The New York Times
Its most effective trick, though, is to trap us all inside Chloe's head, presenting a child's-eye view of a world gone incomprehensibly mad.
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Freaks (2018)
Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern and Lexy Kolker star in this menacing sci-fi thriller nominated for Best Canadian Feature at Toronto.
"Isolated and desperate to get outside and experience life beyond the crumbling walls of their dilapidated house, Chloe (Kolker) finally makes a break for it when her sleep-deprived father (Hirsch) drifts off. But the outside world isn't all she envisioned ... She's immediately met by a twitchy, oddly familiar ice-cream salesman (Dern) who gives off the wrong kind of vibes but entices Chloe onto his truck. He speeds off to the park and en route she's introduced to a strange world, haunted by the threat of freaks who look like us but are markedly different — and likely dangerous." (Toronto International Film Festival)
2019Rating: M, Violence, offensive language & content that may disturb104 minsUSA
Science FictionThriller
- Director:
- Zach Lipovsky ('Dark Rising: Watchtower')Adam B. Stein (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Zach LipovskyAdam B. Stein
- Cast:
- Emile HirschBruce DernGrace ParkAmanda CrewLexy KolkerDakota DaulbyMatty FinochioMichelle Harrison
Freaks (2018) / Reviews
FilmInk
...an unexpected gem of a film, well-acted, well-written and well-shot, with timely themes and clever staging.
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Variety
A tight yarn whose structural cleverness makes it easy to ignore the deeply familiar story at its core.
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Screen Daily
The film doesn't earn many points for originality, but writer-directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein show just enough low-budget gusto to suggest that they might have a future as B-movie mavens.
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Hollywood Reporter
[Kolker's] semi-improvised performance couldn't be any more authentic and she's well matched with Hirsch, drawing on his own parental experience, as her conflicted and overprotective father.
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Collider
Young Lexy Kolker delivers unforgettable work, and the level of detail and emotion Lipovsky and Stein achieve suggests this isn't a pair to merely lean on a clever concept. They strive to make it mean something and in the case of Freaks they've succeeded.
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