Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

American Horror Story: Freak Show Blu-ray Movie Review

She's one of them.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 7, 2015

Somewhere out there, maybe in some dusty vault, perhaps in some unmarked cardboard box that contains the tattered remnants of some long ago film executive’s memorabilia, it may exist. It won’t be voluminous, perhaps requiring only one medium sized reel to hold its twenty six minutes of celluloid, but for film buffs who continue to marvel when treasures like the 1916 version of Sherlock Holmes suddenly show up after years of having been presumed lost, or for those who yearn for some trove to contain the segments excised from Orson Welles’ original conception of The Magnificent Ambersons, there’s a tantalizing collection of “lost” footage which might be among the most fascinating ever unearthed—the nearly half hour removed from Tod Browning’s 1932 opus Freaks after original test audiences were so aghast at the imagery that some evidently threatened to sue (hey, it was a “kinder, gentler” time, after all). Freaks was supposed to be Browning’s triumphant follow up to Dracula, a film which unexpectedly (to Universal, anyway) had become a phenomenon of sorts, despite the studio’s evident discomfort with Browning’s version. Freaks was even edgier than Bram Stoker’s iconic tale of a Transylvanian vampire, positing an unlikely love story of sorts among deformed people who have become part of a traveling carnival show. Decades before director Michael Winner invited the umbrage of audiences and critics alike by using a coterie of physically handicapped people in the climax of The Sentinel, Browning had the supposedly bright idea of hiring actual sideshow performers to flesh out his cast in Freaks, and the result did not sit well with either studio bigwigs or (probably more importantly) audiences. (Speaking of sideshow, among the cast members of Freaks were the Siamese twin Hilton Sisters, whose life story was ostensibly told in the musical Side Show). Freaks crashed and burned at time, effectively putting an early end to Browning’s promising career (though he managed to scratch and claw his way through a few more films in the ensuing decade after Dracula), but its cultural impact, even in its heavily redacted form after Metro Goldwyn Mayer removed those pesky 26 minutes, continued to grow, reaching a new apex in the (probably not coincidentally drug addled) 1960s and 1970s, when the film started showing up in midnight showings on campuses and art houses. While the much shortened version of Freaks contains a number of narrative hiccups, some of its imagery is still quite redolent, and the film has continued to inform any number of multimedia outings, offerings as disparate as Clerks: The Animated Series to Bill Griffith's iconic Zippy the Pinhead to, now, American Horror Story: Freak Show. If there’s a “Freaks curse” of sorts, this latest iteration of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s intriguing anthology series manages to largely sidestep it, offering another season of bizarre imagery and creepy “delights”.

On its face, this season of American Horror Story might seem to have fewer of the complex plot mechanics that have sometimes informed previous seasons. The setup this time is fairly basic, following the exploits of Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange), a proprietress of a traveling freak show who has outsized (and perhaps delusional) dreams of stardom. Most of the color this season comes from the gaggle of performers and hangers on at Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities, none more so than this season’s real standout as an unforgettable character, the two headed (kind of) Siamese twin set played by Sarah Paulson, courtesy of some eye popping special effects magic. The twins are machinating Dot and apparently naive Bette Tattler, whose dead mother is discovered in one of the season’s sillier opening gambits. That eventually puts the pair under the aegis of Elsa, who hasn’t exactly been experiencing rapture at the box office in 1952 Jupiter, Florida. Elsa sees the Tattler Twins as a potential major rung on the ladder to showbiz success.

Among the other “drawers” in Elsa’s so-called cabinet are bearded lady Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates, looking for all the world kind of like Orson Welles with her facial hair) and her son Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters), a youth whose lobster like hand-claws and digital dexterity make him a “special guest” at certain Tupperware parties full of sexually repressed housewives, in one of this season’s more subversive subplots. More of an emotional misfit than a physical one, Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) acts as an enforcer around camp, and also has a personal relationship with both Jimmy and Ethel which informs several episodes and one longer arc going forward in this season. Another season long arc involves wealthy socialite Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) and her sociopathic son Dandy (Finn Wittrock), with the latter character providing this year with some of its most histrionic Grand Guignol content. As is this series’ tendency, the supporting cast is stuffed to the gills with both recurring characters and various guest stars (including a couple of “surprises” from previous seasons), but the overall narrative, while slight at times, is always abundantly clear.

