, yet.

"There are two kinds of freaks, ladies and gentleman...those created by God and those created by man.".......2005-12-08

After watching Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) the night before, I actually enjoyed myself somewhat last night with this film, titled She Freak (1967)...I'm not saying She Freak was a great movie (it wasn't), but it was a short sight better than that other flick, which really wouldn't have been a difficult task to accomplish, so in essence, I'm really not saying a lot (what else is new?). Written and produced by David F. Friedman (The Defilers, The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill, The Acid Eaters), a name instantaneously familiar to fans of sleaze cinema, and directed by actor/director/producer Byron Mabe (A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine, The Head Lady, Space-Thing), the film features Claire Brennen (The Touchables, The Domino Principle) as Jade Cochran, a country girl of humble origin who, desperate to better her lot in life, flew too close to the sun on gossamer wings made of feathered dreams and wax ambitions...also appearing is Lee Raymond, who would later direct a couple of pictures for Friedman including Love Thy Neighbor and His Wife (1970) and The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide (1972), Lynn Courtney, and Bill `Squeal like a pig for me' McKinney, making his silver screen debut here. Most probably remember Mr. McKinney as the wild eyed, funky toothed mountain man who loved Ned Beatty just a little too much in the film Deliverance (1972).

The film starts off with shots of a carnival, accompanied by some fairly groovy, non-descript instrumental music. Ahhhh, nothing like watching carny folk ply their respective trades, all of them seeming to involve the ripping off the rubes...this goes on for a good five and a half minutes before we cut to a rural, greasy spoon, i.e. a diner, and we meet Jade Cochran, who works as a waitress, and her slightly sleazy boss, who'd I swear is played by actor Claude Earl Jones, but he's not listed in the credits. Anyway, Jade's obviously displeased with her lot in life, believing anything would be better than `wasting time in a filth pit', including signing on in some fashion with the recently arrived traveling carnival. This decision elicits a story about a pig (I wasn't sure if he was talking about an ex-employee or a real life farm animal), along with the following temperamental tirade from her employer...

`You gonna run off and join that lousy carnival, hunh? Too good to work for me, hunh? What the hell you gonna do in the carnival, Jade? You gonna dance the hootchie cooch? Show the farm boys what you got? You know where your going girl? Your going down, all the way down!'

Jade splits and joins up with the carnival, as...a waitress, serving and cleaning up after the carnies (she even gets to wear the same uniform she did while working at the diner). She makes friends with a stripper named Pat `Moon' Mullins (Courtney), cozies up to Ferris wheel man Blackie Fleming (Raymond), eventually setting her gold digging sights on the well to do freak show operator Steve St, John (McKinney), despite her disdain for freaks in general. The two marry, while Jade maintains a relationship with Blackie which eventually spawns a violent confrontation that ends in Jade, who's turned into a real a-hole, inheriting the freak show. Jade's recent good fortune is short lived as the freaks seek gruesome justice for their former boss, benefactor, and friend.

I was somewhat disappointed in this film mainly because it featured so little sleaze (no nekkidness), something producer Friedman known for in his other films. There also seemed a real absence of actual freaks throughout the film...there was a sword swallower, a snake handler, and even a sneaky midget (or little person, if you prefer), but this hardly met my expectations given a good hunk of the film dealt with the freak show aspect. The advertising on the DVD case relates this was sort of a homage to Tod Browning's controversial 1932 film Freaks, but I'd hardly call this a homage...a more apt description would be rip off, as the plot structure is almost identical, lacking any of the worthwhile character structure, poignant touches, or memorable visual imagery featured in that earlier film. The story here is so minimal, bolstered up by endless filler sequences of carnival in operation, packing up to move, or setting up once it reached a new location. These were sometimes interesting to look at, but after a while they only served to illuminate how little actual story there was...at the very least, during these extended filler sequences, one can switch to Friedman's commentary track, which is fairly interesting and fun. The acting was so-so, the worst being, in my opinion, Claire Brennen with her phony, southern drawl. She was somewhat attractive (nice rack), but her face had a sort of mannish quality that made me wonder at times if she was a transvestite. Throughout the movie there were a number of characters that used the term `with it' in some context or other...apparently carnie folk are a lot more hip than I would have thought. I wasn't quite sure what they actually meant when they used this term, but it did remind me of a line from The Simpson's animated show where Grandpa Simpson describes to Homer how he lost his `hipness'... `I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too.'

The picture quality, presented in fullscreen, on this Something Weird Video DVD looks very clean and sharp, and the Dolby Digital mono audio comes through very well. As far as extras go, there's a theatrical trailer, an entertaining commentary track featuring writer and producer David F. Friedman, a film short featuring some freaks (8:29), mainly a couple female Siamese twins, and a lengthy gallery of David F. Friedman exploitation art, materials used to promote his various cinematic ventures. All in all this is a great presentation of a flimsy exploitation film, with lots of excellent, colorful, kitschy shots of a carnival circa the late 1960s, if that sort of thing interests you. There are a few different DVD releases of this film floating around, so if your interested in purchasing this film, it would be wise to make sure you're getting the version you want.

Cookieman108

By the way, I saw Friedman is currently producing a remake of this film, one supposedly slated for a 2005 release, but the production appears to have stalled...

Tod Browning, Where Are You?.......2005-01-19

Exploitation meister David Friedman was an expert at churning out low-budget skin-flicks and drive-in masterpieces. "She Freak" has been restored in clear detail and colors and you can see for yourself that Friedman blatantly ripped off Tod Browning's 1931 masterpiece, "Freaks." The movie starts out with promise, giving us glimpses of a real-life carnival, circa l967. But after awhile, it becomes boring. There's no skin shown, no soft-core sex, no violence and no suspense. There's even a scene taken literally from the ending of "Freaks" in which the devious heroine is transformed into a monster--bad make-up and all.

A "Freaks" remake without freaks?.......2000-08-10

David F. Friedman, former collaborateur of H.G. Lewis, produced this low budget horror film as an hommage to the travelling carnivals of the US. He took the storyline of "Freaks", the Tod Browning classic, and transformed it into a rather tame film with lots of carnival atmosphere, a little bit of horror and a little bit of skin. So don't expect too much. At that time (1966) real freaks were not available so Friedman used actors in makeup - a major disappointment! This film is a nice little oddity. But definitly not for the gore-hounds...

Exploitation - Sideshow fans rejoice!.......2000-06-20

"She-Freak" is an ultra-low budget remake of Tod Brownings classic "Freaks," only contemporized and in color. This is truly a bad film, and fans of bad b-movies will get a kick out of it. The transfer of the DVD looks great, and the newsreel footage of real freaks is an added bonus. There's also commentary by Exploitation King David Friedman. Would have earned 5 stars if they had included a few trailers to some other films in the "Something Weird" catalog.

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