As you can imagine, I watch a lot of different movies even though I clearly have an affinity for superheroes, sci-fi and other genre films.
Back in March, went to this relatively small local genre festival called “What the Fest?,” and I took time to watch a few movies that might not have been on my radar. One of the movies that really blew me away and took me by surprise was Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein’s Freaks. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who loved Freaks, as it won that festival’s Audience Award.
The movie takes place in a future where those with powers are locked up and kept hidden away from a government who will use their powers for nefarious purposes. In this world, a young girl named Chloe, played by the amazing Lexy Kolker – who actually has two TV shows under her belt before the age of 10 including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! — is being holed up in her house by her paranoid father (Emile Hirsch in a very different type role). As she gets older, she becomes more rebellious and brave, wanting to leave the house to go looking for her missing mother.
The Canadian movie had its world premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and it’s been playing a number of genre festivals since then. As far as “alternate indie superhero” movies go — ala this year’s Brightburn and Fast Color — it’s definitely my favorite since Lipovsky and Stein do not skimp on a level of world-building that seems more apropos for a comic book or even a television series.
Freaks also stars Bruce Dern, who is still amazing in every role he plays. (He makes a small appearance in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood if you don’t believe me.)
It’s a different movie for Well Go USA, a studio that has mainly made its bones with Asian genre imports, but they’ve just released a trailer for the movie, which was going to come out on August 23, but was recently pushed back to September 13, getting it out of the doldrums of summer. It will probably only be seen in select cities but expect it to be available to watch On Demand and digital platforms, as well.
Check out the trailer below, and you can immediately see why festival audiences and the critics-in-the-know have been raving about it.