Freaks (2019)

Elevator Pitch: In a run down house a man lives with a seven year old girl, Chloe, who is being tutored to be someone other than she actually is, and over time she seems to know more abou the outside world than she should. She hankers after ice-cream and sees people and events in the closet in her bedroom. When the man, who may be her father, goes out for supplies and comes back having been shot, passing out in the kitchen, Chloe goes out, attracted by an ice-cream van, which is operated by a man who claims to be her grandfather and who takes her to meet a policewoman in a diner. He, it seems, is intent on rescuing his daughter, who is imprisoned somewhere. What is going on?

Content: No sex, nudity, drinking or smoking. Much time is spent in the run down house with the curtains closed, but it becomes apparent why the girl is being tutored. She has what seem to be visions, which include visits to the house over the road, and later her mother manacled in a dark space, even though she is supposed ot be dead. People get stabbed in the eye, but you have to be alert to see why. There are a number of events involving what seem to be SWAT teams who shoot people.

A View:  This movie was well liked by the critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 87%, but on the other hand it was only reviewed by 76 critics. I have no idea what determines whether a critic will watch a movie. But even though it was also quite well liked by the IMDb population it only made a total of $335,000 at the box office. There are a number of inconsistencies, particularly in the area of what Chloe, her mother, her father and grandfather can do – can’t say more. What can I say? Well, if this short review piques your interest the film is probably worth the cost of a download.

Assitional Info: Zach Lipovsky is a young director who was a finalist in a reality show called “On The Lot” in 2007 and Adam B. Stein is a young editor.