Film / Freaks (2018)

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Freaks is a 2018 American-Canadian science fiction thriller film written and directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, starring Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, and Lexy Kolker.

Chloe Lewis (Kolker) is a seven-year-old girl who has been kept in the house all her life by her father, Henry (Hirsch), who tells her that there are "bad men" outside who will kill her if she ever leaves, and that her only chance is to be completely normal. With the influence of a mysterious ice cream man, Mr. Snowcone (Dern), and a growing curiosity about the world outside, Chloe finds that the world outside is not ready for her.

Her mother, Mary (Crew), is not as dead as Chloe had been told, there are dangerous people named Abnormals (referred to by most as Freaks) who are known by the bleeding from their eyes, Mr. Snowcone knows more about her than he has let on, and her new family across the road may not be as willing to take her in as Henry believes. Chloe may not be ready to go out into the world, but they're definitely not ready for her either.

Not to be confused with the 1932 horror film of the same name or the 2020 film Freaks: You Are One of Us, also about superpowers.

This film exhibits the following tropes:

• Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear whether the destruction of Dallas was caused by malice on the part of the abnormal children or an inability to control their powers.
• Anti-Villain: Mr. Snowcone is more along the lines of a supervillain, even down to the name, thanks to the hardships he's experienced with prejudice, but his goal is merely to rescue his daughter.
• Asshole Victim:
  • The main characters use their powers to murder several police officers. But it is hard to feel sorry for them when the police so readily shoot to kill anyone suspected of being "abnormal".
  • Also Nancy Reed, who sells Chloe out to the ADF despite having been paid well to take her in if there was trouble, who is killed when Chloe uses her powers to make it look like Nancy is the one exhibiting powers.
• Badass Normal: Cecilia, an unpowered ADF agent, is able to inflict a mortal wound on both Alan and Henry thanks to quick thinking and good tactics.
• The Bad Guys Are Cops: The police will kill you just for having any superpower.
• Bad Humor Truck: This appears to be Mr. Snowcone's schtick, luring Chloe into his van with a promise of ice cream, and then driving off with her. He's her grandfather, and wants both a chance to spend time with her, and to recruit her to save his daughter, Mary.
• Bait-and-Switch: On the part of the script writers. When introduced, the ice cream man shows all the hallmarks of an evil child abductor. However it turns out he's her granddad. He also appears to be manipulating Chloe into hating cops by calling them "the Bad People" who are trying to kill them, but it turns out they are!
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nancy Reed, whom Chloe idolizes as the perfect mother figure only for her to later reveal she is only acting nice toward her because Henry is paying her to and that she is actually greatly prejudiced toward abnormal people.
• Bittersweet Ending: Chloe is reunited with her mother, but her father and grandfather are dead, and the two survivors also face an uncertain future together.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Both the Abnormals and the ADF (and by extension, the police, and the government as a whole) can be absolutely ruthless, using every means at their disposal, including the murder of children and bystanders. The Abnormals are generally shown to be acting in self-defense, but not always, and at least some are simply trying to live their lives under the radar. The government and the ADF seem to be fighting a war of genocide, but depending on how much sympathy you allow for their justified fear and "pre-emptive defense" position, might shift down into Gray-and-Gray Morality.
• Bodily Fluid Blacklight Reveal: ADF agents detect use of powers by checking for characteristic blood at the corner of the eyes with UV flashlights. While blood is normally not luminescent under a blacklight without a fluid such as luminol, it's possible that the fluid Abnormals leak when using their powers has a different composition.
• Cape Busters: All normal humans hunt down Abnormals by any means necessary.
• Cape Punk: This is a sci-fi/horror film following a super-powered girl hiding from a future society that hunts and kills anyone suspected of having superpowers. Superpowers are widely viewed as nothing but a threat to the system and the general public. The government runs oppressive and pervasive security state complete with secret death camps and very unethical experimental labs. Even members of the public who seem opposed to the extermination policy still view superpowers with fear and disgust.
• Casting Gag: Grace Park is known to many as Number Eight / Sharon "Boomer" Valerii from Battlestar Galactica (2003). In that show, she was a Cylon, a super-powerful infiltrator hidden among humans. Her, she plays an agent tasked with hunting down super-powered infiltrators hidden among humans. In both cases, it's observed that "They look just like us."
• Clark Kenting: Henry tries to conceal his identity by cleaning himself up a little, slicking his hair down, and putting on a pair of glasses. Agent Ray isn't fooled for a second, but plays along with him for a bit.
• Clash of Evolutionary Levels: The baseline humans seek to exterminate the Abnormals, a Human Subspecies that have evolved superpowers. The Abnormals want to survive, and are likely to become a successor race if they do.
• Compelling Voice: Chloe learns she is able to command people to do things, and when she really concentrates, she can take full bodily control. At first this requires her to say what she wants repeatedly, but as Chloe gets stronger she's doing it by thought alone.
