Freaks
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: February 20, 1932 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
Freaks is filled with poignancy; it offers a premonition of eugenics, as well as a provocative comparison with the alienated condition of women and the freakish nature of all showbiz celebrity. It is a work of genius. Read full review
100
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Tod Browning's heartbreaking, empathetic story of circus life is one of the most striking, unforgettable movies ever made. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike Clark
The most un-MGM movie that the studio ever made gave Dracula director Tod Browning the chance to tell a story that horrified audiences. [13 Aug 2004, p.4E]
80
CineVueMartyn Conterio
Undoubtedly flawed, Freaks is also admirably bonkers and quite simply unforgettable. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Although slow-moving and uneven, Freaks is one of Browning's more consistently fine films, a landmark still worth seeing. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Mark Kermode
Today, Browning’s sympathies are clear; if there are “freaks” on display here, they are not the versatile performers to whom the title seems to allude. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
If the heart of the horror movie is the annihilating Other, the Other has never appeared with more vividness, teasing sympathy, and terror than in this 1932 film by Tod Browning. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
Unclassifiable odd masterpiece. Read full review
80
The New YorkerPauline Kael
A true nightmare.
75
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Today, hardcore fans have a way of trivializing the film’s moral significance, some calling it a mere “masterpiece of shock cinema.” This is to seriously underplay the film’s blistering humanity and the audacious aesthetic and philosophical lengths to which Browning goes to challenge the way we define beauty and abnormality. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Much of what makes Freaks so unsettling comes from its refusal to treat its stars as, well, freaks. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneStaff (Not Credited)
Wallace Ford co-stars, but make no mistake, it's the actual sideshow talents whose unusual traits have kept this film singular and unforgettable. [19 Oct 2007, p.C5]
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
A piercing dignity defines this infamous Tod Browning picture, in which a community of circus sideshow performers exact revenge on the trapeze beauty who exploits one of their own. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMark Chalon Smith
Freaks is a wild ride, but it's not the monster-trip some say it is. It is macabre and disturbing, but Browning chose to humanize the deformed characters at the movie's shadowy center, not to demonize them. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStaff (Not Credited)
Freaks is not a picture to be easily forgotten. Read full review
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