I have spent most of my youth studying horror films. They vary from psychological thrillers to gory blood fests. Over the time, the genre of horror has changed quite a bit. While I was searching for the film, Freaks, I noticed that every title had horror in parenthesis. After watching the film, I can see why many people of the time considered it a horror film.
To conservative people of the 1930's, seeing real "freaks" could be extremely scary. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time people that were really mentally and physically disabled were featured on the big screen. Many people of the time have never seen this before, so it could honestly be very jarring.
Since I am very desensitized to horror, this film didn't strike me as falling under that category. But, of someone that isn't exposed to something so strange and real, I can see where it would be "terrifying".
I agree with you. I tried to put myself in the shoes of someone seeing this film as it first came out. Freaks pushed the boundaries of what many people would consider social norms. The ending is what sold it as horror for me. Though in todays horror films Freaks would not be considered up to par.
ReplyDeleteI one-hurdred percent agree with you. Nowadays, we would not call this film a horror, but to many back then it would be a horror film. I think people were just not educated on birth defects and abnormalities back then and that gave opportunity to call these people "freaks", which then dubbed this movie a horror. Also, I like how you said "I am very desensitized to horror, this film didn't strike me as falling under that category" because that is exactly how i felt after watching the film. Like I said I agree with you. Good post!
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