After a 14-year hiatus, the Final Destination horror franchise returns to theaters on May 16 with Final Destination: Bloodlines. In the first five Final Destination films, death itself creates Rube Goldberg machines out of everyday objects, constructing freak accidents to kill people who previously escaped its grasp. The latest iteration puts a new spin on the formula by making death’s wrath a generational curse.
Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein took their role of carrying on the series seriously, poring over the series’ previous movies for visual and narrative inspiration. But before they were turning family barbecues into death traps, they wrote and directed a very different thriller about a family in peril.
The suspenseful genre-bending film Freaks is a mystery box in the style of 10 Cloverfield Lane, and you’re best off just cueing it up on Netflix or renting it via Prime Video and going in entirely blind. But if you want a bit more persuasion on why you should check it out, I’ll do my best without revealing too much.
The film follows Chloe Lewis (Lexy Kolker), a 7-year-old who has never left her dilapidated home. Her father Henry (Emile Hirsch) keeps the windows covered at all times and the door sealed with a ridiculous number of locks, warning Chloe that he’s protecting her from bad people who would kill her if she went outside. They share meals of canned salmon and ante up giant stacks of money on poker games, with Henry periodically fretfully leaving to gather supplies.
Chloe’s upbringing makes the suburban setting around her seem post-apocalyptic. The clash between Chloe’s curiosity and Henry’s caution, combined with the girl’s longing for an absent mother, is reminiscent of the opening of Sweet Tooth. But between coloring sessions and lessons about the alphabet, Henry coaches his daughter to lie about her identity and childhood, teaches her meditation techniques meant to help her keep cool under pressure, and references bribing a neighbor to adopt her.
The mystery unfolds slowly through glimpses of the world Chloe sees out her window, where birds are stuck in the sky and a too-friendly ice cream man (Bruce Dern) seems to be perpetually parked outside her door, tempting her with bubbles and frozen treats. The extremely disturbing drawings that fill Chloe’s room give way to the visitation of “ghosts” who haunt her closet, and jarring scenes where perplexed, out-of-place characters wander her shoddy room.
Freaks is about the limits of parenting, and the battle of wills between Henry and Chloe. But the question of who’s the true villain in their relationship is hard to answer, as both of them alternate between being sympathetic and monstrous. The plot explores themes found in Stranger Things, The Boys, Looper, and The Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life,” recognizing the borderline sociopathy of young children and the peril of trying to control their lives or shape them with a purpose.
As the twists fall into place, the film is at times deeply disturbing. But it can also be extremely funny, thanks to the banter between Hirsch and Dern, who clash over their goals for Chloe. Freaks has some spectacular action sequences in the vein of Sense8, Chronicle, and Push that are light on special effects and heavy on creativity and pathos.
Not everything about the film works. It’s a bit overlong, dragged down by explaining things that don’t need to be spelled out. Lipovsky and Stein’s attempt to cram in a political message feels hollow, as they explore the persecution of minorities, the threat of drone strikes, and a debate about the difference between “abnormals” and “freaks,” meant to evoke politicized language choices like “illegal aliens” vs. “undocumented immigrants.” Still, Freaks is a wild ride that keeps delivering surprises up until its very satisfying conclusion.
Freaks is streaming on Netflix, or available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV Plus, and other platforms.