While there are the requisite family dysfunctions, long buried mysteries and even occasional shocking deaths that color this year’s escapades, especially with this season’s most disturbing visual trope, the really scary murderous clown Twisty (John Carroll Lynch), American Horror Story: Freak Show is really one of the more character driven seasons of the anthology, one which relies at least as much on the pure, unadulterated oddity of these “differently abled” people as it does on any perceived plot machinations. As is detailed throughout some of the supplements included on this new set, there’s absolutely no doubt that the ghost of Browning and Freaks hovers both over and within the entire season, and not necessarily just from a visual standpoint. One of Freaks’ most memorable moments comes when one character is accepted as “one of us”, meaning one of the titular group of supposed outsiders. While Sarah Paulson’s tour de force as the completely different Tattler sisters is the overall performance(s) coup of this season, it’s really Lange’s arc as the star obsessed Elsa who really reinvests the whole “one of us” ethos with a new interpretation, offering an ironic and dystopian view of saving grace.

American Horror Story: Freak Show Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Horror Story: Freak Show is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is one of the more intentionally cinematic set of episodes from this series which already has a reputation for stylistic flourishes. A number of genres, including film noir, are referenced in various moments, and as per previous seasons, various directors and cinematographers have toyed with the image in various ways, including quite a few desaturated, oddly color timed, and/or black and white flashback sequences. Different stocks have also been utilized, resulting in a fairly wide array of sharpness and clarity over the course of the thirteen episodes. There are some issues with splotchy yellow artifacts afflicting the image fairly regularly in darker scenes, or often in this season's repeated technique of split screen sequences. Contrast can also be slightly anemic, especially in some darker interior scenes which offer only baseline levels of shadow detail and fine detail. Otherwise, though, this is a solid, if also (probably intentionally at times) fairly soft looking season, with some really frightening moments of fine detail in elements like Twisty's grimace seen in bright sunshine.

American Horror Story: Freak Show Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Horror Story: Freak Show continues the series' fine tradition of well done and consistent immersion, delivered once again via a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. As outré as the subject matter is this time around, in some ways this season offers more opportunities for a naturalistic assortment of ambient environmental sounds, courtesy of life around the carnival camp. As per previous seasons, there are a glut of not just overt sound effects, but more subliminal elements like rumbling LFE that produces angst almost automatically. Dynamic range continues to be wide throughout the series. Dialogue and score are cleanly rendered and well prioritized.

American Horror Story: Freak Show Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Getting Freaky: A Peek Under the Tent (1080p; 20:13) is a spoiler filled look at the season, with some good interviews.


• Two Heads are Better Than One (1080p; 10:17) is a really interesting look at this season's most arresting character(s).


• Twisty: Behind the Mask of Terror (1080p; 12:25) will give nightmares to those with coulrophobia.


• Freaklore: The Specter of Edward Mordrake (1080p; 9:04) focuses on this season's Halloween two-fer.


• Extra-Ordinary Artists (1080p; 26:28) discusses the casting challenges this season faced. This contains some really fascinating interviews.


• Hollywood Freak Show Hollywood Premiere (1080p; 4:51) is a brief EPK with interviews on the red carpet.

American Horror Story: Freak Show Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

American Horror Story: Freak Show doesn't really have the florid Gothic story sensibilities of several previous seasons of the show, though it tries to invest some of the back stories in play with the requisite amount of drama and hyperbole. This season works much more effectively as an often devastating character piece, one which toys with age old ideas of belonging and perceived differences, while also chasing after perhaps more mundane proclivities like an aging woman's desperate desire for stardom. The series continues to be visually fascinating a lot of the time, and Twisty the Clown certainly joins the already disturbing pantheon of iconic visual frights this series has regularly offered since the first season's rubber suited phantom. Technical merits are generally very good to excellent, and there are some appealing supplements, including some really interesting interviews with some actual "differently abled" cast members. Recommended.