Jonathan Kieran

As difficult as this may be to believe, this is not the crew of Greta Thunberg’s next flotilla to Nowhere. Before your eyes is part of the cast of MGM’s cult classic, FREAKS. Directed by Tod Browning and released in 1932 under the aforementioned title as well as titles like THE MONSTER’S STORY and (rather cruelly) NATURE’S MISTAKES, this film defied every mainstream cinematic convention of its day, particularly given that it emanated from the glorious auspices of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the most powerful and glamorous of Hollywood’s major studios, renowned particularly for its lavish musicals and wholesome dramatic epics.

FREAKS is the story of a collection of traveling carnival “sideshow people”—those socially rejected and exploited individuals born with various birth defects, syndromes, and other perceived oddities that toured crummy American outposts throughout the late 1800s and well into the early 20th Century. These unfortunate souls were able to find a modicum of “belonging” and dignity in the company of their peers, even as the puerile eyes of crowds paid money to gaze upon them with wonder, pity, and contempt as a form of amusement. In this tale, however, the so-called “freaks” have a chance to exact revenge upon those who abuse them for cynical profit.

The film has long attracted slightly more sympathetic audiences interested in a genuine look at human horror and one of the darkest sides of the historical entertainment landscape. Unnervingly creepy, atmospheric in a mesmerizing way, and shocking to anyone with a heart and soul, the effort was a failure at the box office—often being forbidden altogether from theater showings due to its subject matter. This is all the more ironic given that there was no lack of popular carnival-style interest in such depraved entertainments among American towns and remote counties in the 1930s and beyond.

The motif has nevertheless continued to crop-up in contemporary art, despite the proper end of such abusive pastimes. Take, for example, Katherine Dunn’s magnificent satirical novel, Geek Love, and the Ryan Murphy television project, Freakshow, which was an installment of his American Horror Story anthology series in the 2010s. Viewers brave enough to give the original MGM production a glance, however, will be alternately entranced and repelled by one of the most bewildering films ever released by a legendary studio. It is impossible, now, for compassionate minds to come away from this film without understanding that its original cast members were real people with real lives and feelings … largely trapped in a cycle of exploitation and later dependent upon the tender mercies of strangers and institutions.

Given that the “normal” mainstream society in which we presently live is freakier than anything this film could conjure, take a look at this subversive work of art (if you dare) and weep for the species.

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[ THE WEDNESDAY BOX, a dark fable for all ages by Jonathan Kieran is slated for international release March, 2026)

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