sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Very inferior re-make of the 1932 Ted Browing cult classic "Freaks" with Claire Brennon as social climbing gold digger Jade Cochran who'll step on anyone to get what she wants even if they were the ones who helped her get it! Seeing a chance in working at the local carnival Jade quits her waitress job at her bosses Greasey's, Claude Earl Jones, greasy spoon truck stop diner. Jade gets a job waiting tables at the carnival where she soon ends up marrying the places manager and owner Steve St. Johns, Bill McKinney.At first Jade's very friendly with those she worked with at the carnival but when she married the boss her attitude towards her friends and former fellow employees changed drastically. Jade also ends up cheating on her husband Steve by rekindling her affair with handsome ferris-wheel operator Blackie Fleming, Lee Raymond. It's midget performer Shorty, Felix Silla, who catches both Jade and Blackie in the act, making out with each other, and tips his boss, and Jade's husband, Steve off. This ends up with Shorty getting smacked by Steve in him refusing to believe that Jade is cheating on him. It's later when Steve does catch Jade and Blackie in a motel room together that a violent fight breaks out between the two and Steve ends up getting the worst of it: A knife in the gut by Blackie that ends up killing him! Now with Jade becoming the top man or woman at the carnival she makes life impossible for everyone working for her there. As for Shorty he gets canned by Jade for ratting her out to her husband Steve which in fact, with him getting murdered by Jade's lover Blackie, ended up her getting complete control of the carnival!***SPOILERS*** The ending of "She Freak" is a lot like the ending in the movie "Freaks" with the vengeful carnival freak show performers lead by the just fired from his job Shorty getting their hands of Jade and disfiguring her face and body where she ends up being the star attraction at the carnival freak show. It was a sorry ending for Jade Cochran who had everything to live for but blew it all in showing her true nature as a low down and unfeeling creep when she finally achieved what she always wanted: Total independence and lifetime security. Instead Jade ended up becoming the heartless and sadistic person that she was in the movie in her treating people the way that she did. It was that change of attitude on Jade's part that in the end turned her into what she intimately became.

ferbs54 Opening as it does with an encomium for Bobby Cohn, one of the leaders of the North American Carnival Industry, 1967's "She Freak" at times comes off more as a tribute to life on the midway than a grisly horror film. In it, we are introduced to Jade Cochran (lamely portrayed by Claire Brennen), whose waitressing job in a jerkwater greasy spoon is so dispiriting that her new gig cleaning tables at a traveling carnival seems like a step up. Jade soon sets her sights on the owner of the carnival's freak show, despite her aversion to those poor people, and with her curvy figure, toothy smile and blonde good looks (indeed, Brennen here looks very much like the young Joni Mitchell), has no trouble roping him in. But anyone who has seen Tod Browning's 1932 masterpiece "Freaks" and knows of Olga Baclanova's fate in it (or who has seen the trailer reel that precedes every movie from Something Weird) can guess what happens next. "She Freak" is only 83 minutes long, but at least half its running time consists of padded footage of roustabouts setting up the carnival or tearing it down, or of customers walking around or Jade wandering about. Unlike "Freaks," which shocked and amazed audiences with its large cast of real-life biological sports, "She Freak" offers basically only one of "Nature's mistakes" in the form of Shorty (!), a Stetsoned little person. Still, somehow, the picture manages to barely hold one's interest, and features beautiful color photography (well captured on this surprisingly pristine-looking DVD from those miracle workers at Something Weird) and even some interesting directorial touches from Byron Mabe. Basically, though, the film is junk. Viewers interested in seeing a superior updating of "Freaks" would be better off checking out the British film "The Freakmaker" (1973), which is much more, uh, freaky and a lot more fun.

funkyfry The fact that this movie is a rip-off of Tod Browning's "Freaks" should not be construed as a reason to see it. The photography and acting are bottom drawer, the direction is listless and unimaginative, and writing is rarely sly (or at least it's hard to get any good dialogue out of these actors' mouths). There isn't even all that much exploitation footage here.What is kind of interesting is the picture of carnival life in the 60s (a period of decline for that art form) it provides. Roustabouts, geeks, carneys, all are presented with some sort of versimilitude. With a stronger lead actress and a more competent cast/director, this film could at least have been a memorable shock-fest. Instead, it's ultimately forgettable.

Brian Washington I first saw this on an episode of "Real Wild Cinema" and it thoroughly disgusted me. This has to be one of the worst films that was ever put on celluloid. In fact it makes the film that it was inspired by look like Citizen Kane. The acting is lousy and the plot looks like it was written in an hour by a group of people with a sick sense of humor. I hope that this film gets buried somewhere out in the desert where it will never be found.