In case you were wondering what Alex Winter did as a follow-up to the Bill and Ted movies, this is it. Freaked is a truly surreal film about an arrogant actor (played by Winters) who ends up getting physically deformed when he pisses off the wrong guy. He accepts a ton of money to promote "Zygrot 24", a fertilizer that turns out to be pretty bad news. But when he gets to South America, he runs into a shady freak show owner, played by (unsurprisingly) Randy Quaid. He and his friends end up getting put in his Tasty Freekz Machine, which uses Zygrot 24 to turn average people into members of his freak show. Once turned into a half-man, half-monster, he meets the rest of the gang. Highlights include Sockhead, which is pretty much just Bobcat Goldthwait as a man with a sock puppet for a head, and The Hideous Frogman, which boils down to a Frenchman in a scuba suit. So right about now, you might be thinking it makes sense that after test screenings the studio decided that this film was just too weird, and it was only released at a handful of theaters nationwide. But if you like absurd humor, this might just be the best movie you've never seen.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
