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Freak Out
Directed By Christian James
Released: 2004
Starring: James Heathcote, Dan Palmer, Nicola Connell, and Yazz Fetto
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Released By Anchor Bay Entertainment 2006
Merv Doody (played by James Heathcote) has spent his life obsessed with
horror movies. One night, he captures an escaped mental patient (Yazz
Fetto) after he sneaks into Merv’s home. The Looney turns out to be a big
disappointment as he is the silliest and most timid serial killer
imaginable. With the help of his sleazy friend, Onkey (played by Dan
Palmer), Merv transforms Looney into a full fledged maniacal killer.
Things get out of hand when their killer becomes impossible to control, so
Merv and Onkey abandon him, hoping to be rid of Looney for good. Big
mistake. Now the police suspect Merv of the killings and even worse, Onkey
is his legal representation. These problems seem miniscule once Looney
comes back to finish off his makers and any Larry Hagman fans who happens
to get in the way.
Four years in the making, this British import is completely nuts.
Freak Out tries
too hard in the comedy department and the horror reference department and
dang it, I love it. The filmmakers behind
Freak Out succeed where many horror
comedies fail because they have created their own planet populated by
strange, often pathetic, and hilarious characters. The editing is
energetic as the film moves quickly and scenes don’t last long enough to
ever get dull. Hats off to the crew: camerawork, lighting, and sound are
all quite professional. Gore effects are bargain basement specials but are
very entertaining in their execution.
Performances in Freak Out
are suitably nutty with folks giving their all to the film. Heathcote and
Palmer make an excellent duo and one hopes that Merv and Onkey will
reunite in another feature someday. Yazz Fetto is great as Looney (keep an
eye out for him as The Sheriff as well), the spatula-wielding vegetarian
psycho. The ladies of Freak Out
are quite impressive as well. Nicola Connell is adorable as Abby, Merv’s
sweet and obsessive love interest. The sexy Chili Gold simply rocks as
Cherry, Onkey’s domineering/submissive girlfriend, Cherry.
From Merv’s “sexy” shower scene to the blatant
Evil Dead homage(s)
to the super sappy soap opera bits, Freak
Out works very well and is easy to
recommend to indie enthusiasts and fans of horror spoofs. My only
complaint is that the film runs about ten minutes longer than it should in
order to wrap up a few of its storylines. But hey, if you dig the film,
you probably won’t mind the extra footage and you’ll be giddy once you
check out the plethora of ridiculous nonsense on the DVD. In conclusion, I
guarantee that Freak Out
will satisfy your every desire. Well, it won’t really do that but you
could definitely do worse. It’s clear that Christian James and company
were willing to bust their asses on this project and it shows in the goofy
sincerity of the final product.
DVD Stuff:
Freak Out
looks quite good in its 1.85:1 widescreen presentation despite its cheap
looking source material and the sound is quite clear with no distortion or
hard-to-hear dialogue. The extras begin on the first disc with two feature
length audio commentaries. The first with director Christian James,
actor/writer Dan Palmer, and actor/producer Yazz Fetto. The second
commentary features Christian James, Dan Palmer, actors James Heathcote,
Nicola Connell, Chili Gold, and BBC Radio 1 film critic, James King.
The second disc is absolutely loaded with extras. There is “Making Out”, a
making-of featurette with tons of behind the scenes footage and
interviews, and “Bum-Feeling 101”, a how-to and the finer points of this
sacred art. But wait, there’s more! The disc also includes “5 Minute Film
School”, “Geek Out”, “Zaniac Music Video”, “Honey, I Blew Up The Looney”,
and “The Video Store, a collection of all the TV segments in the film. Not
enough? There’s also 17 deleted scenes introduced by the cast/crew of
Freak Out.
Jeez, buy the DVD already.
Links:
For more info, check out
Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Check out the Freak Out
movie site.
Quotes:
Onkey: “Merv, there are no innocent Larry Hagman fans!”
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Merv: "Dr. Pepper?"
Onkey: "I don't like alcohol. It tastes funny!"
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