Before American Horror Story: Freak Show was even a blip on creator Ryan Murphy’s radar, Tod Browning’s 1932 classic Freaks was the Freakiest Show (sorry, David Bowie). In fact, during pre-production for the second season of AHS (Asylum), Murphy modeled one of Briarcliff’s inmates after the (derogatorily named) “Pinheads” from Browning’s outing, giving us Pepper (artfully portrayed by Naomi Grossman) a childlike, murderous microcephalic oddity with a mostly-shaved head and a chillingly toothy grin. The character was an unsettling presence in the dank Asylum and served as a total homage to the inspiration from which she was created.
Grossman’s transformation into Pepper.
Since then, Murphy had been interested in telling the tales of those deemed “freaks” by society, but didn’t consider fleshing out a full season until the idea was broached by Jessica Lange herself. As we witnessed last week, a carnival-themed season full of outcasts became the backdrop for the fourth season, taking place in a 50’s-based, post-war America, with Lange becoming the leader of the Freak Show, and Pepper becoming the first-ever character to cross over from one AHS season to another. And it’s largely thanks to Browning (among others).
When Freaks arrived in 1932, cinema was filled with Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich. Grand Hotel won the Best Picture Oscar, and Katherine Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman made their film debuts in A Bill of Divorcement and Landskamp, respectively. Although Bela Lugosi was reppin’ the horror scene with White Zombie, horror, as a genre, was a freak show in itself. Freaks was the very first horror project taken on by MGM, and perhaps, a feat ahead of its time that they simply weren’t ready for.
Grossman’s actual face. Make-up, man.
Although it’s been said that Browning had considerable leeway in the creation of the film, the runtime was cut from its original 90 minutes to 64 minutes after controversy sprung. Disastrous test screenings brought lots of negative word of mouth. One woman even threatened to sue MGM, claiming the film had caused her to have a miscarriage. Scenes removed included one character’s castration, a sequence of the freaks attacking another character, and most of the film’s original epilogue. The scenes that were cut from the original version are regrettably considered lost forever.
Browning’s film is also notable for his use of real life sideshow acts. There are real microcephalics, a woman with no arms, a bearded lady who actually spent her life performing in a family circus, an actor who claimed to be a true half-woman-half-man hermaphrodite, and many more abnormalities abound. All of Browning’s cast had real deformities and knowing that going into a viewing adds a whole new level of eeriness to an already super dark film. Yet still, Freaks comes off as insanely shocking.
Throughout the hour-long movie, the physically deformed “freaks” turn out to be trusting, loving and honorable to each other, suggesting that the real monsters just might be the “normal” members of the circus who have nefarious plans of their own. Don’t judge a book, people!
Despite losing $164,000 for MGM (and sinking Browning’s career – the man who directed Bela Lugosi in Dracula couldn’t find work after – mind-boggling!), Freaks to this day pops up in many Top Cult and Horror film lists of all time. To really celebrate the beauty of American Horror Story this season, Browning’s classic is a must-see. It’s a daring piece of film, not only bearing in mind the year of its release, but also the state of the horror genre at the time, which was dead focused on Monster Movies (The Mummy came out that same year, with The Invisible Man right on its tail in 1933). Any horror fan…or hell, any American Horror Story fan…would do him- or herself a disservice by not checking this one out. It’s weird as shit…but it’s worth it.
As for Pepper…maybe we’ll see her get carted off to Sister Jude’s Asylum this season.
Freaks is available for rent on DVD through Netflix and available for purchase on Amazon here.
