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‘Blood Sucking Freaks’ a.k.a. ‘The Incredible Torture Show’ |
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Written by Larry Clow
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Friday, 15 June 2007 |
AFDC, 1976
starring: Seamus O’Brien, Luis De Jesus, Viju Krem and Niles McMaster
directed by: Joel M. Reed
the plot: Each night, in a ratty theatre in SoHo, Master Sardu (O’Brien) welcomes audiences to his “Theatre Macabre,” a Grand Guignol-style show that features what appears to be the staged torture and murder of young women. What the audience doesn’t realize, though, is that the murders are real. Sardu and his diminutive assistant, Ralphus (De Jesus), wantonly kidnap young girls for both the sadistic S&M show and a bloodthirsty slavery ring. During one performance, Sardu spots famous ballerina Natasha D’Natalie (Krem) and her boyfriend, star quarterback Tom Maverick (McMaster), in the audience. After his show receives a drubbing from a newspaper critic, Sardu pledges to produce an all-star ballet that incorporates the best and most torturous elements of his show. To do so, he kidnaps D’Natalie and proceeds to brainwash her into performing in the show. When D’Natalie disappears, Tom Maverick teams up with a corrupt cop to find the missing ballerina. But nothing can prepare the men for what they find when they venture into Sardu’s twisted dungeon of horrors.
why it’s good: “Blood Sucking Freaks” was the “Hostel” of its day, a rather sick and twisted film almost exclusively about torture and murder. But for all the mean-spirited violence to be found in “Freaks,” there’s also a sort of good-natured camp about it that, depending on your perspective, either makes the violence all the more disturbing or makes the film easier to watch. O’Brien and De Jesus make a surprising comedic duo, and not just because one of them is a tall, gaunt, effeminate white guy and the other a black little person with a penchant for spontaneous dancing. The two have a good-natured rapport and an odd comedic chemistry, both of which seem out of place in a film populated with beheadings, dismemberments and various medieval tortures. The utterly terrible special effects also make “Freaks” a bit easier to stomach. The very nasty bits don’t look even remotely real, and, in some cases, are laughably staged, such as the “unnecessary brain surgery” scene. It’s also worth noting the controversy “Freaks” attracted upon its initial release. Andrea Dworkin’s Women Against Pornography group successfully lobbied the MPAA not to rate the film, thus keeping it out of theaters until Troma Films released it theatrically in the 1980s. It’s unlikely such controversy would pop up today—“Hostel” and its ilk are box-office hits and seem to fly through the MPAA system with little objection.
why you should own it: Exploitation cinema fans and trash cinema aficionados should probably check out “Freaks” at least once, just to get a sense of the hype surrounding the film. However, “Freaks” isn’t the kind of film that inspires repeated viewings. Predictably enough, Troma’s DVD features a commentary track by “Hostel” director Eli Roth, who claims “Freaks” influenced a generation of filmmakers.
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