And while we are talking about Freakshows carnivals and clowns, the lady of the day is the sexiest clown of all Harley Quinn!
The 1932 film Freaks by Tod Browning starring mostly actual circus sideshow workers was about a circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance and what happens to her when they find out! The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short fiction story "Spurs". Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks", rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences. youtu.be/vJVXTKkjsxA
I'll be choosing several songs for today because music like potato chips "you can't have just one" My first choice for the freak themes music is Super Freak by Rick James youtu.be/QYHxGBH6o4M
Freaked in 1993 was a sci-fi comedy but it does fit the theme! A story about a vain actor, his best friend, and an activist end up at a mutant freak farm run by a weirdo scientist.
Freakshow in 2007 was basically a remake of the 1932 Freaks movie, so will get no more than a cursory mention.
My favorite carnival or freakshow movie has got to be Carnival of Souls. Made in 1962 about a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival after an accident. youtu.be/exUFpSFblaw
Next song on my list is Le Freak by Chic youtu.be/h1qQ1SKNlgY
Then we have Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury's 1962 novel was his second book set in the fictional Green Town (based on the author's own hometown of Waukegan, Illinois), but actually began life as a film treatment entitled The Black Ferris, with screen legend Gene Kelly planning to direct. While that project and other prior attempts to film the novel fell through, it finally got the green light two decades later, when Walt Disney Pictures was testing the waters of more grown-up entertainment, and Bradbury was hired to craft the screenplay. Although Jason Robards was the best-known cast member at the time, the film would become a cult classic thanks to the brilliant performance of Jonathan Pryce as Mr. Dark, whose demonic carnival steals the souls of townspeople by tempting them with their deepest desires, and who delivers awesome lines like "We butter our plain bread with delicious pain." Also notable is the appearance of genre legend Pam Grier as Dark's incredibly hot supernatural sidekick, a fanastic score by James Horner, and some serious scares for a PG Disney flick. youtu.be/Up7KHbJTmoo
Then we have Freak out by 311 youtu.be/fTv3Rn3pWYM
up next is The Funhouse in 1981. Although it took some time to gather its fanbase, Tobe Hooper's amazingly creepy 1981 flick now ranks on many horror fans' fave lists, somewhere below Hooper's undisputed masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While it's basically a slasher flick at heart, it's the unbearably sleazy atmosphere of the carnival setting that sets it miles above lesser entries in the genre, and although it's won a lot of acclaim for the grotesque monster makeup by Rick Baker, one of the creepiest aspects of The Funhouse is the carnival's gallery of loony workers, including William Finley as a drunk magician, Sylvia Miles as a haggish fortune-teller, and Kevin Conway as three different carnival barkers, each with a sleazier pitch ("They are authentic, and they are alive! Alive, alive, alive!"). For an even more twisted time, check out the novelization by Dean Koontz (originally written under the pen-name Owen West), which expands the characters' back-stories in such horrifying ways it makes the film version seem like a kiddie flick. youtu.be/BMoQQ7OsX5M
Freak by Silverchair is one of my favorite tunes off of their Album Freak Show youtu.be/niVzMcA3FNM
Then we have the weird and certainly freakish Santa Sangre. Beloved around the world for his grotesquely beautiful cinematic experiments like El Topo and The Holy Mountain, Chilean filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky is one of genre cinema's most intriguing artists, and his films are cosmic puzzles that require an open mind (and often a strong stomach) to appreciate. Only once in his career did Jodorowsky venture into a more linear storytelling style, with this giallo-style thriller (produced by Claudio Argento, Dario's brother and fellow filmmaker) set in the conflicting worlds of a surreal Mexican circus and a local religious cult who revere a dismembered rape victim as their saint. As he does so well, Jodorowsky uses this backdrop to blend images of sex, sadism, mystic symbols and dreamlike imagery (including a haunting scene involving the funeral of an elephant). The final twist is reminiscent of Psycho, but with the director's own unique metaphysical touch, and it's somehow grim and uplifting at the same time. youtu.be/VR6NeM3-wOE
Lets not forget KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE! Dun dun DUN! youtu.be/yQ_bUR4TQy0
My next choice is Carnival of Blood Filmed in 1970 at Coney Island amusement park, this is actually a proto-slasher tale, concerning a psycho who selects his victims from the park's rides, and who may have an arrangement with the carnival's creepy-looking barker and his deformed assistant Gimpy, played by a pre-Rocky Burt Young (who sports some of the least convincing burn makeup I've ever seen). This one is also unique on this list for being the only carnival horror movie where the patrons are more unsettling than the carny workers. youtu.be/rSDMkYWzMLA
Lastly I am going to mention a movie I quite enjoyed The Devils Carnival from the same guys that gave us Repo the Genetic Opera. Highly recommended, beautiful set, mesmerizing costumes and captivating music. I can't praise this enough, however as a word of warning if you aren't into Brecht style Operas I wouldn't suggest it. youtu.be/v2hqUqsxe9w
Last up we have Freak on a Leash by Korn get oyur Kilts on everybody! youtu.be/LbuM2q1VJSw
Recipe for today is not really a recipe perse but just something really fun to do with kids. Try making these super easy Spider Cookies next time you have a houseful. Use Halloween sandwich cookies (We used Oreos with orange filling)
Small Candy Coated Chocolate Candies (We used mini M&M's)
Licorice Whips, cut into 2-3″ pieces
A small amount of chocolate frosting
Just insert the licorice whip pieces into the cookie filling for legs. Using dots of frosting, "glue" the candy eyes to the top of the cookie.
My own Harley Quinn piece I did a few years ago
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