Film Review: FREAKED (1993)

Actor Alex Winter is best known for his work in The Lost Boys (1987) and the two Bill & Ted films so most people don’t realized that he’s also a writer and director.  After writing and directing several short films he and Tom Stern co-directed the oddity Freaked (1993).  Winter stars as Ricky Coogan, a famous child actor down on his luck who is now prompted to be the spokesperson for a toxic waste company in South America.  With his most trusted friend Ernie (Michael Stoyanov) and activist Julie (Megan Ward), Ricky finds himself at the laboratory of Elijah Skuggs (Randy Quaid) who has been using the toxic waste to create and experiment on people whom unwillingly show up at his property.  Ricky, Ernie, and Julie soon find themselves Skuggs next freaks in his crazy menagerie of toxic created monstrosities that are kept in a barn out of public view.

Refusing to bow down to Skuggs rules and live the remainder of his life as a victim of Skuggs’ cruel experiments, Ricky hatches a plan to get all of his fellow freaks together to return them to normal and escape from Skuggs’ laboratory.

Winter also writes with Stren and Tim Burns this odd comedy that’s similar in tone to his Bill & Ted films.  The film was ignored upon initial release but has garnered a huge cult following due to the unusual story and eccentric cast of characters played by such names as Mr. T, Bobcat Goldthwait, Brook Shields, and William Sadler, to name a few.  The makeup effects are quite good for the time although heavy stylized for the this type of film.

Freaked is not a film for everyone as it is a product of its time with commentary on toxic waste usage and teen stardom but for people who love The Toxic Avenger this film is right up your alley.

Film Review: WILLOW CREEK (2013)

Writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait has tried his hardest to bring fear back to the urban legend of Bigfoot with his latest film but I can’t help thinking that this film Willow Creek (2013) is nothing more than a carbon copy of The Blair Witch Project (1999) just a little too late. 

Jim (Bryce Johnson) is an avid fan of the Bigfoot legend ever since he was a kid when he first saw the Patterson-Gimlin film of ’67 which supposedly showed evidence of a real Bigfoot walking through the forest.  Now, he’s old enough to explore it on his own and he along with his girlfriend Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) have decided to venture to the original site of the Patterson-Gimlin film in order to see if the legend is real.  Goldthwait’s film follows the same distinct pattern of The Blair Witch Project as Jim and Kelly first interview some locals in order to give the film color and a look at the atmosphere of the film.  Then the two drive to as close as they can to the Patterson-Gimlin incident before heading out on foot.  They make camp and during the night the hear sounds and noises of things they can’t explain (and that the audience never sees).  The next day as they try to get back to their car (all the while bickering about why the whole trip was a bad idea and all his fault) they get lost and turned around and end up right where they started.  Forced to endure another night in the forest the noises and strange events going on into the night are too much for them and they panic and run.

Well, I’m sure you can guess the rest after that as it follows closely to Blair Witch and a plethora of other found footage films.  There are no surprises in this film.  As a found footage film it hits all the right marks, maybe too well, as there is nothing new for this film to say.  The only real saving grace for the film is that Goldthwait has crafted one of the best Bigfoot films out there.  He brings to light all the trappings linked to the legend and crafts a comprehensible and probable myth that doesn’t seem like a shitty Z-horror or Syfy Original monstrosity.

For fans of Bigfoot this is a film to look out for but for horror fans (like myself) who have seen too many found footage films this may seem like a total let down.  I will say that Goldthwait is a director who defies expectation and is someone to look out for in the future as he knows how to craft a horror film, he just needs to express it in a different way (or before a fad fades like the found footage film).