• Creepy Good: Mr. Snowcone seems to be an undercover agent and/or child-luring weirdo, but turns out to be Chloe's grandfather. He's still a creepy old guy with a serious mean streak, though.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The cook at the diner, and the neighbor Nancy, both die in the same way. Stabbed in the eye with a pen, set up to look like Freaks, and murdered by ADF agents.
• Differently Powered Individual: They are formally called Abnormals, or informally called Freaks.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: There are parallels between the cops who instantly shoot dead anyone who has bleeding from their eye, and real life allegations against cops who shoot suspects without knowing for certain if they are armed.
  • Similarly, the plight of the abnormal being described as people deemed illegal who thus have to go underground to survive is reminiscent of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
• Enfant Terrible: Early on, Chloe uses her powers to force a pre-teen neighbour to pretend to be her absent mother, and to hug and kiss her in order to fill the void that she feels due to her mother's absence. Later, she escalates to forcing people to kill themselves and others (albeit as an act of self defense). It's indicated in news stories during the film that the force of Abnormal children's powers is part of why the government is tracking down and killing Abnormals, showing that apparently the children's powers leveled the entirety of Dallas.
• Eye Scream:
  • Downplayed when the grandfather jabs the cook in the eye with a pen. The man does scream, but the objective is not to kill him, but just to draw blood and make him look like a Freak. The ADF agents kill the cook on sight.
  • Chloe learns the trick from her grandfather, later mind-controlling a cop into stabbing Nancy in the eye with a pen. Agents arriving on the scene see the woman screaming and blood pouring from her eye, and accordingly gun her down.
• Flight: One of Mary's powers.
• Flying Brick: Mary is very powerful when flying, as she is shown nearly liquefying one enemy soldier she flies into. However, she cannot do anything in a cramped space where she cannot fly.
• Forced Sleep: Chloe uses her Compelling Voice to make her father Henry fall asleep. He collapses unconscious at her feet.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Alan (the grandfather) invisibly steps between Agent Ray and Chloe, taking the bullet.
• Human Subspecies: The Abnormals (at least the few shown) are still outwardly human, and don't have any visible inhuman traits other than the Tears of Blood. But their children are also Abnormals, with successive generations being more powerful.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: In a world full of humans with superpowers, the "normal" humans are responsible for the former's population decreasing.
• Invisibility: This is Mr. Snowcone's power. He can make himself and his clothing invisible, as well as people he carries with him.
• Jabba Table Manners: Chloe has a mild case of this, having been raised in a derelict house eating makeshift meals, and never having dined with other people before. When she is taken to the Reeds' house, she grabs an entire serving bowl of mashed potatoes and starts eating directly from it.
• Kids Are Cruel: Harper and her friends mock Chloe for having no mother and repeatedly call her a Freak.
• Kill on Sight: ADF agents immediately shoot anyone they simply suspect of being a Freak. Good luck to you if you've suffered an eye injury, you'll never be given a chance to explain.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Nancy, after being controlled by Chloe calls her and her family in to get them killed. Chloe uses her powers to make the agents think she's the Abnormal and kill her.
• Missing Mom: Chloe's mom is gone at the beginning. Her dad has refused to tell her what happened. Chloe learns her mom's alive but imprisoned later, and liberates her with her powers.
• Muggle Power: If you are human and a member of the ADF, you can probably kill an Abnormal.
• Mutants: Abnormals are people genetically born with superpowers, things "normal" people do not have.
• Outrun the Fireball: This is much easier to do if you have time manipulation powers.
• Papa Wolf: Henry and Alan both go to great lengths to save their daughters.
• Parting-Words Regret: Chloe has an argument with her father and tells him "I hope you die," to which he replies "One day I'll be gone, and you'll regret saying that."
• Please Wake Up: Chloe does this with her father Henry near the end of the film, saying it over and over, because her power to influence people is activated when she gives them a command multiple times.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • If Henry had been more straightforward with Chloe, a lot of problems could have been avoided. Granted, she's only seven, but he comments on how smart she is, and a super-powered seven year old with the truth explained to her is better off than one with her head full of confusion and lies. Instead of telling her the truth about her origin, and teaching her about her powers, he hides it from her and just tries to make her afraid of everything in the outside world, and tries to teach her to fake being normal. He alternates between treating it like a game, and then being deadly serious while being angry with her for not being so. Even though he obviously knows she's going to have incredible powers, he accuses her of lying about things she's seen, and locks her in the closet, which terrifies her further. And he should've told her that the ice cream man who spent so much time in front of their house was her grandfather.
