10 Best Horror Movies Set In Amusement Parks
3. Freaks (1932)
Was Tod Browning's Freaks the first REALLY controversial film in history?
The movie tells of Cleopatra, a trapeze performer that joins a carnival sideshow. Scheming with "strongman" Hercules, she plots to seduce and marry chief dwarf Hans, only to kill him and inherit his fortune.
If truth be told, the backstory to Freaks' very troubled and controversial production is much more interesting than the film's content. Audiences showed bitter disdain for this carnival-set tale due to its portrayal of real severely disabled actors as homicidal "freaks."
Browning's original cut reached 90 minutes and when test screened was apparently so vile that it caused mass walkouts. Hurriedly the film was shorn by a third and gruesome sequences involving the torture of Cleopatra and the castration of her lover were cut.
However that still wasn't enough to save the film from backlash as many felt its "us and them" portrayal of the disabled versus "normal" people was highly offensive. Disabled people inaccurately labelled as "freaks" and displaying a cult like mentality is undoubtedly taboo to this day.
The film is still worth a look if one wishes to glimpse a horror film made before the infamous Hayes Code of censorship was imposed. The controversy generated by Freaks was the catalyst in bringing the code into force and for that reason the movie has been preserved as "culturally significant."