Freaks (also re-released as The Monster Story,[6] Forbidden Love, and Nature's Mistakes[7]) is a 1932 American pre-Code drama horror film produced and directed by Tod Browning, starring Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, and Roscoe Ates.

Freaks, originally intended as a vehicle for Lon Chaney,[7] is set amongst the backdrop of a travelling French circus and follows a conniving trapeze artist who joins a group of carnival sideshow performers with a plan to seduce and murder a midget in the troupe to gain his inheritance.

The film is based on elements from the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins, first published in Munsey's Magazine in February 1923, with the rights being purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

In response to this, MGM executive Irving Thalberg, without consent of director Browning, edited the original 90-minute feature, which was significantly cut, with additional alternate footage incorporated to help increase the running time.

Freaks made its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in San Diego, shown in full, without the subsequent cuts from January 28 and had a successful run.

[7] Despite the cuts made to the film, Freaks still garnered notice for the portrayal of its eponymous characters by people who worked as sideshow performers and had real disabilities.

"[15] In the book Midnight Movies (1991), critics J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum compare Freaks to Gold Diggers of 1933, writing that the former is "almost literally dealing with the same thing [class disparity]... but more directly—because the end product isn't just putting on a show, but slaves breaking their chains and triumphing over their masters.

[18][19] In his book Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present (2014), critic Jon Towlson proposes that Freaks exemplifies an anti-eugenics sentiment.

"[23] Towlson ultimately concludes that this subversion of character exemplifies a stark opposition to the core belief of eugenics, which is that physical appearance is equated with internal worth.

"[30] Hawkins notes that Browning inverts the audience's expectations, demonstrating that it is "the ordinary, the apparently normal, the beautiful which horrify—the monstrous and distorted which compel our respect, our sympathy, ultimately our affection.

[35] The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at Universal Pictures with Dracula (1931) and for his collaborations with Lon Chaney.

[36] In June 1931, MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg offered Browning the opportunity to direct Arsène Lupin with John Barrymore.

[40] Instead, Russian actress Olga Baclanova was cast as Cleopatra, based on her success in a Los Angeles-produced stage production of The Silent Witness.

[34] Among the supporting characters featured as "freaks", casting agent Ben Piazza scoured the East Coast for over a month and put out advertisements for photographs and screen tests, scouting carnivals and sideshows for Browning; amongst others, a girl with "Elephant skin", "a boy with dog legs", "a giant", "a bunch of pygmies" and the legendary dwarf performer "Mega Mite" didn't make the cut.

[7][41] The cast that would included Peter Robinson ("The Human Skeleton"); Olga Roderick ("The Bearded Lady");[42] Frances O'Connor and Martha Morris ("armless wonders");[43] and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.

[34] Among the microcephalic characters who appear in the film (and are referred to as "pinheads" throughout) were Zip and Pip (Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow) and Schlitzie, a man named Simon Metz who wore a dress.

[44] Also featured were the intersex Josephine Joseph, with her left-right divided gender;[45] Johnny Eck, the legless man, who was scouted for the role while performing in Montreal;[46] the completely limbless Prince Randian (also known as The Human Torso and miscredited as "Rardion");[47] Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman; and Koo-Koo the Bird Girl, who had Virchow–Seckel syndrome or bird-headed dwarfism and is most remembered for the scene wherein she dances on the table.

[49] In January 1932, MGM held test screenings of the film, which proved disastrous: Art director Merrill Pye recalled that "Halfway through the preview, a lot of people got up and ran out.

"[51] Others reportedly became ill, or fainted; one woman who attended the screening threatened to sue MGM, claiming the film had caused her to suffer a miscarriage.

[60] Disillusioned by the backlash the film received, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer sold the distribution rights to Dwain Esper for a 25-year period for $50,000.

"[68] Variety also published an unfavorable review, writing that the film was "sumptuously produced, admirably directed, and no cost was spared, but Metro heads failed to realize that even with a different sort of offering the story is still important.

"[71] The New York Herald Tribune wrote that it was "obviously an unhealthy and generally disagreeable work," but that "in some strange way, the picture is not only exciting, but even occasionally touching.

"[72] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote a favorable review, calling it "a little gem" that "stands in a class by itself, and probably won't be forgotten in a hurry by those who see it."

He found its "perfectly plausible story" a key to the effectiveness of its horror, writing that "It's a chilling notion to imagine these weird beings, with their own lives and vanities and passions, all allied in a bitter enmity against us."

"[74] Jamie Russell of the BBC similarly observed in 2002: "It's easy to see why reactions to the film have been so strong—it's a catalogue of the abnormal, the bizarre, and the grotesque that's still as unsettling today as it was 70 years ago.

[86] The Criterion release features all of the extras included in the original Warner DVD Home Video release, in addition to an audio recording of David J. Skal reading Tod Robbins' "Spurs," film stills, a segment called One of Us: Portraits From Freaks, an episode from critic Kristen Lopez's podcast on the film's disability representation, and a booklet containing photos, credits, and critical essays.

"[90] Critic Derek Malcolm noted in 1999 that the film is "one of the masterpieces of baroque cinema," and a "damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called freaks who made up its cast.

Club describing it as "the film's greatest cultural legacy...  "One of us, one of us, one of us" reliably gets trotted out in situations involving an individual being forced to conform by the masses—I can recall seeing homages on both The Simpsons and South Park, and there are probably dozens of others out there.

[100] Freaks was adapted into a 1992 comic book series, published by Fantagraphics, written by Jim Woodring and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez.

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort and associates chant 'Gooble gobble, we accept you, one of us' while making plans for a darts tournament that involves throwing little people at a target.