I really don't know what they were going for here.
Capturing none of the lurid, campy macabre that made the first movie a cult classic, this one oscillates awkwardly between dark comedy and trying to be "Freaks" for Generation X. You don't know if the the nauseating sentimentality about being nice to the disfigured (as admirable as it is) is meant to be a sincere message or just a way to accentuate the humour. The whole is just a tonal mess, it doesn't juxtapose its elements, it just slams them together and calls it a day.
It gets hard to root for the people you're pressured to root for and the best character (the journalist) totally doesn't get the deal she should.
The make up is fascinating but conceptually it, again, does not work because it's just hyperbolic. Imagine your worst nightmare as a 6 year old, this is what we're working with. "Freaks" managed to make its message clear and feel sympathetic for its "unique individuals" a while before segregation was lifted.
This movie just feels exploitative in a way that even the lovers of the transgressive and insensitive will wince at.
Admittedly it can be funny as that lady keeps a straight face as she wonders through Jim Henson's acid trip but the gag wears very thin.
Capturing none of the lurid, campy macabre that made the first movie a cult classic, this one oscillates awkwardly between dark comedy and trying to be "Freaks" for Generation X. You don't know if the the nauseating sentimentality about being nice to the disfigured (as admirable as it is) is meant to be a sincere message or just a way to accentuate the humour. The whole is just a tonal mess, it doesn't juxtapose its elements, it just slams them together and calls it a day.
It gets hard to root for the people you're pressured to root for and the best character (the journalist) totally doesn't get the deal she should.
The make up is fascinating but conceptually it, again, does not work because it's just hyperbolic. Imagine your worst nightmare as a 6 year old, this is what we're working with. "Freaks" managed to make its message clear and feel sympathetic for its "unique individuals" a while before segregation was lifted.
This movie just feels exploitative in a way that even the lovers of the transgressive and insensitive will wince at.
Admittedly it can be funny as that lady keeps a straight face as she wonders through Jim Henson's acid trip but the gag wears very thin.