This manic, mile-a-minute monster mashup of Forrest J. Ackerman & Alfred E. Neuman lands more laughs-per-scene than any other movie of the ‘90s. It’s also certainly the sole film to feature a flashback by a common household hammer. Fresh off their MTV sketch show The Idiot Box, Tom Stern & Alex “Bill S. Preston, Esq.” Winter somehow convinced 20th Century Fox to bankroll a twelve million dollar freakblast, a film later deemed “too weird” for general consumption and dumped into only two theaters before finding a large cult following on video cassette and cable tv. When a vain former-child-star (Winter), his best friend (Blossom’s Michael Stoyanov) and an outspoken activist (Encino Man’s Megan Ward) stumble across a mysterious sideshow in South America, they soon find themselves part of the grotesque festivities, transformed into hideous mutant freekz at the hands of the demented proprietor (Randy Quaid). Jam-packed with anarchic pop-culture insanity filling every frame, plus jaw-dropping makeup effects by Screaming Mad George, this gut-busting takeoff on Tod Browning’s Freaks finds room to add memorable turns by Mr. T, John Hawkes, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Keanu Reeves as fellow monstrosities
