Unstable model Cristina Raines, against the advice of her boyfriend (Chris
Sarandon- with the worst moustache you’ve ever seen) moves into new
apartment run by a bunch of freaks who may or may not be a figment of her
imagination.
But in reality (heh, heh) Raines and Sarandon are just
B-grade clones of Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’.
Worse still is the Gil Melle score that blatantly rips off my favourite
horror film, ‘The Omen’, which was released the previous year.
The film
brings little new to the table, including the wonderful Burgess Meredith
unfortunately saddled with the Ruth Gordon role, a chatty, pixie-ish
landlord. He’s good in the role, though, admittedly.
Throw in Arthur
Kennedy hamming it up horribly as a ‘There is Daaaangggerrrrr!’ priest,
Martin Balsam (along with Meredith, he’s the best thing)as an ancient
languages expert, and Beverly D’Angelo and Sylvia Miles as the only
lesbian couple to have me turning away from the screen, and you’ve got one
icky and derivative mess. Oh, did I mention that real freaks were
apparently used?
OVERALL SUMMARY
Freaks aside, the film never gets off the ground because it is a
hodge-podge of every Satanic film you’ve ever seen. The icky climax may be
shamelessly exploitative but it’s the only time this film comes alive,
disappointing considering the cast also includes Eli Wallach, Ava Gardner,
Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, and William Hickey. Watch Tod
Browning’s ‘Freaks’ instead.