  • In return, one of the things that Henry had told Chloe previously was that it was important for her to tell him if her eyes started bleeding, because that signifies that her powers are starting to manifest. Chloe doesn't tell him, so he doesn't know what's happening, and she starts suffering Power Incontinence.
  • And Alan, the grandfather, knew that Mary (his daughter) was alive in Mount Madoc, but hadn't told Henry
• Power Incontinence: Chloe uses her powers quite a few times in the first half of the film, such as getting Harper to bring her ice cream, because she doesn't know she has them, and her father has never taught her how to control them.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Near the end, both Chloe and her dad nearly faint from overuse of their powers, but recover long enough to both get out of their house before the drone strike hits, and to possess the guards in the mountain base to allow Mary to escape.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • The film makes it appear that Henry is extremely paranoid about the outside world to the point of parental abuse, but it turns out he's right.
  • Similarly, the police are willing to shoot an Abnormal on sight or as soon as they see bleeding from the eyes. And it's shown that those who do hesitate tend to die.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Chloe racks up quite a few of these. First the cop outside the Reed's house, and Agent Ray, both killing themselves by gunshot. Then the guard trying to kill Mary, whom Chloe causes to smash his own head against the wall (although it's possible he's just knocked out). And then two other guards are forced to turn their rifles on each other.
• Psychic Link: Chloe and her mother can perceive each other and communicate via one. Chloe sees her mother in her closet, Mary sees Chloe at Mount Madoc.
• Psychic Nosebleed: The Abnormals bleed from the inside corner of their eyes when they exert their power. Standard issue for the ADF is a UV flashlight to look for the telltale smear of blood, even if it's been wiped away.
• Secret Legacy: Chloe discovers that she is a third-generation Abnormal.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Gender-inverted and played with. Henry spends most of the movie looking varying degrees of disheveled, but when Cecilia comes knocking, Alan helps him get cleaned up and even gives him a pair of glasses so he can pass as the building's super.
• Shockwave Stomp: Mary's flight whether taking off or landing causes a shockwave so powerful it destroys everything around her, and turns anyone unlucky enough to get caught in it into a bloody smear.
• Sleep Deprivation: Henry sleeps as little as possible, because he needs to be awake to keep his time bubble active around the house.
• Stealth Pun: A really dark one. Alan, the Ice Cream Man, is also the Eye Scream Man.
• Steel Ear Drums: Pistols are fired inside houses, and rifles are fired inside a diner. No one is troubled by the noise.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Abnormals have Abnormal children with different, but generally stronger, powers. It's mentioned at one point that while Abnormals were forcibly relocated if possible, their children are killed as they're just too powerful to control or contain. However, this policy has recently changed since the ADF now wish to capture an Abnormal child and raise it to be a weapon for the government. This makes the reveal that Chloe's grandfather has powers an even bigger deal, as it means that Chloe herself is a third-generation Abnormal, explaining the extent and potency of her own abilities.
• Super-Scream: Chloe uses her mind control on three ADF agents at once near the end by screaming. This is the only time this happens-otherwise she's shown to just speak or will it.
• Tears of Blood: The main outward giveaway that someone is a Freak. Appears on government warning billboards. Enough to get you shot on sight.
• Time Stands Still: This is apparently how Henry's power operates when he activates his personal bubble of time. Things are still moving very slowing outside of the bubble, but he can manipulate it so that inside the bubble, time passes much faster.
• Victimized Bystander: Played completely straight, with no humorous intent or effect. The cook at the diner where Alan tracks down Agent Ray. The guy hadn't hurt anyone, didn't intend to, and never would've known anything if Alan hadn't barged into his kitchen. Alan jabs him in the eye with a pen, making him look like an active Freak, getting him murdered by the ADF. Just to show how ruthless both sides are.
• Villain Has a Point: While society's treatment of Abnormals is absolutely awful, we do also get to see firsthand just how terrifying their powers can be, considering that at one point, Abnormal children caused the complete destruction of all of Dallas. And then there's Chloe, who can command basically anyone, basically anywhere, to do basically anything, including suicide. It's not really hard to see the threat people with this kind of power can pose to society and why keeping them in check just might be the only option to ensure the very survival of humanity.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never learn what happens to Nancy's husband and daughter after she is killed. While Cecilia claims the whole family were deemed Abnormal to Henry, moments later she insinuates that this was a lie to get him to drop his guard and that the ADF has figured out how "Eleanor" tricked them.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Chloe is seven and a half and has never stepped outside her house since she was a baby, and with good reason: Her dad Henry used his time dilation powers to create a time bubble around the house, making time move by much slower inside, while outside it's only been a few months, in order to raise her with the tools she needs to try and survive in a world that wants to kill her before he's eventually hunted down and killed himself.