This masterpiece of macabre remains one of the timeless enduring classics of the genre. Director Tod Browning was nearly ruined by the film because it was so shockingly ahead of its time. Neither audiences nor critics were ready for something quite like Freaks and MGM the studio that released the film reacted as if it had given birth to Rosemary's Baby and distanced themselves from Freaks at all cost. The film was banned in Britain for over 30 years until finally better sense prevailed.

The film is an example of Browning's rich talent as a director, a talent that was exhibited so vividly in Dracula, Devil-doll and The Unknown. Freaks is a dark allegory about how the vain and beautiful are actually the real freaks. Olga Baclanova, the gorgeous trapeze artist gives one of the most memorable performances of all horror movies - the scene where she has a little too much to drink at her wedding celebrations is just one of her many moments during the film.Freaks tells the story of a trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) who marries a sideshow midget, Hans (Harry Earles), for his inheritance. At their wedding reception, the other "freaks" resolve that they will accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a "normal" outsider, and hold an initiation ceremony, wherein they pass a massive goblet of wine around the table while chanting, "We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!" cut out, one eye gouged and legs hacked off, she has been reduced to performing in a sideshow as the imbecile squawking "human duck".