On the DVD's cover of this straight-to-video mess is the hype, "In the Tradition of Tod Browning's FREAKS." As bad as Browning's opus was, it was a masterpiece compared to this 2007 version. Oh, sure, there are similarities between the two freak flicks. Both Browning's and Bell's exploitation expos are badly acted, technically inept, and appear to have been edited with hedge shears (some of the scene shifts in "Freakshow" are so badly constructed, the viewer has no idea what happened).<br /><br />Anyway, "Freakshow" does follow (read: "steal") the plot of "Freaks" (a white trash non-freak chick attempts to marry a circus freak to get at his money). In the original, the horny mark was a midget, but in this movie, the "victim husband" is a guy with bad teeth and covered with boils. The viewer gets to meet a large variety of physically and mentally deformed characters (none of whom could act) in the original. In this remake, there's a bunch of freaks, too; one armless dude, one legless guy, a handful of dwarfs and a bunch of extras in bad make-up and cheap masks (none of these people can act, either).<br /><br />"Freakshow" meanders on really not reminding the viewer of Browning's flick until the pre-wedding party scene where the freaks induct the bride-to-be into their world. If you remember that wonderful scene from the original flick ("One of us! One of us!") you're going to hate the way it was re-imagined for this movie. And then there's the ending.<br /><br />Tod Browning's final scene revealed that enigmatic and jaw-dropping "duck-girl." The viewer had no idea how she got that way, but they knew that the freaks had turned the unfaithful woman into the greatest freak of all. It seems that Keith Leopard, "Freakshow" scribe, decided that anyone who plunked down four bucks to rent this turkey deserves to see how... perhaps, I've said enough. Suffice it to say that the reason the film had no production values to speak of was because they had spent all of their money on the special effects for the last 10 gut-wrenching minutes. A lot of times, an "unrated" tag on a film is nothing more than a marketing tool. Those last 10 minutes take "Freakshow" way out of "R" land.<br /><br />Tod Browning's "Freaks" really was nothing more than cinematic filler leading up to the final, quick glance of duck-girl. "Freakshow" also wants the viewer to be amazed at the final denouement.<br /><br />But, you are going to be soooooo disappointed.