Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Notable Cast: Lexy Kolker, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern,
Amanda Crew, Grace Park, Ava Telek, Michelle Harrison, Matty Finochio
The mystery box film has been something I’ve always enjoyed.
Even when M. Night Shyamalan essentially claimed the entire genre as his own
for a while, I’ve always appreciated a film that toys with its audience on what
it’s doing or where it’s going. With the way that modern marketing has gone
though, these are a style choice that’s a gimmick more than anything else.
Thinking back to how JJ Abrams has maneuvered the Cloverfield franchise
or his own Super 8, the way that the film industry makes the questions
such a punchline can ultimately undercut the experience of the film. Audiences are immediately looking for the twist. This is what makes Freaks relatively
special. Even the trailer that Well Go USA released gave us just enough about
the basics of the film, but the final product plays with the details throughout so that it
takes two acts before the audience even starts to put things together. It’s an
incredible and powerful experience of cinema. The film ultimately ends up going
into some familiar territory, but the manner that it gets there is riveting and
incredibly well executed. For a mystery box film, it’s a wallop.