POPSUGAR UK

Your Spoiler-Free Guide to Freaks, the Buzziest Thriller on Netflix Right Now

13/03/2020 - 08:05 PM

FREAKS, from left: Lexy Kolker, Emile Hirsch, 2018.  Well Go USA / courtesy Everett Collection

While skimming Netflix's latest releases [1], you might encounter a Canadian movie called Freaks, which has already been surrounded by a ton of buzz. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, the film's twisty trailer [2] offers a promising sci-fi [3] thriller story centreed around a young girl who discovers the outside world after spending her life inside a shabby house. It's certainly a mindbender, with an absorbing lead performance from newcomer Lexy Kolker, as well as support from a solid cast that features Emile Hirsch [4] and Bruce Dern. If you're keen to learn all the relevant (and spoiler-free!) details of Freaks before adding it to your Netflix queue [5], read on.

Basically, Freaks follows a seven-year-old girl named Chloe (Kolker), whose disturbed and controlling father (Hirsch) locks her in a run-down house to keep her safe. Chloe longs for the outside world and her mother, although her father, who strangely bleeds from his eyes, insists that the people outside will hurt them. One day, she goes outside to get a treat from Mr. Snowcone (Dern), an older gentleman running an ice cream truck nearby. When Chloe steps out, we learn why her father was so protective of her and what happened to her mother. There's something special about Chloe and her family, that's for sure.

Freaks first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sept. 2018 and screened at a handful of other festivals as well. It came out commercially to theatres in Canada and the United States a year later in Sept. 2019, distributed by Well Go USA Entertainment [6]. While the film didn't make much at the box office, it became a sleeper hit when it dropped on Netflix. The verdict? It's a decent movie. Since its release last year, reviews have been trickling in, and most of the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. The film currently holds a certified fresh 87 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes [7]. If you have about an hour-and-a-half to spare and want to load up an action-packed movie, Freaks is worth a watch.


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.co.uk/entertainment/what-is-freaks-movie-about-on-netflix-47308868