I first saw this grimy, gruesome New York City sleazefest when I was around 12 or 13 years old back in the VHS days. It was a pretty scarring experience that left an indelible impression on my young mind. This film exists in a 70s porn-aesthetic world of gruesome misogynistic horror. At the time I thought the inclusion of jokes while horrific scenes involving brain-drilling, decapitations, eyeball-chomping cannibalism and all kinds of various tortures were going on only served to make things even more off-putting. Watching now, as an adult, there's obviously a great deal of black humour and I find the whole thing to be a riot. Director Joel M. Reed takes the basic outline of H.G. Lewis' classic THE WIZARD OF GORE and injects so much debauchery that he created a 42nd Street classic of his own. Unfortunately Reed would never reach these disgusting heights again and would follow this with only one crappy zombie movie 5 years later. Midget star Louie DeJesus, whose Ralphus character is the standout performance here, would go on to appear in a bunch of porn films.
This was originally titled THE INCREDIBLE TORTURE SHOW and wasn't given the FREAKS moniker until it was re-released in the 80s. Othjer AKA's include SARDU, MASTER OF THE SCREAMING VIRGINS and THE HERITAGE OF CALIGULA: AN ORGY OF SICK MINDS(video title)
There are some alternate scenes involving Sardu & Ralphus in some homosexual antics that are included on the blu-ray release.
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